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Shopify Theme Deployment SOP

Use this checklist for Shopify theme changes, whether the work is a small fix, a CRO variant, or a larger theme release.

Branching

Branch Purpose
main Production-ready source
feature/<name> Isolated feature or fix
release/<date-or-theme> Optional staging branch for grouped changes

Rules:

  • Keep each branch scoped to one feature, fix, or release.
  • Do not mix unrelated visual changes with tracking, checkout, or app changes.
  • Keep rollback notes in the pull request or release notes.

Pre-Deploy

  1. Confirm the theme or preview URL.
  2. Confirm the exact pages affected.
  3. Check for active campaigns, sale windows, or tests that could be disrupted.
  4. Confirm who can approve the release.
  5. Take before screenshots for high-risk visual changes.

QA

Run the QA checklist before publishing.

High-risk areas need extra checks:

  • Product pages.
  • Cart drawer and cart page.
  • Checkout entry.
  • Variant selectors.
  • Bundles, free gifts, subscriptions, or discounts.
  • App blocks and scripts.

Publish

  1. Build or sync the final theme.
  2. Run one last smoke test on the preview.
  3. Publish during an agreed low-risk window.
  4. Smoke test production immediately.
  5. Record what changed, when it shipped, and how to roll it back.

Rollback

Rollback is required when a release breaks checkout, prevents add-to-cart, hides price or variant selection, breaks a core template, or causes severe layout shift.

Rollback steps:

  1. Re-publish the previous theme or revert the release branch.
  2. Confirm product, cart, and checkout paths.
  3. Record the incident and suspected cause.
  4. Re-ship only after the root cause is isolated.