¶ Variants - article and sub-items
Variants in Hummerce let you sell one product in several versions - e.g., color, size or capacity - as one article with sub-items, instead of a separate product page for every combination. The customer picks a variant on a single item page, while the store keeps track of availability, price and display for each variant separately.
Last updated: 2026-10-07 (latest changes to variant handling through the AI assistant: 2.35.45). A core platform feature - available in all current versions. Automatic article pricing and setting article availability from variants are also core platform features.
¶ Benefits and use cases
- One product page instead of many - color, size or capacity variants are a choice on the article's page, not separate items in the catalog.
- Less catalog work - a new variant is a new sub-item assigned to an existing article, not a new product page with a description and SEO built from scratch.
- The article's price is always current - with automatic pricing enabled, the store shows the lowest price among the available variants on lists and in search results.
- Article availability matches variant stock - an article can be automatically marked as available, buyable and visible based on whether it has at least one available variant.
- Handled by the AI assistant - attaching, detaching and reordering an item's variants through MCP, without manual clicking in the panel.
¶ Article and sub-items
- An article groups items that share common traits but have separate availability, stock or price (e.g., different sizes, colors, variants of the same product). The article itself is usually not directly buyable - its variants are what gets bought.
- Sub-items (variants) are items that are very similar in kind but differ - in the store they never appear on their own, only through a choice on the article.
- An article can have any number of variants. A new variant is added either as a brand-new item or by converting an existing item into a variant of that article.
- Detaching the last variant turns the article back into a regular, standalone item. The detached variant also becomes a regular item again.
- Variants have a set display order on the article's page - the order can be changed manually or through the AI assistant.
¶ Automatic article pricing
- The Automatic article price setting (Configuration -> Settings -> Items) makes the article's price calculated automatically from the lowest price among its buyable variants.
- The price recalculation task runs on a cycle (once a day by default) - this keeps the article's price current even after the variant with the lowest price sells out.
- The List of money properties setting lets you copy additional price values from variants to the article (e.g., a regular price next to the current price) - useful when the product page shows several kinds of prices.
- The Check article availability setting additionally sets the article's availability, buyability and visibility based on whether it has at least one variant meeting that condition.
- Prices and availability set automatically should not be changed manually on the article - every subsequent variant update will overwrite them.
Variants (article and sub-items) are a different mechanism from the configurable product: a variant sits directly on the item (article), while configurator components sit on a separate slot of the product. A simple choice of "the same product in a different color or size" is handled by variants; sets, made-to-order products or personalization with several independent choices are handled by the product configurator.
- Variants (article and sub-items) are a core platform mechanism - it works in all current versions.
- Automatic article pricing, copying additional prices from variants and setting article availability from variants - core platform features, available without extra configuration beyond enabling them in settings.
- Variant support through the AI assistant (MCP) - since version 2.35.
- Since version 2.35.45 - variant operations through MCP are checked as a whole before writing, and the response lists the side effects.
- Automatic article price and availability require enabling the relevant settings in Configuration -> Settings -> Items.
- The appearance of the variant choice on the product page depends on the store template (Bootstrap 5 template or Bootstrap 4).
- Price list rules, promotions and search may treat variants the same as regular items - depending on the configuration of each mechanism.
- Variants work after the update - creating an article and sub-items is everyday panel work, with no implementation involved.
- Minimum estimated time:
- enabling automatic article price and availability in settings - from 1 h,
- adjusting the appearance of the variant choice in the template (e.g., a different color-switcher style) - quoted individually.
- What the time depends on: the number and kind of properties differentiating variants, the need for template changes, the number of existing items to convert into variants.
- An article without variants is a regular, standalone item - there's no point keeping it as an empty "parent" with no sub-items.
- Automatic article price and availability are calculated on a cycle, not in real time - between price recalculations, the article's price or availability may briefly not reflect the latest change to a variant.
- A manual change to a price or availability set automatically will be overwritten at the next recalculation.
- The AI assistant doesn't automatically turn an item into an article just from attaching variants in an unusual configuration - the same rules apply as in manual panel work (e.g., an item that's already part of a configurable set cannot also be a variant).
- A variant operation through the AI assistant is done entirely or not at all: if the list contains even one wrong symbol, or an item that can't be attached or detached, nothing changes and the response says so. Reordering needs the article's full variant list - a variant left out would stop being a variant, so such a list is refused.
- We do not verify the variant configuration for legal compliance (e.g., item variant labeling requirements).
- Recalculating an article's price and availability closer to real time (a shorter task cycle).
- More ready-made variant presentation styles in the Bootstrap 5 template.
Does an article's price with variants update itself?
Yes, once the Automatic article price setting is enabled - the store recalculates it on a cycle from the lowest price among available variants.
Does an article disappear from the store once all its variants sell out?
Depends on the settings - with Check article availability enabled, the article is automatically marked as unavailable once none of its variants is available.
Can the AI assistant add or reorder variants?
Yes - through MCP you can get an article's variant list, attach or detach items as variants, and change their order. A list with one wrong symbol changes nothing, and the response lists the side effects.
Are variants the same as a configurable product?
No. Variants are a simple choice between versions of the same item (e.g., color, size). Sets, personalization and made-to-order products with several independent choices are the product configurator.
How long does enabling automatic article pricing take?
From 1 h - just the panel setting. Template changes are quoted after a scope analysis.
Want to see how variants could work in your catalog? Book a free demo (in Polish).
- Item variants: the Variants / items tab in the item editor - attaching an existing item as a variant, creating a new variant from scratch, or assigning the edited item as a variant of another article.
- Article price and availability settings: Configuration -> Settings -> Items:
- Automatic article price (off by default),
- List of money properties - additional properties copied from the variant with the lowest price,
- Check article availability (off by default) - sets the article's availability, buyability and visibility based on its variants.
¶ REST API and MCP
- REST API: reading and writing the article-sub-item relationship, plus item prices and availability (REST API).
- MCP (AI assistant - MCP server):
ec2_products_get_variants - list of an article's variants,ec2_products_add_variants - attaching items as an article's variants (the variant_symbols parameter, comma-separated symbols),ec2_products_remove_variants - detaching variants (admin only),ec2_products_reorder_variants - changing the variant order on the article's page (the full list, or a move by one place),- attaching and detaching check the whole list before writing: a wrong symbol, or an item that can't be attached or detached, ends the call with a "nothing was changed" message, and the write is done in one transaction,
- the response lists the effects: a variant moved from another article, an item turned into an article or back into a regular item and - when the store hides variants on listings (the
item.lists.subitems setting = false) - the attached items removed from category views, followed by the current variant list,
ec2_products_details shows the item type, parent article and template, so a variant missing its article or template is visible at once.
| Setting |
Symbol |
Description |
| Automatic article price |
automaticPriceArticle |
Turns on calculating the article's price from the lowest variant price |
| Check article availability |
checkArticleAvailability |
Turns on setting the article's availability based on its variants |
| List of money properties |
listOfPropertiesWithLowestPrice |
Additional properties copied from the variant with the lowest price |