Platform Consistency

Platform Consistency is the fourth layer of your Cassian Score™, weighted at 15%. It runs on the Analyst plan and above — the Inspector (free) plan doesn't include this layer, even with a platform connected. With a platform connector in place, this layer does something no purely web-based scanner can do: it looks inside your platform backend and compares that data to what actually renders on your storefront. Without a connector, Cassian still runs frontend structural checks — theme rendering problems, app conflicts, cart and checkout HTML issues — from the crawl alone.

The gap between "what your platform says" and "what customers see" is where Platform Consistency issues live. These gaps are usually caused by theme bugs, caching problems, or missed sync operations — and most store owners have no idea they exist.

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Why this layer exists

Your platform backend is your source of truth: product titles, descriptions, product status, images, translated content. Everything you've entered there should be reflected accurately on your storefront.

In practice, it often isn't — and the discrepancies are invisible unless you go looking for them. A product that's active in the admin but missing from the storefront. A description that renders truncated or stale. A product with images in the backend but none visible on the product page.

Customers experience these gaps. They just don't file a support ticket — they leave.

Cassian checks this automatically so you don't have to.

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What Cassian checks

Product data mismatches

With a platform connector, Cassian fetches product data from your backend (title, description, status, images, metafields) and compares it to what's rendered in the storefront HTML on the same page.

Typical mismatches Cassian flags:

• Title mismatch — The product title in the backend differs from what's shown on the page (can happen with custom metafield overrides in themes).
• Description mismatch — The backend description renders truncated, stale, or not at all on the storefront.
• Missing products — A product marked active in the backend isn't visible on the storefront, or a draft product is accidentally visible.
• Metafield content — Metafields populated in the backend that aren't rendering on the storefront.

Mismatches are reported at High or Critical severity, depending on how serious the discrepancy is.

Image completeness

Cassian compares the number of images your backend holds for a product against what the rendered storefront shows. A product with several images in the admin but few or none rendering on the page indicates a theme or sync problem.

This comparison works at the product level — Cassian does not currently check image assignment per individual variant. Broken image URLs are covered separately by the Link & Media Health checks.

Where to fix: In your platform admin, check the product's image gallery, then compare against the live product page. If images exist in the backend but don't render, the cause is usually in the theme's product template.

Translation delivery

When translated content is stored in your backend (Shopify Translate & Adapt, metafield-based translations), Cassian verifies that it actually renders in the translated storefront — translations that revert to source language, appear blank, or show placeholder text.

These findings are part of the Translation Quality analysis, so they appear under the Translation filter on the Issues page rather than Platform. See the Translation Quality feature page for details.

Inventory signals

Cassian flags active products whose backend reports zero total inventory — a product still published and discoverable with nothing to sell. This is an informational flag (it's a legitimate setup for stores using back-in-stock notifications), raised when Cassian analyses your catalogue via the platform API.

Cassian does not currently compare storefront availability displays against backend inventory levels per variant.

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Connecting your platform

Platform Consistency runs on the Analyst plan and above. A platform connector unlocks the backend-vs-storefront comparison — without one, the layer runs frontend structural checks only.

The connection is persistent — you don't need to reconnect unless you change your store URL or want to modify the permissions granted.

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What access Cassian requests

For Shopify, Cassian requests these scopes — all read-only:

• read_products — product catalogue for backend-vs-storefront comparison
• read_content — pages and content
• read_locales and read_translations — translation data
• read_metaobjects — metaobject content
• read_orders — order counts, which power the Order Pulse monitoring feature (alerts when orders unexpectedly stop)

Cassian never requests write access and never has access to payment credentials. It does not:

• Modify any product data
• Change prices, inventory, or content
• Write to your platform admin in any way

Platform Consistency is a read-and-compare operation. Cassian reads your backend data and flags discrepancies. You fix them.

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Where to see Platform Consistency results

• Issues page → filter by "Platform" category. All platform inconsistencies listed by severity with the affected product or page identified.
• Scans page → click any scan → Platform Consistency section shows your layer score and all issues found.
• Dashboard overview → the Platform Consistency card shows your current layer score.

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Supported platforms

Backend comparison is available for the platforms with live connectors: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Wix. Connectors for Magento, Medusa, and Squarespace are planned.

If your store runs on a platform without a live connector, the layer still runs its frontend structural checks — the backend comparison simply isn't available until a connector exists for your platform.

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Common questions

Do I need to reconnect Shopify after my password or admin changes? No — the connection uses OAuth tokens, not your admin credentials. You only need to reconnect if you explicitly revoke Cassian's access in your Shopify admin (Settings → Apps and sales channels) or if you move to a different Shopify store URL.

What if my store doesn't use Shopify? Live connectors exist for Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Wix — backend comparison works on all four. On other platforms, the layer runs frontend structural checks from the crawl alone. Magento, Medusa, and Squarespace connectors are planned.

Why doesn't Cassian flag price mismatches in this layer? Backend price data isn't part of the Platform Consistency comparison. Price monitoring is handled by the dedicated Pricing Pulse feature, which tracks your storefront prices continuously and alerts you to unexpected changes — a better fit for catching pricing problems than a periodic scan.

I have 500 products — will everything be checked? Product data accessible via your platform's API is fetched and compared against the storefront. For very large catalogues on lower-tier plans, the storefront crawl (which Cassian uses to compare against) is limited by your scan page limit. Upgrading to a higher tier increases the number of storefront pages compared.

Can Cassian fix mismatches automatically? No — Cassian is read-only. It identifies the discrepancy and tells you exactly what differs and on which page. The fix is always made by you in your platform admin (or your theme configuration). This is intentional — automated changes to product data without explicit human approval would be a very bad idea.

Is my store data stored by Cassian? Cassian reads your product data during a scan for comparison purposes. Cassian stores the comparison results (the issues found); product snapshots are not kept as part of this feature. See the Privacy Policy for full data handling details.