Our Shopify Development Toolkit in 2026

We first wrote about our Shopify toolkit in 2017, when building a theme meant Slate, Theme Kit and a fair amount of guesswork. Almost every tool on that list has since been replaced. Shopify now has one command-line tool, a theme architecture built around reusable sections and blocks, and proper APIs for the checkout and discount logic that used to need workarounds.

This is the toolkit our team uses for Shopify builds in 2026, and why.

Shopify CLI for everything local

Shopify CLI replaced Slate and Theme Kit. For themes, shopify theme dev serves a local preview against real store data with hot reloading, and shopify theme push and pull keep the code in sync. For apps, the same CLI scaffolds the app, runs it locally and deploys extensions and Functions.

Every developer works on their own development theme, so nobody edits the live theme directly.

Online Store 2.0 themes, sections and blocks

Modern Shopify themes use JSON templates, which means merchants can add, remove and reorder sections on any page, not just the homepage. We build themes this way from the start:

• Sections for each distinct page area, with settings merchants can edit in the theme editor
• Theme blocks that can be reused across sections, so a “testimonial” or “feature list” is built once
• Metafields and metaobjects for structured content, such as size guides, ingredient lists or store locations, instead of hard-coding it into templates

When a project doesn’t need a fully custom theme, we start from Shopify’s own reference themes rather than a marketplace theme, because they follow Shopify’s current patterns and perform well out of the box.

Git and GitHub for every theme

Themes live in a Git repository. Shopify’s GitHub integration connects a branch to a theme in the store, so merged changes appear there automatically. Merchants can still edit settings in the theme editor, and those edits are committed back to the branch, so code and content don’t drift apart.

Theme Check and Lighthouse before every release

Theme Check lints Liquid for errors, deprecated tags and performance problems, and runs in our code editors and in continuous integration. Before a release we also run Lighthouse and check real-user Core Web Vitals, because a heavy app script can undo a fast theme.

Functions and checkout extensions instead of workarounds

Discount rules, shipping and payment customizations and cart validation are now built as Shopify Functions, and extra fields or messages in checkout are built as checkout UI extensions. Both are deployed through a small custom app. We wrote about moving old Scripts onto Functions in our Shopify Scripts migration guide.

Hydrogen when the storefront needs to be fully custom

For brands that need a storefront beyond what a theme can do, such as a content-heavy site, a complex product configurator or a shared codebase with other channels, we use Hydrogen, Shopify’s React framework, hosted on Oxygen. It’s more work to build and maintain than a theme, so we only recommend it when a theme genuinely can’t deliver.

AI tools, with review

We use AI coding assistants for the routine parts of Shopify work: first drafts of sections, schema settings, Liquid refactors and test data. Every change is still reviewed by a developer, because a plausible-looking Liquid snippet can easily break translations, filtering or performance.

What hasn’t changed

The principles from 2017 still hold: keep themes lean, avoid installing an app for something a few lines of Liquid can do, and make everything editable by the merchant without calling a developer.

If you need a Shopify theme, a custom app or a checkout customization built, see our Shopify development service or send us your brief through the project brief form.