Choosing Which Shops a Program Runs At | Passtastic Help
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Choosing Which Shops a Program Runs At

If you run more than one shop, a program doesn't have to work at all of them. You can limit any program to a subset of your shops — useful when a promotion, a loyalty card, or a membership only makes sense at one site.

This only appears once you have 2 or more active shops. With a single shop, every program simply runs there — there's nothing to choose.

Where to set it

1. Click Programs in the sidebar and open the program.

2. Click the Setup tab.

3. Open Where this runs (*Which of your shops offer this*).

Choosing All shops or only some

You'll see a hint — *Pick which of your shops offer this program. Customers who signed up at a shop you remove will no longer be able to use the card there.* — followed by two options:

  • All shops — the default, and what every existing program already is. Every shop you have (and every shop you add later) runs it.
  • Only some shops — a checklist of your shops appears; tick the ones where this program should work.

If the card already has customers, narrowing it shows a warning before you save: *N customers hold this card. It will stop working at the shops you remove.* Existing customers keep their card either way — they just can't use it for stamps, points, or redemptions at a shop you've removed.

What changes once a program is scoped

  • At the till. A customer who scans a card at a shop the program doesn't run at is refused — the scanner shows an amber header (translated into whichever language the device uses — in English, Not at This Shop) with a message naming the program and the shop, e.g. *"Coffee Club" doesn't run at Downtown Shop.*
  • On your Programs list. A scoped program carries a badge — Downtown only when it's down to one shop, or N shops for more than one. A program left on All shops shows no badge at all.
  • On each shop's page. Open a shop from Locations and you'll see a Runs here panel — the actual list of programs live at that shop right now, separate from its posters (below). Click any program there to jump straight to its Where this runs setting.
  • Sign-up links. Your card's generic link (`passtastic.io/get-pass/...`) carries no shop, so it keeps working everywhere regardless of scoping. A shop-specific sign-up link — the poster/QR you turned on for one shop under Custom & Branded Signup Links — is refused if that shop is outside the program's scope. If a poster still exists at a shop the program no longer runs at, that shop's Sign-up posters here list flags it with a Not running here pill, so you can see it without hunting for it.

Two things worth knowing before you narrow a program

Unticking every shop doesn't stop the program — it reverts to All shops. There's no "runs nowhere" state; scoping only ever narrows or widens where a *published, running* program works. To stop a program entirely, pause it from the program header instead. If you untick every box, the panel tells you so before you save: *Pick at least one shop — until you do, this program runs at all of them.*

Closing a shop hands its programs back to All shops — it does not stop them. If a program was scoped only to a shop you then remove (⋯ → Remove shop on the shop's page), that program doesn't lose the shop and stay narrowed to whatever's left — the id it was pointing at no longer exists, so the scoping is treated as empty, and empty means everywhere. A program scoped only to "Downtown" runs at every remaining shop the moment Downtown is removed. The Remove-shop confirmation names this before you confirm — it tells you how many programs will widen this way — but restoring the shop afterward won't bring the narrower scoping back. Still worth a check: open that program's Where this runs setting afterward if you want to re-narrow it.

Common questions

Why don't I see "Where this runs" on my program?
It only shows once your org has 2 or more active shops. With one shop, the program runs there automatically — same as before.
Does scoping a program away from a shop affect its poster there?
No — the poster (sign-up link/QR) at that shop keeps existing and keeps producing sign-ups. The Sign-up posters here panel just flags it with Not running here, because anyone who signs up there won't be able to use the card at that shop. Either remove the poster or add the shop back under Where this runs.
What does a customer see if they try to sign up at a shop the program doesn't run at?
It depends on the link. A shop-specific sign-up link (a poster tied to that shop) is refused. The card's own generic link works anywhere, since it isn't tied to a shop.
Can I see everything that runs at a specific shop, in one place?
Yes — open that shop from Locations; the Runs here panel lists every program actually live there right now, separate from the posters section below it.
Does narrowing a program delete anyone's card?
No. Customers keep the card in their wallet either way. Narrowing only stops it working — earning, redeeming, being scanned — at the shops you removed.
I removed a shop and now a program I'd scoped to it runs everywhere. Is that a bug?
No — it's the intended fallback. A program can never be scoped to "no shops"; when the only shop(s) it was scoped to no longer exist, it falls back to All shops rather than silently stopping. Reopen the program's Where this runs setting and re-narrow it to your remaining shops if that's not what you want.