Shopify theme dev command breaks when changing stores

Store Design
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Topic summary

Issue: When switching from a production store to a development store using shopify theme dev --store <my-development-store>, the theme breaks and none of the theme code applies.

Root Cause: The development store is missing required files, specifically layout/theme.liquid and config/settings_schema.json. An error message appears when trying to preview: “Theme cannot be previewed because it’s missing one of these required files.”

Solutions Found:

Solution 1 (mimi33):

  • Open the preview link to identify missing files
  • Copy config/settings_schema.json from an existing theme via the online store admin code editor
  • Create the file locally and paste the contents
  • Re-run shopify theme dev

Solution 2 (RYadav):

  • Remove or clear the .shopifyignore file
  • Run shopify theme pull to download all files from server to local
  • Run shopify theme dev to start the local instance
  • Discard the pulled changes in git and restore .shopifyignore to continue development from your previous point

Note: Simply logging out and re-authenticating (shopify auth logout) does not resolve the issue.

Summarized with AI on November 4. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
5
  • I tried manually copying these two files from server to local and restarted the CLI but still same issue.
  • I tried shopify auth logout and then did shopify theme dev --store=mystorename.myshopify.com and authenticated again with Shopify partner login credentials, but still same issue
  • I tried shopify theme pull to pull all files from server and retry but still same issue.
Theme cannot be previewed because it's missing one of these required files: layout/theme.liquid, config/settings_schema.json