Github-connected themes cannot be upgraded (and no forewarning)

Retired Boards Appdev Store Design
,

Topic summary

Connecting a theme to GitHub permanently disables Shopify’s one-click theme upgrade functionality. The user discovered this limitation isn’t clearly documented in Shopify’s official resources.

Key findings:

  • Testing confirmed that even official themes like Dawn lose upgrade capability once connected to GitHub
  • Shopify’s upgrade tool categorizes GitHub-connected themes as “Uploaded themes”
  • Current documentation states “Updates are not supported for uploaded themes” and requires fresh installation from the theme store for updates

Documentation gap:
The existing limitations pages don’t explicitly warn users that GitHub integration removes upgrade functionality. The user suggests Shopify should clarify that “Uploaded themes” includes any GitHub-connected theme, even official ones, to prevent users from unknowingly losing this feature.

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

It appears that once connecting a theme to github, the ability to one-click upgrade your theme is no longer possible. That’s understandable and all, but the Shopify documentation doesn’t seem to forewarn about it:

https://shopify.dev/docs/storefronts/themes/tools/github#limitations

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/themes/managing-themes/updating-themes#updates-not-supported

Maybe it should be clear that “Uploaded themes” includes any theme connected from github, even the official ones like Dawn.

Just to prove this to myself, I tried installing a fresh, unedited Dawn theme from the shopify store and then created a github theme from those exact same files. Immediately I see the message in the upgrade tool:

Updates are not supported for uploaded themes
If you want to take advantage of theme updates, you need to install a theme from the theme store.

1 Like