Using Git as a Developer isn't just “nice to have”.
It's actually essential for safe deployment workflows, especially when working in developer teams. (Agencies for example)
Why Git Matters Even If You Work Solo
Every time you commit code, Git creates a snapshot of your theme at that moment.
This is extremely helpful because:
- Every change you make is tracked (continuous backups)
- You can proof who changes certain things, if a client ever accuses you of breaking something
- In case something goes wrong we can easily revert to a previous state.
How Teams Collaborate Using Branches and Pull Requests
Instead of everyone working directly on the same code, developers create branches for changes.
This means initially their work is isolated and doesn’t affect others.
When a new feature is ready and are reviewed it gets merged into the main code base.
This keeps the main theme stable while allowing ongoing development.
How Shopify’s GitHub Integration Works in Practice
When you connect a Shopify theme to GitHub, the main branch should be connected to the live theme of your store.
From now on all changes pushed to the main branch will automatically synced to the live theme.
Vice-versa, all changes made via the theme customizer will also be pushed back to the repository. (2 way sync)
A typical flow for the initial setup looks like this:
- Pull the current live theme to your local pc, using Shopify's CLI
- Push Theme to the main branch of your repository (one repo per client)
- Use Shopify's Github integration to connect publish the main branch as your new live theme.
(Now Shopify syncs all updates)
For ongoing development do this:
- Create a new Git Branch
- Work on your new features locally using Shopify's CLI and the theme preview.
- After testing everything, create a pull request to merge your new changes into the main branch
- After approval the changes will autoamtically be deployed to the store (because the Github Integration snycs all changes)
Using this setup, you'll never push code directly to Shopify anymore.
All changes will be proxies via Github.
If you want to see this in action check out the following video: