I find the current in-admin editor for email notifications so frustrating to work with.
It seems to have basic syntax highlighting, but it’s a large text box.
My current flow for working on this is nauseating:
Create a dummy order with whatever necessary specifics (discounts, refunds, etc)
Find the template and copy the code to a local VSCode .html file
Make a change and copy it back to Shopify
Resend myself the customer notification over and over again for each change.
The built-in preview feature often isn’t accurate and with not great data.
Could we have a proper integration, either in-admin with the new VSWeb or direct Shopify #CLI functionality, so that they can be developed and previewed locally?
Totally understand where you’re coming from — the current in-admin email template editor can be quite limiting, especially when testing multiple Liquid conditions or refund logic.
You’re right: the syntax highlighting is basic, the preview data isn’t always accurate, and the workflow of copying code in and out of Shopify gets frustrating fast.
At the moment, Shopify doesn’t natively support direct VSCode or Shopify CLI integration for notification templates, but here are a few reliable workarounds:
Use Shopify CLI or Theme Kit locally:
While you can’t edit notifications directly, you can mirror the Liquid environment locally using shopify theme dev. This gives you proper syntax highlighting and faster testing.
Test data with LiquidJS:
If you frequently modify emails, you can use LiquidJS locally to preview your templates using mock data — great for checking loops and dynamic properties.
Optional webhook preview setup:
Some developers create a small webhook listener or custom app that lets them preview notification outputs with actual order data before sending — a bit more advanced but very efficient once set up.
You’re definitely not the only one who finds the current setup cumbersome.
Let me know if you’d like a short guide on how to set up a smoother local testing workflow — it’ll make editing and previewing your email templates way easier.
Would be great if you could please share how to test locally with LiquidJS, I also find the current process really annoying especially when there are dynamic variables that aren’t rendered in the default Shopify preview window. Hoping to see your example which might make things easier
