App block deep link - open theme editor in specific preview page

Retired Boards Appdev Extensions

Topic summary

Developers are encountering an issue with Shopify’s deep linking feature for app blocks and theme extensions. While the documented deep link structure successfully opens the theme editor to the correct template (e.g., ‘default product’), the preview pane displays a random page instead of a specific desired page.

Core Problem:

  • Adding a previewPath query parameter to the deep link does not work as expected
  • The parameter appears to be overwritten by the deep link itself

Current Status:

  • The issue remains unresolved
  • Multiple developers are experiencing the same problem
  • No working solution has been identified for forcing the theme editor preview to open a specific page when deep linking to enable an app block/section

The discussion seeks a method to control which specific preview page loads when merchants click the deep link to add an app block to their theme.

Summarized with AI on November 12. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

The structure of creating a deep link to allow online store admins to add an app block/section to a theme template is clear (documented here).

However, when the link is clicked the theme editor will open the required template (for example: ‘default product’) but the preview pane will show a random page for that template (for example: random product).

Is there a way to set the ‘previewPage’ query param to force the theme editor preview to open to a specific page when deep linking to enable an app block/section?

Simply adding the ‘previewPage’ param to the deep link did not work:

https://<myshopifyDomain>/admin/themes/current/editor?template=${template}&addAppBlockId={uuid}/{handle}&target=newAppsSection&previewPath=%2Fproducts%2Fsome-product-handle
2 Likes
2

Did you find a solution? I am also facing this issue. previewPath gets overwritten in the deep link.