Local Shopify theme changes made during shopify theme dev were not appearing despite files uploading and the page blinking; cache refresh and publishing didn’t help. The original poster marked it resolved without sharing details.
Most effective fix: run “shopify upgrade” to update the Shopify CLI, with several users confirming version 3.56.3 restored live reload (3.56.0 was insufficient for at least one user).
Additional workarounds reported:
Move the theme project from a system/storage area to the Desktop, which re-enabled live reload for one user.
Switch IDE from PHPStorm/WebStorm to VSCode, after which live reload worked again.
Outcome: Issue appears resolved for multiple users by upgrading the CLI to the latest version; environment/IDE/location can also affect file watching. The OP’s exact resolution remains unspecified. Discussion is effectively resolved with recommended action to upgrade first, then try the alternative workarounds if needed.
Summarized with AI on December 28.
AI used: gpt-5.
Ive recently setup a development store with Shopify CLI. When I run shopify theme dev I am able to open the store locally. But when I make a change to the header (Simply adding to this span in the Dawn theme):
<span class="h2">{{ shop.name }}123</span>
I see no changes reflected locally. The page blinks but no changes appear. I can see the file updating in my terminal and uploading successfully.
Refreshing does not work, and I have tried disabling my browser cache. Publishing the theme also seems to have no affect.
Hi @joeG454 , what did you do to resolve this? I have also been experiencing this issue and in order to see the changes I have to keep publishing the changes I make to the synced git repo and then immediately pull from the remote. It’s not ideal.
Thanks for the help, this has worked for me as well! I had already performed an upgrade thinking that this may be the issue but it only upgraded to 3.56.0 — upgrading again to the version you suggested did the trick.
I had same problems. I solved problem by moving Shopify files to desktop. It was in the storage area. I think Shopify CLI live reload only work when files are in desktop. This solution may help someone.
