Facing not authorized error while setting up local development

[oh-my-ink]

I am a shop owner of my store. I tried to setup local development environment following the instruction here.  I managed to log in to my store with my owner account and have gone through user verification code. However, I kept getting the error of "You are not authorized to use the CLI to develop in the provided store" in CLI.

How do I resolve the issue?

[squisharoo]

honestly i would like a very detailed explanation on how to fix this as well, im currently at a all-time halt with my project here due to this reason. its preventing me from customizing anything and is very frustrating. even though i am the owner of the shopify account and not to mention there isnt any  accounts or staff etc.. listed within that shopify storefront, i still seem to be getting these errors.

[shashwat-tiwari · Accepted solution]

I tried using this format of command and it worked for me:
Updated command: shopify theme dev --store=store-name
Command mentioned in Shopify: shopify theme dev --store {store-name}

Hope it works for you.

[oh-my-ink]

Thanks Shashwat-Tiwari. Confirm using this command shopify theme dev --store=store-name works.

[techgardener]

THIS IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE.

It was impossible to get access to the CLI. After many hours of troubleshooting and conversations with Shopify advisors, here's what I learned:

1. To have access to the CLI, you must be logged in as the owner of the store.
2. However, even as the owner, Shopify now restricts CLI access unless the store is a development store created under a Shopify Partner account.
3. This means if your store is a live store (even on a paid plan), you cannot use the CLI unless you join the Partner Program and create a new development store.
4. Once your work is done in the development store, you’d need to manually transfer themes or updates back to your live store, which is a frustrating and unnecessary extra step.

It seems Shopify has intentionally restricted CLI access to push development activities toward their Partner Program. This is incredibly disappointing and feels like a move to limit store owners from using powerful tools like the CLI or leveraging AI-based development tools. I hope Shopify reconsiders this approach, as it's making things harder for independent store owners who simply want to improve their stores without hiring a developer or jumping through unnecessary hoops.

[baristaetienne]

Thank you so much!

[scottlandes]

The accepted solution listed in this post does not work at all.  Did you ever arrive at a solution?  I'm having the same exact issue.  Thanks!

[squisharoo]

i did not find a solution to this problem here, i honestly packed up everything and stopped trying to use the CLI development. i just hired someone to build my store instead.

[sintergica_cons]

I think that is what shopify wants to happen. 

[waffl__ee]

Did you find a solution to the problem in the image? cuz that's exactly what I'm facing

[techgardener]

THIS IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE.

It was impossible to get access to the CLI. After many hours of troubleshooting and conversations with Shopify advisors, here's what I learned:

1. To have access to the CLI, you must be logged in as the owner of the store.
2. However, even as the owner, Shopify now restricts CLI access unless the store is a development store created under a Shopify Partner account.
3. This means if your store is a live store (even on a paid plan), you cannot use the CLI unless you join the Partner Program and create a new development store.
4. Once your work is done in the development store, you’d need to manually transfer themes or updates back to your live store, which is a frustrating and unnecessary extra step.

It seems Shopify has intentionally restricted CLI access to push development activities toward their Partner Program. This is incredibly disappointing and feels like a move to limit store owners from using powerful tools like the CLI or leveraging AI-based development tools. I hope Shopify reconsiders this approach, as it's making things harder for independent store owners who simply want to improve their stores without hiring a developer or jumping through unnecessary hoops.

[julescript]

@techgardener's was my last "I really don't want to do that" hope until i tried the following:

After spending the entire morning looking through the forum and testing different approaches, i found the way:

This is the command to be used:

shopify theme dev --store=<store-domain>

But, <store-domain> should be the default domain created by shopify on store creation:

shopify theme dev --store=given-shopify-domain.myshopify.com

// example
shopify theme dev --store=83637c-4.myshopify.com

You can find the original domain in Settings > Domains. It won't work on subdomains you created, only the original default one then I was able to be authenticated correctly.

Hope it helps the next person struggling ❤️

[ahmoody]

I've been able to login to the CLI. Assuming you are using Git Bash like I was attempting to solve this, you need to put this command in your CLI:

shopify theme dev --store={Your store name}.myshopify.com

You can replace your store name with the actual URL of your store from the box where you are selected to click on the store you wish to login to.

For example (I've marked my store names for privacy reasons, but I hope this somehow helps):