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Overview

This walkthrough takes you from nothing to a live, edited theme. It uses the Theme CLI, which is the recommended way to develop themes. You need Node.js 18 or newer and a SellAuth API key.
1

Install the CLI

The installed binary is called sellauth-theme.
2

Log in

Paste your API key when prompted.
Your API key is available at Dashboard > Account > API Access. If you don’t see an API key, click Regenerate. Your Shop ID is shown on the same page.
3

Create a theme

Themes are created on SellAuth, from an official theme as the starting point:
The command prints the new Theme ID. If your account has more than one shop, add --shop <shopId>.
4

Pull it locally

Files land in ./themes/<themeId>. Open that folder in your editor. Start with templates/shop.njk and components/hero.njk to see how a page is put together.
5

Start watch mode

This prints a preview URL, watches your files, pushes every change, rebuilds Tailwind, and reloads the preview. Keep it running while you work.
6

Make an edit

Open components/hero.njk and change some markup, then save. The preview reloads with your change.To add a new configurable setting instead, add it to schema.json and read it in the component:
See Settings and Schema for the property types you can use.
7

Apply it to your shop

When you are happy with the result, make the theme live:
push and watch are a two-way sync. Files that exist on SellAuth but not in your local folder are deleted on SellAuth. Always pull before you start working on a machine that may be out of date.
Keep the theme folder in git. It is the only reliable undo, and it makes it obvious what a theme update overwrote.
A .gitignore worth starting from:
built.css is generated from style.css on every build, so tracking it only produces noisy diffs.

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Where to go next

Theme Structure

What each folder does and which template maps to which URL.

Nunjucks Templating

The template language, tags, and the scope rules that trip people up.

Template Variables

What data each page gives you.

Assets and Styling

Tailwind, design tokens, and upgrade-safe custom CSS.