Curated Items

Drop a themed row of products onto any page by writing a short brief, the same way you'd describe the row to a colleague. "Lightweight rain jackets under $200," "gifts for a new dad," "minimalist desk lamps." VeryQuery finds the items in your catalog that match and arranges them as a row.

What shoppers see

A row of product cards with the heading you wrote. Each card shows a product image, title, and price; clicking navigates to that product's page. The row's products are picked from your live catalog every time the block loads, so as your catalog changes the row adjusts on its own.

If nothing in your catalog matches the brief well enough, the row hides itself rather than showing weak picks. No empty state, no awkward "no results." If the row disappears from your storefront after you added something to the brief that doesn't apply to your store, that's why.

How it differs from Similar Items and Smart Categories

Similar Items
Reads the current product page and shows neighbors. No brief from you; it picks from context.
Smart Categories
Reads your whole catalog and surfaces the groupings shoppers would search for. No brief from you; it picks from the catalog's shape.
Curated Items
Takes a brief from you and assembles a row that fits. Use it when you have an editorial point of view: a seasonal angle, a gift theme, a price-anchored selection, a use-case lens.

Add a row to a page

  1. In your Shopify admin, open Online Store, Themes.
  2. Click Customize on your active theme.
  3. Navigate to the page where you want the row (homepage, a landing page, a collection page, anywhere with section blocks).
  4. In the left sidebar, click Add section.
  5. Pick VQ Curated Items from the list.
  6. With the block selected, fill in the right-hand settings:
    • Heading. The label that appears above the row. Default "Editor's picks." Write what your shoppers should read, e.g. "Gifts under $50," "New for spring."
    • Brief. A short natural-language description of the row you want. The more specific, the tighter the match.
    • Number of items. 3 to 8 cards. Default 4.
    • In stock only. On by default. Turn off if you want to display out-of-stock items in the row.
  7. Click Save in the top right.

The row appears on the next page load. You can add multiple Curated Items blocks on the same page or across different pages, each with its own brief and heading.

Writing a brief

Briefs work best when they describe the shopper's situation or the row's editorial angle, not just the product type. Good briefs read like notes to a stylist or a buying assistant.

  • "Cozy layering pieces for fall, neutral colors only"
  • "Gifts under $40 for a coffee enthusiast"
  • "Weekend hiking gear for warm weather"
  • "Statement earrings, gold tones"
  • "Minimalist home office decor"

Constraints in the brief are honored when they correspond to attributes the catalog knows about (price, color, material, use case). Vague briefs work too; they just produce broader rows. There's no syntax to memorize, write the way you'd describe it out loud.

Brand fit

The row picks up your theme's fonts and colors automatically. See Match your brand if you want to fine-tune.

Verify it's working

Open the page on your storefront. The row should appear within a second of the page loading. If it's missing, the most common causes are:

  • The brief is too narrow for your catalog. Try a broader phrasing.
  • The block was added to a section your storefront doesn't render. Check that you're editing the active theme and that the section is on the page you're viewing.
  • Your catalog hasn't finished initial processing. New stores take a few minutes after install before all features become available.

Pricing

Curated rows are included in every plan; the only capacity meter is the catalog cap (see Plans).

Turning it off

Theme editor, find the block, trash icon, Save. The row disappears on the next page load.

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