Shopify Theme Development

When to use this skill

Use this skill when:

• Creating a new Shopify theme from scratch
• Modifying or customizing an existing theme
• Understanding Shopify theme architecture
• Working with sections, blocks, and templates
• Setting up the development environment
• Deploying themes to a Shopify store
• Optimizing theme performance

Theme Architecture Overview

Directory Structure

A Shopify theme must follow this structure:

your-theme/
├── assets/          # CSS, JS, images, fonts
├── config/          # Theme settings (settings_schema.json, settings_data.json)
├── layout/          # Layout files (theme.liquid required)
├── locales/         # Translation files (en.default.json, etc.)
├── sections/        # Reusable section components
├── snippets/        # Reusable code snippets
└── templates/       # Page templates (JSON or Liquid)
    └── customers/   # Customer account templates

Minimum Requirements: Only layout/theme.liquid is required for upload.

Component Hierarchy

Layout (theme.liquid)
  └── Template (product.json)
        └── Sections (product-details.liquid)
              └── Blocks (price, quantity, add-to-cart)
                    └── Snippets (icon-cart.liquid)

Getting Started

1. Initialize a New Theme

Use the Skeleton theme as a starting point:

# Clone the Skeleton theme
shopify theme init my-theme

# Navigate to your theme
cd my-theme

The Skeleton theme is minimal and follows Shopify best practices.

2. Start Development Server

# Start local development with hot reload
shopify theme dev

# Connect to a specific store
shopify theme dev --store your-store.myshopify.com

This opens a local preview URL with live reloading.

3. Push to Shopify

# Upload as a new theme
shopify theme push --unpublished

# Push to an existing theme
shopify theme push --theme THEME_ID

Key Concepts

Layouts

Layouts wrap all pages. The main layout file is layout/theme.liquid:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="{{ request.locale.iso_code }}">
<head>
  <title>{{ page_title }}</title>
  {{ content_for_header }}
</head>
<body>
  {% sections 'header-group' %}

  <main>
    {{ content_for_layout }}
  </main>

  {% sections 'footer-group' %}
</body>
</html>

JSON Templates

Modern themes use JSON templates that reference sections:

// templates/product.json
{
  "sections": {
    "main": {
      "type": "product-details",
      "settings": {}
    },
    "recommendations": {
      "type": "product-recommendations",
      "settings": {}
    }
  },
  "order": ["main", "recommendations"]
}

Sections

Sections are reusable, customizable modules:

<!-- sections/featured-collection.liquid -->
{% schema %}
{
  "name": "Featured Collection",
  "settings": [
    {
      "type": "collection",
      "id": "collection",
      "label": "Collection"
    },
    {
      "type": "range",
      "id": "products_to_show",
      "min": 2,
      "max": 12,
      "step": 1,
      "default": 4,
      "label": "Products to show"
    }
  ],
  "presets": [
    {
      "name": "Featured Collection"
    }
  ]
}
{% endschema %}

<section class="featured-collection">
  {% if section.settings.collection != blank %}
    {% for product in section.settings.collection.products limit: section.settings.products_to_show %}
      {% render 'product-card', product: product %}
    {% endfor %}
  {% endif %}
</section>

Blocks

Blocks allow merchants to add, remove, and reorder content:

{% schema %}
{
  "name": "Slideshow",
  "blocks": [
    {
      "type": "slide",
      "name": "Slide",
      "settings": [
        {
          "type": "image_picker",
          "id": "image",
          "label": "Image"
        },
        {
          "type": "text",
          "id": "heading",
          "label": "Heading"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
{% endschema %}

{% for block in section.blocks %}
  <div class="slide" {{ block.shopify_attributes }}>
    <img src="{{ block.settings.image | image_url: width: 1920 }}">
    <h2>{{ block.settings.heading }}</h2>
  </div>
{% endfor %}

Best Practices

Performance

1. Lazy load images - Use loading="lazy" for images below the fold
2. Optimize images - Use image_url filter with appropriate widths
3. Minimize render-blocking resources - Defer non-critical CSS/JS
4. Use native browser features - Prefer CSS over JavaScript when possible

<!-- Responsive images with lazy loading -->
{{ product.featured_image | image_url: width: 800 | image_tag:
  loading: 'lazy',
  widths: '300, 500, 800, 1200',
  sizes: '(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 50vw'
}}

Accessibility

1. Use semantic HTML (<main>, <nav>, <article>)
2. Provide alt text for images
3. Ensure proper heading hierarchy
4. Support keyboard navigation
5. Maintain sufficient color contrast

Theme Settings

Use settings_schema.json for global theme settings:

[
  {
    "name": "theme_info",
    "theme_name": "My Theme",
    "theme_version": "1.0.0"
  },
  {
    "name": "Colors",
    "settings": [
      {
        "type": "color",
        "id": "primary_color",
        "label": "Primary color",
        "default": "#000000"
      }
    ]
  }
]

Access in Liquid: {{ settings.primary_color }}

CLI Commands Reference

Common Issues & Solutions

Issue: Theme not syncing changes

Solution: Ensure shopify theme dev is running and check for file save errors.

Issue: Section not appearing in editor

Solution: Add a presets array to the section schema.

Issue: Slow page load

Solution: Run shopify theme check and address performance warnings.

Resources

• Dawn Theme (Reference)
• Skeleton Theme (Starter)
• Theme Architecture Docs
• Theme Best Practices

For Liquid templating specifics, see the liquid-templating skill.