> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://staylime.com/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://staylime.com/docs/volume-themes/sections/products/product-recommendations-and-recently-viewed-products.md).

# Product Recommendations & Recently Viewed Products

Automatically populated product sections — Shopify's recommendation engine or the shopper's own browsing history.

Two sections that automatically populate with products — no manual picking — using either Shopify's recommendation engine or the shopper's own browsing history.

* **Product Recommendations** — pulls from Shopify's recommendation engine based on the current product.
* **Recently Viewed Products** — pulls from the shopper's own browsing history.

***

### Product Recommendations

Pulls from Shopify's native recommendation engine based on the current product — no manual selection.

#### How to add

1. In Theme Editor, open the **Product** template.
2. Click **Add section** and select **Product Recommendations**.

#### Good to know

* Recommendations come from Shopify's own engine (based on purchase and view data) — there's no way to hand-pick which products appear here.
* This section needs a current product to base recommendations on, so it only works on the Product template.

#### Settings

<details>

<summary>Settings</summary>

| Setting               | What it does                                   |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Layout                | Grid or **Slider (default)**                   |
| Center text           | **Defaults to on**                             |
| Desktop item width    | Slider mode — **defaults to 4**                |
| Product card settings | Same shared settings as Featured Products      |
| Information card      | Same optional promo block as Featured Products |

</details>

***

### Recently Viewed Products

Near-identical schema to Product Recommendations, but pulls from the shopper's own browsing history (stored via localStorage/cookies) instead of Shopify's recommendation engine.

#### How to add

1. In Theme Editor, click **Add section** on any template.
2. Select **Recently Viewed Products**.

#### Good to know

* This section reads from the shopper's browser storage, not their account — it's empty for first-time visitors and won't sync across devices.
* The default item width (6) is wider than Product Recommendations' default (4), so out of the box these two sections don't look identical even with matching settings — check Desktop item width if you want them to match.

#### Customization ideas

* Place Recently Viewed below Product Recommendations on a product page: recommendations for discovery, recently viewed as a quick way back to something the shopper already looked at.

#### Settings

<details>

<summary>Settings</summary>

| Setting               | What it does                                                                    |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Layout                | Grid or Slider                                                                  |
| Desktop item width    | **Defaults to 6** (wider items, fewer shown) — vs. 4 on Product Recommendations |
| Center text           | Defaults to off — unlike Product Recommendations                                |
| Product card settings | Same shared settings as Featured Products                                       |

</details>

***

### Best practices

* Keep Product Recommendations on the Product template only — it has no current product to work from elsewhere.
* Recently Viewed works anywhere, but it's most useful on the homepage or cart page where a returning shopper might want a quick way back to something they looked at.

## Related

* [Featured products & collections](/docs/volume-themes/sections/products/featured-products-featured-collections-and-featured-collection-grid.md)


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