Why is my home page displaying a 404 error and how can I fix it?

Technical Q&A
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Topic summary

Home page shows “404 Not Found” in the browser thumbnail/title and even inside the theme editor. Multiple users report the same symptom; screenshots were shared to illustrate the 404 state.

Troubleshooting guidance:

  • Preview the store with a different installed theme. If the 404 disappears, the issue is theme‑specific.
  • If using a Shopify-made theme, contact Shopify Support; if it’s a third‑party theme, contact the theme developer.

Concrete fix reported by a user (theme-related):

  • Go to Online Store → Theme → Edit code → templates and check for index.json.
  • If index.json is missing, create it and paste the content from a previous backup (downloaded theme zip). If no backup exists, copy index.json from another theme (e.g., Refresh) and then re-customize the home page.

Current status/outcome:

  • A working solution was identified (restoring/adding index.json). No confirmation from the original poster, but at least one participant resolved the issue with this method. Discussion remains open for others still affected.
Summarized with AI on December 13. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hi, I am editing my theme and website and when I look at the actual website I notice the 404 Not Found in the thumbnail at the top of the browser. So I checked in my actual theme editor and the home page is coming up as 404 page and I cant figure out how to change that to just say my name brand or Home page.

anything is better than that.

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2

Hi @tdunn35

Could you share your store URL?

3
4

any help?

5

Hey there, did you find a solution? I have the same issue :disappointed_face:

6

Has anyone found a solution??

1 Like
7

Hi folks,

If you are seeing this issue the first thing to check is whether or not this issue is present in another theme. You can preview your store using another theme installed on your account and check if the 404 error is present there as well. If the issue is not present in the other theme, this points to the error being theme-specific; please contact our support team directly in that case if you are using a Shopify-made theme. If you’re using a theme made by a third-party theme developer please contact them for assistance.

8

Got the solution for this theme related error while exporting and importing the theme in a new store.
Please check the below
Online store->Theme->Edit Code(three dots)->find index.json under templates
if you can’t find index.json then create a new one and copy the content of index.json from your previous backup zip file (downloaded theme file).

If you have not created any backup, then copy the index.json file of other theme. For example, I am using “refresh” theme so i can copy the index.json from there and customize the home page again.