Managing Themes
Create, switch, and manage multiple themes for your storefront.
Your store can have multiple themes, where each theme is a complete set of design settings covering colors, typography, layouts, sections, and custom code. Only one theme is live at a time, but you can create as many as you need and switch between them without any code changes or deploys.
Viewing your themes
Go to Themes in the admin sidebar. The page shows your active theme at the top, with a live preview of both the published version and the current draft. Other themes appear below.
Each theme card shows its name, engine (Spark, Glass, or Pebble), and status. The status tells you whether it has been published and whether the draft has changes.
Creating a theme
Click Create theme in the top right. You need three things:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Theme name | A label for this theme (e.g. "Summer 2026", "Dark Mode") |
| Theme engine | Spark (free), Glass (premium), or Pebble (premium) |
| Clone from active | Copy your current theme's settings as a starting point |
The new theme starts as an inactive draft, meaning it is not visible on your storefront until you publish and activate it.
Editing a theme
Click Edit on any theme card to open the visual editor with that theme loaded. All changes go to the theme's draft, so your live storefront is not affected until you publish the changes.
If your store has two or more themes, a theme name dropdown appears in the editor toolbar. You can switch between themes without leaving the editor.
Publishing
Publishing copies the draft to the published version. If this is the active theme, the storefront updates right away. If it is not the active theme, publishing stores the changes but the storefront does not change.
Click Publish on the theme's draft card.
Activating a theme
Only published themes can be activated. Click Activate on a theme card to make it the live theme on your storefront. The previous theme stays in the list so you can switch back.
The storefront revalidates when you activate a different theme. Visitors see the new design on their next page load.
Other actions
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rename | Change the theme's display name |
| Duplicate | Create a copy with a new name (starts as an inactive draft) |
| Delete | Remove the theme permanently. You cannot delete the active theme. Switch to a different theme first. |
How themes work
Each theme has two rows in the database: a draft and a published copy. The draft is what you edit. Publishing copies the draft to the published row. The storefront always reads the published row for the active theme.
Theme "Summer 2026"
├── Draft (what you edit in the visual editor)
└── Published (what visitors see, if active)
Theme "Dark Mode"
├── Draft
└── Published (not served, because this theme is not active)Switching between themes is instant because the storefront loads the published row for whichever theme is currently active, requiring no code changes, deploys, or downtime.
Tips
- Test before going live. Create a new theme, edit it in the visual editor, and preview it. Only activate it when you are happy with the result.
- Seasonal themes. Create a holiday theme, activate it for the season, then switch back. The old theme stays in the list.
- A/B testing. Duplicate your active theme, change one element (hero image, color scheme, layout), and activate it to compare results.