Public and link campaigns

A public campaign is offered to every store visitor who qualifies. A link campaign is offered only to visitors who arrive through a URL you share. You pick one of the two on the Campaign name & type step, under Campaign type.

This is a separate choice from the discount method (Automatic or Discount code). The two settings combine like this:

Campaign type	Automatic	Discount code
Public campaign	Available	Available
Link campaign	Not available	The only option

Public campaign

Described in the admin as "All store visitors will see the campaign".

With Automatic, the discount applies at checkout as soon as the cart qualifies. Shoppers type nothing. The Title you enter is what they see in the cart and at checkout.
With Discount code, to be applied by the customer, the shopper must enter the code at checkout. You set the code on the Discount step, or click Generate random code.

Link campaign

Described in the admin as "Only visitors with a link will see the campaign". Link campaigns are code campaigns: Hype hides the Automatic option and forces the method to code when you select Link campaign.

The point is that the code is not discoverable. Nobody can guess it from your storefront, and it applies itself for anyone who follows your link — useful for influencer links, email segments, printed inserts and private sales.

Setting up the link

Select Link campaign under Campaign type.
In URL for this link campaign, type the slug you want, or click Auto-generate for a random six-character one.
Save the campaign, then use Copy next to the field to copy the full URL.

The field shows your store's primary domain followed by ?hypecampaign=, so the finished link looks like:

https://your-store.com?hypecampaign=summer-vip

The slug must be longer than 3 characters and must be unique within your store. If it is taken, Hype shows "This slug is already in use. Please try another or use auto-generate."

How the link applies the discount

hype.js reads the hypecampaign parameter from the URL, looks the campaign up, and applies the campaign's discount code to the cart. It then stores the slug in the browser's session storage, so the discount survives the shopper browsing to other pages without the parameter. The slug is also read back from the cart if it was recorded there. When more than one source has a value, the URL parameter wins, then session storage, then the cart.

QR code

Every link campaign's summary page shows a QR code generated from the campaign link. Use Download to save it, or Customize... to change it before downloading. Scanning it opens the same ?hypecampaign= URL, so it applies the discount exactly as clicking the link does.

Copying links from the campaign list

You do not have to open a campaign to get its link. On the campaigns list, the actions menu for a link campaign includes Copy Campaign URL, which puts the full ?hypecampaign= URL on your clipboard and confirms with "Campaign URL copied to clipboard".

Limits and gotchas

A link campaign can never be automatic. If you need a discount that applies with no code and no link, use a public automatic campaign.
Once a public automatic campaign's Shopify discount exists, you cannot change it to a link campaign. The campaign type buttons are disabled from then on. Create a new campaign instead.
Switching between Automatic and Code deletes the Shopify discount and creates a new one. Hype shows the Switching Discount Method dialog first. Two consequences matter: any restrictions such as one use per customer are reset, so customers may be able to use the campaign again; and if the old code or automatic title was already used, Shopify may refuse to reuse it and the switch fails.
The link needs the Hype app embed enabled in your published theme. Without it hype.js never loads, so the parameter is ignored and the code is never applied.
The link does not bypass the campaign's other rules. Target markets, minimum purchase, customer eligibility, sales channels and active dates all still apply — see common campaign settings. A shopper can follow the link and still not qualify.
A link campaign is still a real Shopify discount code. Anyone who learns the code can type it at checkout without the link. Treat the code itself as semi-public.
Shopify allows 25 active automatic discounts per store. Link campaigns are code discounts, so they do not consume that budget.