How shopdev works

Written By Sam van Hees

Last updated 11 months ago

shopdev is your AI developer for Shopify. It allows you to build custom Shopify sections using just natural language — no coding experience required (unless you want to dive into the code yourself!).

Whether you're a founder, designer, or developer, shopdev streamlines the entire development process — from idea to production-ready code — with built-in previews and one-click publishing.

Describe What You Want to Build

Start by telling shopdev what you want to build. Just write your idea in plain English. For example:

“Create a product carousel that shows featured products with star ratings.”

Currently, shopdev specializes in generating Shopify sections, with support for snippets and full themes coming soon.

AI Briefing & Code Generation

Once you describe your idea, shopdev will:

  1. Create a Briefing – outlining what it will build, how it will behave, and which settings will be included.

  2. Generate Clean Liquid Code – optimized for production and Shopify’s best practices.

  3. Show a Live Preview – so you can visually watch your section come to life in real-time.

Make Edits & Iterate

Not quite right? No problem. You can ask shopdev for:

  • Adjustments (“Make the button blue”)

  • Improvements (“Add animation on hover”)

  • Additions (“Include product reviews below each item”)

shopdev will update the briefing, regenerate the code, and give you an updated preview. You can do this as many times as you need.

Preview Mode vs Code View

You can seamlessly switch between:

  • Preview Mode – to see how your section looks and behaves

  • Code View – to inspect or directly edit the generated Liquid, HTML, CSS, or JavaScript

Advanced users can jump straight into the code and fine-tune everything manually.

Export or Publish

Once you're happy with the result, you have two options:

Export

Download the full code as a .liquid file to use in your own editor or Shopify theme manually.

Publish to Shopify

Click Publish, and shopdev will:

  • Upload the section directly to your connected Shopify store

  • Register it under the project name

  • Make it available in your Shopify Theme Customizer under that same name

Projects & Naming

Each session or idea you create in Shopdev is saved as a named project by default. This helps you stay organized and easily find or publish past work.