Shopify Theme Push not pushing theme settings

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

Main issue: Theme settings edited via the Online Store Editor while using “shopify theme serve” are not synced back to the theme by “shopify theme push.” In contrast, edits made in Customize on the live theme can be retrieved locally with “shopify theme pull.”

Observed behavior:

  • Pushing after making editor changes during local serve does not upload those settings. Using git push also has no effect on theme settings.
  • Pulling after editing the live theme’s settings does bring those changes into the local environment.

Impact: Multiple developers report lost work and a confusing workflow, with a high risk of errors and code conflicts. This significantly slows development and increases the chance of overwriting settings.

Workaround shared: Make settings changes on the live theme first, then run “shopify theme pull,” apply local code changes, and finally “shopify theme push.” This is acknowledged as error-prone.

Status: Unresolved. Participants consider it a Shopify bug, request an urgent fix, and note no official resolution or guidance in the thread.

Summarized with AI on December 28. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I can’t seem to make sense of how “shopify theme push” and “shopify theme pull” work in regards to making changes through the Store Editor.

If I make changes to my theme through the Customize area (add a logo, for example), and then run “shopify theme pull”, I can see those changes reflected in my local environment when I run “shopify theme serve”.

However, if I run “shopify theme serve” and navigate to the Store Editor link it provides and make changes there (add a section of content for example), I don’t know how to get those changes up to my theme. If I run “shopify theme push”, that doesn’t push changes, nor does a regular “git push” to the repo.

Not sure if I’m making sense, but I’m confused.

All in all, how can I make changes in the development Online Editor and get those up to my theme?

Thanks!

2 Likes
2

This seems to be a Shopify bug. It is very annoying, when pushing, the theme does not push settings either. I hope Shopify looks into this ASAP, could lose days of work.

3

I have just lost so much work due to this. Absolutely nonsensical. How is this not fixed yet? It is very hard to develop; I now have to go to the live theme, change theme settings there, then pull, do local changes, and push. Imagine if you forget where you made changes first. And then do pull/push - very prone to errors and various code conflicts that way. This is a critical bug, to be honest.

1 Like