Theme Kit command reference
Theme Kit is deprecated. Theme developers should use Shopify CLI for Shopify theme development.
This reference lists the Theme Kit commands for creating, configuring, updating, deploying, downloading, and removing themes.
If you're using PowerShell, then you need to include quotations around the URL if it follows a single dash. This is especially important if you're using the short form in the command. For example, theme get --list -p=[password] -s="my-store.myshopify.com" will work but theme get --list -p=[password] -s=my-store.myshopify.com won't.
Anchor to Get help from the command lineGet help from the command line
If you want information about Theme Kit commands while you are working, then you can get help by running the following commands:
Get a list of all commands and flags
Get a list of all the flags for a command
Anchor to Using environmentsUsing environments
All Theme Kit commands can be run with a selected environment from the configuration. This allows multiple configurations to be held in the same config file.
To use environments, you must specify them by name with the --env flag or -e for short. The default environment is development. For example, if you want to deploy to your production environment, then you can run the following command:
To deploy to multiple environments, you can pass additional --env flags:
Sets up your theme on your local machine by creating a config file and downloading the theme that you request.
The theme get --list command returns a list of themes and IDs that exist on the store specified:
After you've retrieved the theme ID, you can run the following command. Make sure to also replace your-password with your Theme password and your-store with your store's domain name:
Running the theme get command outputs a config.yml file in the current directory with the following contents:
Anchor to Required flagsRequired flags
| Short version | Long version | Description |
|---|---|---|
-p | --password | The Theme password used to connect Theme Kit to your store. |
-s | --store | The domain name of the store. |
-t | --themeid | The ID of the theme. |
Anchor to Optional flagOptional flag
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--live | Sets the theme ID to the published theme. |
Creates a new theme on the specified Shopify store, initializes your configuration using your Theme password and new theme ID, and generates and uploads default templates to make your theme valid.
Anchor to Required flagsRequired flags
| Short version | Long version | Description |
|---|---|---|
-p | --password | The Theme password used to connect Theme Kit to your store. |
-s | --store | The domain name of the store. |
-n | --name | The name of your new theme. |
Anchor to Optional flagOptional flag
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--dir | The location for the new theme files. The directory must exist before running the new command. |
Anchor to ConfigureConfigure
Creates or updates configuration files.
Running the theme configure command outputs a config.yml file in the current directory with the following contents:
Anchor to Required flagsRequired flags
| Short version | Long version | Description |
|---|---|---|
-p | --password | The Theme password used to connect Theme Kit to your store. |
-s | --store | The domain name of the store. |
-t | --themeid | The ID of the theme. |
Anchor to Optional flagOptional flag
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--live | Sets the theme ID to the published theme. |
Anchor to OpenOpen
Opens the preview page for your theme in your browser and prints out the URL for your reference.
Anchor to Optional flagsOptional flags
| Short version | Long version | Description |
|---|---|---|
-a | --allenvs | Runs open for each environment in your config file. |
-b | --browser | Specifies the name of the browser to open the URL, matching the name of the browser on your system. |
-E | --edit | Opens the web editor for the theme. |
| Not applicable | --hidepb | Hides the preview bar when opening the preview page. |
Anchor to WatchWatch
Instructs Theme Kit to watch for any changes made to your local files, and automatically pushes updates to your theme in the connected Shopify store.
Both the changes and the status of the upload are logged to the terminal. To close the watch connection, type Control+C.
Anchor to Optional flagsOptional flags
| Short version | Long version | Description |
|---|---|---|
-a | --allenvs | Runs watch for each environment in your config file. |
-n | --notify | The file path or URL. The file path is to a file that you want updated on idle. The URL path is where you want a webhook posted to report on file changes. |
| Not applicable | --allow-live | Allows Theme Kit to make changes to the live theme. |
Anchor to Using ,[object Object], with a URLUsing --notify with a URL
--notify with a URLSupplying the --notify flag with a URL will send a payload. For example, if a change is made to the file assets/app.js, then the URL will receive a POST request with the following payload:
Anchor to Integration with other toolsIntegration with other tools
To help integrate watch with a reloading tool, you can provide the optional --notify flag with a file path that you want to have updated when the workers have gone idle.
For example, if you have a reloading tool watching for updates made to a file at /tmp/theme.update, then you can use the following command:
Anchor to DeployDeploy
Replaces your theme in the connected Shopify store with what's in your current project directory.
If you provide file names in the command, then only the specified files are replaced. For example, if you want to deploy only the 404.liquid and article.liquid templates, then you can use the following command:
Anchor to How it worksHow it works
-
Any files that are in the connected Shopify store, but aren't on your local disk, will be removed from Shopify.
-
Any files that are on both your local disk and in the connected Shopify store will be updated.
-
Any files that are on only your local disk will be uploaded to the connected Shopify store.
Theme Kit calculates a checksum for each file and only updates assets if you’ve made changes to them locally.
Anchor to Optional flagsOptional flags
| Short version | Long version | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Not applicable | --allow-live | Allows Theme Kit to deploy the file changes if your theme is currently live on the connected Shopify store. |
-a | --allenvs | Runs deploy for each environment in your config file. |
-n | --nodelete | Runs deploy without removing files from Shopify. |
Anchor to DownloadDownload
Downloads files from your theme.
If you use the download command without any file names, then the entire theme is downloaded. If you provide some file names in the command, then only the specified files are downloaded.
For example, if you want to download only the 404.liquid and article.liquid templates, then you can use the following command:
Similar to the deploy command, Theme Kit will skip downloading any unchanged files.
Anchor to Optional flagOptional flag
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--live | Sets the theme ID to the published theme. |
Anchor to RemoveRemove
Deletes theme files both locally and in the connected Shopify store.
Unlike the other file operation commands, the remove command requires file names. This prevents you from accidentally deleting your entire theme.
For example, if you want to delete the 404.liquid and article.liquid templates, then you can use the following command:
You might not be able to remove some files from the connected Shopify store because they're required to serve a valid theme.
Anchor to Next stepsNext steps
- Familiarize yourself with the configuration variables available and their accepted values in Theme Kit.
- Learn how to identify and resolve common issues in Theme Kit.