Themekit will not update nested metaobject template.

Retired Boards Appdev Store Design

Topic summary

Theme Kit does not detect changes to nested metaobject template files (templates > metaobjects), forcing edits via the Shopify Admin. The user asks if this is expected and whether to switch to Shopify CLI.

Theme Kit hasn’t been updated for Online Store 2.0 (OS2.0), so its support is incomplete for current (non‑vintage) themes. The recommended path is to use the Shopify CLI, Shopify’s command‑line tool for theme development.

Validated CLI actions:

  • Create a metaobject template in Admin, then pull it with “shopify theme pull”.
  • Preview the template locally with “shopify theme dev”.
  • Edit the template’s JSON in VSCode and see changes reflected in the local dev theme.
  • Push those changes back to the live store.

Outcome: The user agrees to migrate to the Shopify CLI. Decision made to move development to CLI for reliable metaobject template workflows.

Status: Resolved with a clear action item (migrate to Shopify CLI). No outstanding questions noted.

Summarized with AI on January 19. AI used: gpt-5.
1

It appears themekit doesn’t watch/see the file changes to the nested items under templates > metaobjects.

I have to login to the Shopify Admin, find the theme, and Edit Code in browser to make any manual code changes to a metaobject page template.

Is this expected behaviour – is it time I move over to Shopify CLI?

Thanks!

2

Hi Fevish,

Theme Kit hasn’t been updated for use with Online Store 2.0 functionality, and while it does work with some aspects of OS2.0, we do recommend that you use the Shopify CLI for theme development work on current/ non-vintage themes.

I tested out making changes to metaobject theme template files with the Shopify CLI and all actions I took worked as expected. I tested the following:

  • Created a metaobject theme template on the admin and successfully pulled this template file with the rest of my theme when I ran shopify theme pull.
  • Previewed the metaobject theme template in local environment with shopify theme dev.
  • Made change to the metaobject template JSON file in VSCode and saw the change populate across to the local development theme.
  • Pushed change to the metaobject template JSON file back up to the live Shopify store.

If working with the metaobject template feature is important for you, I would recommend migrating to using the Shopify CLI. You’ll also have other benefits of a more robust local dev environment which is worth migrating for. The install instructions are on shopify.dev - let me know if you run in any issues getting it up and running.

Hope this helps!

1 Like
3

Thanks for confirming Liam, I guess it’s time to migrate to CLI ?