shopify-liquid-themes

Shopify Liquid Themes

Theme Architecture

.
├── sections/    # Full-width page modules with {% schema %} — hero, product grid, testimonials
├── blocks/      # Nestable components with {% schema %} — slides, feature items, text blocks
├── snippets/    # Reusable fragments via {% render %} — buttons, icons, image helpers
├── layout/      # Page wrappers (must include {{ content_for_header }} and {{ content_for_layout }})
├── templates/   # JSON files defining which sections appear on each page type
├── config/      # Global theme settings (settings_schema.json, settings_data.json)
├── locales/     # Translation files (en.default.json, fr.json, etc.)

When to use what

Liquid Syntax

Delimiters

• {{ ... }} — Output (prints a value)
• {{- ... -}} — Output with whitespace trimming
• {% ... %} — Logic tag (if, for, assign) — prints nothing
• {%- ... -%} — Logic tag with whitespace trimming

Operators

Comparison: ==, !=, >, <, >=, <= Logical: and, or, contains

Critical Gotchas

1. No parentheses in conditions — use nested {% if %} instead
2. No ternary — always use {% if cond %}value{% else %}other{% endif %}
3. for loops max 50 iterations — use {% paginate %} for larger arrays
4. contains only works with strings — can't check objects in arrays
5. {% stylesheet %}/{% javascript %} don't render Liquid — no Liquid inside them
6. Snippets can't access outer-scope variables — pass them as render params
7. include is deprecated — always use {% render 'snippet_name' %}
8. {% liquid %} tag — multi-line logic without delimiters; use echo for output

Variables

Filter Quick Reference

Filters are chained with |. Output type of one filter feeds input of next.

Array: compact, concat, find, find_index, first, has, join, last, map, reject, reverse, size, sort, sort_natural, sum, uniq, where String: append, capitalize, downcase, escape, handleize, lstrip, newline_to_br, prepend, remove, replace, rstrip, slice, split, strip, strip_html, truncate, truncatewords, upcase, url_decode, url_encode Math: abs, at_least, at_most, ceil, divided_by, floor, minus, modulo, plus, round, times Money: money, money_with_currency, money_without_currency, money_without_trailing_zeros Color: color_brightness, color_darken, color_lighten, color_mix, color_modify, color_saturate, color_desaturate, color_to_hex, color_to_hsl, color_to_rgb Media: image_url, image_tag, video_tag, external_video_tag, media_tag, model_viewer_tag URL: asset_url, asset_img_url, file_url, shopify_asset_url HTML: link_to, script_tag, stylesheet_tag, time_tag, placeholder_svg_tag Localization: t (translate), format_address, currency_selector Other: date, default, json, structured_data, font_face, font_url, payment_button

Full details: language filters, HTML/media filters, commerce filters

Tags Quick Reference

Full details with syntax and parameters: references/tags.md

Objects Quick Reference

Global objects (available everywhere)

cart, collections, customer, localization, pages, request, routes, settings, shop, template, theme, linklists, images, blogs, articles, all_products, metaobjects, canonical_url, content_for_header, content_for_layout, page_title, page_description, handle, current_page

Page-specific objects

Full reference: commerce objects, content objects, tier 2, tier 3

Schema Tag

Sections and blocks require {% schema %} with a valid JSON object. Sections use section.settings.*, blocks use block.settings.*.

Section schema structure

Block schema structure

Setting type decision table

visible_if pattern

Conditionally shows/hides a setting in the editor based on other setting values.

Block entry types

• { "type": "@theme" } — Accept any theme block
• { "type": "@app" } — Accept app blocks
• { "type": "slide" } — Accept only the slide block type

Full schema details and all 33 setting types: references/schema-and-settings.md

CSS & JavaScript

Per-component styles and scripts

Use {% stylesheet %} and {% javascript %} in sections, blocks, and snippets:

• One tag each per file — multiple {% stylesheet %} tags will error
• No Liquid inside — these tags don't process Liquid; use CSS variables or classes instead
• Only supported in sections/, blocks/, and snippets/

{% style %} tag (Liquid-aware CSS)

For dynamic CSS that needs Liquid (e.g., color settings that live-update in editor):

CSS patterns for settings

Single CSS property — use CSS variables:

Multiple CSS properties — use CSS classes as select values:

LiquidDoc ({% doc %})

Required for: snippets (always), blocks (when statically rendered via {% content_for 'block' %})

Param types: string, number, boolean, image, object, array

Translations

Every user-facing string must use the t filter

Variable interpolation

Locale file:

Locale file structure

Key naming conventions

• Use snake_case and hierarchical keys (max 3 levels)
• Use sentence case for all text (capitalize first word only)
• Schema labels use t: prefix: "label": "t:labels.heading"
• Group by component: sections.hero.heading, blocks.slide.title

References

• Filters: language (77), HTML/media (45), commerce (30)
• Tag reference (30 tags)
• Objects: commerce (5), content (10), tier 2 (69), tier 3 (53)
• Schema & settings reference (33 types)
• Complete examples (snippet, block, section)