How theme updates work

What happens when you update a theme with Theme Companion, and why your live store stays safe throughout.

An update in Theme Companion is a guided process: the app does the merging, you make the decisions, and nothing reaches your live store until you publish it.

The update, step by step

1

Start an update

Pick the theme you want to update and the version to update to.

2

Review the update summary

You see what the update will touch: files carried over automatically, files with conflicts to resolve, and files that need a closer look. See Understanding your update summary.

3

Resolve conflicts

Where your customizations and the new version changed the same code, the app shows both sides and asks you to decide. See Resolving conflicts.

4

Preview and finish

Preview the updated theme on your storefront before committing to anything. When you finish the update, the updated theme stays in your theme library as a draft.

5

Publish when you're ready

Publishing is always a manual step you take in your Shopify Online Store. The app never publishes anything for you.

Your live theme is never touched

The whole update happens in a separate theme that the app adds to your theme library. Your live theme keeps running unchanged the entire time.

• Preview the updated theme at any point.
• Cancel the update at any point — your store stays exactly as it was.
• Publish the result only when you're happy with it.

While an update is in progress, avoid deleting the theme the app added to your theme library. If it does get deleted, your work is not lost — the app will offer to recreate it, and you can continue where you left off.

One update at a time, 30 days to complete it

You can run one update per store at a time, and you have 30 days to complete it — pause and come back whenever it suits you. Most updates are finished in a single sitting.

How your customizations are carried over

For every file, the app compares three versions: the original file as the theme vendor shipped it, your file with your customizations, and the file from the new version.

• Where only you changed the code, your change is carried over.
• Where only the new version changed the code, the new code is used.
• Where both changed the same code, that's a conflict — and it's shown to you to resolve.

Nothing is dropped silently: every customization the update touches is either carried over or shown to you as a conflict, and you confirm the final result.

Updates never rewrite your templates, section groups, or theme settings — your layouts and choices stay exactly as you built them. New sections, blocks, and settings from the new version still become available in the Theme Editor; they just don't switch themselves on, so it's worth a look around the editor after updating.

The longer you wait, the harder the update

Two things determine how hard an update is: how much you've customized your theme, and how many versions behind it is. The first is just your store being yours; the second is the one you can keep small.

• A short jump (one or two versions) usually means most files carry over automatically, and the few conflicts resolve with a click.
• A long jump means your theme and the vendor's version have each evolved a lot independently. Expect more conflicts, and some customizations may need to be re-applied by hand, because the code they modified has moved or no longer exists in the new version.

The takeaway: update when a new version comes out — don't let versions pile up. Regular updates stay routine; skipping many versions turns an update into a project. And if your theme is already heavily customized and several versions behind, consider Get expert help — a fixed-price service where Staylime experts complete the whole update for you.

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Wondering how this compares to Shopify's built-in theme updates — or what changes after your first update with the app? See Theme Companion and Shopify's built-in updates.