Performance
TL;DR: The performance quality bar every section must meet, explained in depth (not just a checklist) — built in from the start, not added later.
The Performance & Lighthouse page has the compliance checklist: the Lighthouse score bar Shopify’s review team checks. That page tells you the pass or fail bar. This section is different. It shows you the process for meeting that bar every time, for every section you build, not just once before you submit.
What’s on this page group
Section titled “What’s on this page group”- Performance Strategy & Critical Rendering Path: a performance plan, critical CSS, lazy loading, and preload, prefetch, and preconnect.
Domain-specific performance guidance lives alongside each domain: see CSS Performance, JavaScript Performance, and Asset Organization & Performance for images, video, and 3D/AR media.
Why this is a process, not just a checklist
Section titled “Why this is a process, not just a checklist”The Performance & Lighthouse page tells you exactly what Shopify checks, and the lowest score you need to pass. Think of it as a checklist you can scan quickly right before you submit. This section works differently: it helps you build the habit of making good performance decisions while you build each section, instead of scrambling to fix 40 sections in the last week before you submit.
Do / Don’t
Section titled “Do / Don’t”| ✅ Do | ❌ Don’t |
|---|---|
| Check every new section against the performance bar as you build it. An image-loading and script-scoping check only takes a few minutes per section. Fixing a whole theme right before submission takes days. | Treating performance as something to check only before submission, instead of a habit for every section. Fixing 40 sections at once is a much bigger job than fixing them one at a time as you go. |
| Read Performance Strategy all the way through before you build your first section. Once you understand the reasoning, most of it becomes second nature quickly. | Reading only the compliance checklist page and skipping the deep dive. The checklist tells you the bar. Performance Strategy tells you how to clear it every time, without redoing work later. |
| Before you submit, double-check the Performance & Lighthouse checklist. This section helps you build good habits. That page confirms you actually meet the bar. | — |
Further reading
Section titled “Further reading”- Accessibility: the other quality bar every section must meet, covered in its own dedicated section
- Assets Management, the dedicated section for icons, images, video, and 3D media
- Performance best practices (shopify.dev)