Vite Shopify Theme

Appearance

2. CLI init ​

sh
vite-shopify-theme init [directory] \
  [--new | --existing] [--lang js | ts] \
  [--package-manager npm | pnpm | yarn | bun] \
  [--tailwind | --no-tailwind] [--yes]

--yes accepts TypeScript, the detected package manager (npm otherwise), and Tailwind. Explicit negative flags take precedence.

The command installs Vite and the running plugin version as development dependencies. It writes explicit entrypoints, Vite config, package scripts (build, dev, and dev:editor when it is not already defined), and narrow ignore patterns. It also creates a placeholder snippets/vite-tag.liquid when none exists, so the theme renders before the first dev or build; both replace it and an existing snippet is never overwritten. It also writes example.shopify.theme.toml, a template for the Shopify CLI development environment that dev selects automatically, and adds shopify.theme.toml to .gitignore. An existing example file is kept. Identical files make reruns safe; incompatible files stop setup before generated configuration is written.

Themes that already use Vite ​

When the theme already has its own Vite config (vite.config.js, .ts, or another extension), init does not generate one. It also leaves your entry files, layouts, build and dev scripts, type, TypeScript, and Tailwind alone, and does not ask about them. It adds only what the plugin needs:

  • the plugin as a development dependency, and Vite 8 only when the project does not declare Vite;
  • the dev:editor script when it is not defined;
  • the ignore patterns for generated files, in .gitignore and .shopifyignore. They also stop Tailwind from rebuilding in a loop (see Troubleshooting);
  • example.shopify.theme.toml.

It then prints what is left for you to do: declare the entries in your config, replace the old render tags in your layouts, change the build and dev scripts, and remove publicDir. A Vite config that an earlier init generated is not treated as yours, so rerunning stays safe.

Shopify AI Toolkit ​

init does not install Shopify AI Toolkit skills. See the cookbook to add them. The deprecated --no-skills flag is accepted and ignored; --skills was removed.

New themes and git ​

A new theme is cloned from Shopify's Skeleton v1.0.0 release. The clone's git history is removed, so the project starts without a repository; run git init when you want one. An existing theme's repository is never touched.