npx skills add ...
npx skills add shopify/liquid-skills --skill liquid-theme-standards
npx skills add shopify/liquid-skills --skill liquid-theme-standards
CSS, JavaScript, and HTML coding standards for Shopify Liquid themes. Covers BEM naming inside stylesheet tags, design tokens, CSS custom properties, Web Components for themes, defensive CSS, and progressive enhancement. Use when writing CSS/JS/HTML in .liquid files or theme asset files.
The same skill content is published under more than one repo. The install counts are split across them; any of these commands works.
| Location | Liquid? | Use For |
|---|---|---|
{% stylesheet %} | No | Component-scoped styles (one per file) |
{% style %} | Yes | Dynamic values needing Liquid (e.g., color settings) |
assets/*.css | No | Shared/global styles |
Critical: {% stylesheet %} does NOT process Liquid. Use inline style attributes for dynamic values:
Rules:
.product-card, not .productCard.block__element, never .block__el1__el2class="btn btn--primary", never class="btn--primary" alone0 1 0 (single class) wherever possible0 4 0 for complex parent-child cases!important (comment why if absolutely forced to)Use CSS custom properties for all values — never hardcode colors, spacing, or fonts. Define a consistent scale and reference it everywhere.
Example scale (adapt to your theme's needs):
Key principles:
rem for spacing and typography (respects user font size preferences)--space-sm not --space-16:root for global tokens, on component root for scoped tokensGlobal — in :root for theme-wide values
Component-scoped — on component root, namespaced:
Override via inline style for section/block settings:
position, display, flex-direction, grid-template-columnswidth, margin, padding, borderfont-family, font-size, line-height, colorbackground, opacity, border-radiustransition, animationtransform and opacity (never layout properties)will-change sparingly — remove after animationcontain: content for isolated renderingdvh instead of vh on mobile| Location | Liquid? | Use For |
|---|---|---|
{% javascript %} | No | Component-specific scripts (one per file) |
assets/*.js | No | Shared utilities, Web Components |
| Rule | Do | Don't |
|---|---|---|
| Loops | for (const item of items) | items.forEach() |
| Async | async/await | .then() chains |
| Variables | const by default | let unless reassigning |
| Conditionals | Early returns | Nested if/else |
| URLs | new URL() + URLSearchParams | String concatenation |
| Dependencies | Native browser APIs | External libraries |
| Private methods | #methodName() | _methodName() |
| Types | JSDoc @typedef, @param, @returns | Untyped |
Parent → Child: Call public methods
Child → Parent: Dispatch custom events
| Need | Use | Not |
|---|---|---|
| Expandable | <details>/<summary> | Custom accordion with JS |
| Dialog/modal | <dialog> | Custom overlay div |
| Tooltip/popup | popover attribute | Custom positioned div |
| Search form | <search> | <div class="search"> |
| Form results | <output> | <span class="result"> |
loading="lazy" on all below-fold imageswidth and height to prevent layout shiftalt text; empty alt="" for decorative imagesTheme templates (templates/*.json), section groups (sections/*.json), and config files (config/settings_data.json) are all JSON. Use jq via the bash tool to make surgical edits — it's safer and more reliable than string-based find-and-replace for structured data.
Prefer jq over edit for any .json file modification — it validates structure, handles escaping, and avoids whitespace/formatting issues.
.block → Component root: .product-card
.block__element → Child: .product-card__title
.block--modifier → Variant: .product-card--featured
.block__element--modifier → Element variant: .product-card__title--large<!-- Good: single element level -->
<div class="product-card">
<h3 class="product-card__title">{{ product.title }}</h3>
<span class="product-card__button-label">{{ 'add_to_cart' | t }}</span>
</div>
<!-- Good: new BEM scope for standalone component -->
<div class="product-card">
<button class="button button--primary">
<span class="button__label">{{ 'add_to_cart' | t }}</span>
</button>
</div>/* Do: media queries inside selectors */
.header {
width: 100%;
@media screen and (min-width: 750px) {
width: auto;
}
}
/* Do: state modifiers with & */
.button {
background: var(--color-primary);
&:hover { background: var(--color-primary-hover); }
&:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid var(--color-focus); }
&[disabled] { opacity: 0.5; }
}
/* Do: parent modifier affecting children (single level) */
.card--featured {
.card__title { font-size: var(--font-size-xl); }
}
/* Don't: nested beyond first level */
.parent {
.child {
.grandchild { } /* Too deep */
}
}:root {
/* Spacing — use a consistent scale */
--space-2xs: 0.5rem; --space-xs: 0.75rem; --space-sm: 1rem;
--space-md: 1.5rem; --space-lg: 2rem; --space-xl: 3rem;
/* Typography — relative units */
--font-size-sm: 0.875rem; --font-size-base: 1rem;
--font-size-lg: 1.125rem; --font-size-xl: 1.25rem; --font-size-2xl: 1.5rem;
}/* Do: namespaced */
.facets {
--facets-padding: var(--space-md);
--facets-z-index: 3;
}
/* Don't: generic names that collide */
.facets {
--padding: var(--space-md);
--z-index: 3;
}<section
class="hero"
style="
--hero-bg: {{ section.settings.bg_color }};
--hero-padding: {{ section.settings.padding }}px;
"
>/* Do: logical properties */
padding-inline: 2rem;
padding-block: 1rem;
margin-inline: auto;
border-inline-end: 1px solid var(--color-border);
text-align: start;
inset: 0;
/* Don't: physical properties */
padding-left: 2rem;
text-align: left;
top: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; left: 0;.component {
overflow-wrap: break-word; /* Prevent text overflow */
min-width: 0; /* Allow flex items to shrink */
max-width: 100%; /* Constrain images/media */
isolation: isolate; /* Create stacking context */
}
.image-container {
aspect-ratio: 4 / 3; /* Prevent layout shift */
background: var(--color-surface); /* Fallback for missing images */
}/* Container queries for responsive components */
.product-grid { container-type: inline-size; }
@container (min-width: 400px) {
.product-card { grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr; }
}
/* Fluid spacing */
.section { padding: clamp(1rem, 4vw, 3rem); }
/* Intrinsic sizing */
.content { width: min(100%, 800px); }@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
*, *::before, *::after {
animation-duration: 0.01ms !important;
animation-iteration-count: 1 !important;
transition-duration: 0.01ms !important;
scroll-behavior: auto !important;
}
}class ProductCard extends HTMLElement {
connectedCallback() {
this.button = this.querySelector('[data-add-to-cart]');
this.button?.addEventListener('click', this.#handleClick.bind(this));
}
disconnectedCallback() {
// Clean up event listeners, abort controllers
}
async #handleClick(event) {
event.preventDefault();
this.button.disabled = true;
try {
const formData = new FormData();
formData.append('id', this.dataset.variantId);
formData.append('quantity', '1');
const response = await fetch('/cart/add.js', {
method: 'POST',
body: formData
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error('Failed');
this.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('cart:item-added', {
detail: await response.json(),
bubbles: true
}));
} catch (error) {
console.error('Add to cart error:', error);
} finally {
this.button.disabled = false;
}
}
}
customElements.define('product-card', ProductCard);<product-card data-variant-id="{{ product.selected_or_first_available_variant.id }}">
<button data-add-to-cart>{{ 'products.add_to_cart' | t }}</button>
</product-card>class DataLoader extends HTMLElement {
#controller = null;
async load(url) {
this.#controller?.abort();
this.#controller = new AbortController();
try {
const response = await fetch(url, { signal: this.#controller.signal });
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}`);
return await response.json();
} catch (error) {
if (error.name !== 'AbortError') throw error;
return null;
}
}
disconnectedCallback() {
this.#controller?.abort();
}
}this.querySelector('child-component')?.publicMethod(data);this.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('child:action', {
detail: { value },
bubbles: true
}));{%- comment -%} Works without JS {%- endcomment -%}
<details class="accordion">
<summary>{{ block.settings.heading }}</summary>
<div class="accordion__content">
{{ block.settings.content }}
</div>
</details>
{%- comment -%} Enhanced with JS {%- endcomment -%}
{% javascript %}
// Optional: smooth animation, analytics tracking
{% endjavascript %}{{ image | image_url: width: 800 | image_tag:
loading: 'lazy',
alt: image.alt | escape,
width: image.width,
height: image.height
}}# Add a section to a template
jq '.sections.new_section = {"type": "hero", "settings": {"heading": "Welcome"}}' templates/index.json > /tmp/out && mv /tmp/out templates/index.json
# Update a setting value
jq '.current.sections.header.settings.logo_width = 200' config/settings_data.json > /tmp/out && mv /tmp/out config/settings_data.json
# Reorder sections
jq '.order += ["new_section"]' templates/index.json > /tmp/out && mv /tmp/out templates/index.json
# Remove a section
jq 'del(.sections.old_banner) | .order -= ["old_banner"]' templates/index.json > /tmp/out && mv /tmp/out templates/index.json
# Read a nested value
jq '.sections.header.settings' templates/index.json