Understanding Shopify’s Template System: Overcoming the Limitation of Custom Templates in Cloned Stores
When working with Shopify’s theme customizer, one of the biggest limitations you’ll encounter is that templates created via the customizer are not directly linked to pages in cloned stores. This happens because cloned stores are essentially duplicates of the main store, but Shopify doesn’t automatically assign templates to pages in those clones. Instead, templates are only properly assigned when they are first created in production—the main store.
This creates a frustrating challenge: If you need a custom template that includes both JSON and Liquid files, Shopify does not correctly handle the creation process from the admin panel. The system lacks clear documentation on this, and many developers struggle to understand why their templates aren’t behaving as expected.
The Solution: A Strict Order of Operations for Creating Templates
The key to solving this issue lies in following a strict order of operations when creating and assigning templates. The correct workflow is:
- Create the template in production first, using the code editor. This ensures that Shopify correctly assigns the template to a page and recognizes it as available and published.
- Once the production template is set, create an overwrite template in the cloned stores. This overwrite template will allow you to customize the cloned store while maintaining the link to the production template.
This process ensures that when you preview a cloned store, Shopify first checks the production environment to confirm that:
- A template with that name exists.
- It is correctly assigned to a page.
- It is published and live.
Only after this validation does Shopify pull in the corresponding template from the cloned store and load it into the frontend. Without this sequence, the system won’t recognize the template as valid, and you won’t be able to use or preview it properly.
Why This Happens: Shopify’s Unified Content Management System
Like many modern e-commerce platforms, Shopify operates with a unified content management system, meaning the same database is shared across different environments. This means that templates need to be assigned and recognized in production first before they can be used in cloned stores.
This concept of templates extends beyond Shopify—it’s common in platforms like BigCommerce and WordPress. However, Shopify's particular way of handling template assignments requires a clear understanding of how pages, templates, and the store structure interact.
Because Shopify automates and abstracts many processes, developers often assume that everything will work seamlessly through the theme customizer. But in reality, many actions performed through the Shopify admin panel create incomplete configurations, especially when dealing with custom templates. This is why a deeper knowledge of Liquid and the underlying structure of Shopify is essential for advanced customizations.
Unlocking Advanced Shopify Customization: Beyond Standard E-Commerce
By understanding how Shopify structures its template system and page routing, we can extend the platform far beyond its default e-commerce capabilities. For example, collection pages are not just for listing products—they can become dynamic, content-driven pages, acting as fully custom landing pages. Shopify’s template system allows us to control what type of content appears under different routes, offering more flexibility than many users realize.
This knowledge enables us to:
- Create complex, dynamic page structures with Liquid and JSON templates.
- Implement best practices in Shopify development, ensuring proper theme versioning and clear workflows.
- Enhance the development experience by maintaining structured, reusable, and scalable code.
- Manipulate Shopify’s data more efficiently, pulling information from one area of the store and using it in another to create powerful, customized user experiences.
Even with Shopify’s default theme system, a deep understanding of how Liquid and templates work allows us to push customization to a whole new level. When we work at this level, we’re not just modifying themes—we’re building tailored experiences, and leveraging Shopify’s tools while applying industry-standard best practices.
Need Help Scaling Your Shopify Store?
Navigating Shopify’s template system and implementing advanced customizations requires experience and technical expertise. If you need support to scale your store, improve workflows, or create powerful Shopify implementations, contact us. We help businesses take full control of their Shopify stores, implementing structured, high-quality development practices that go beyond standard e-commerce.