Scaffold Setup Guide

TL;DR: Going from an empty folder to a working first section and block.

In Section 1, you got Solis running on your own computer. Solis is already scaffolded, so you won’t be running shopify theme init or building the folder structure yourself, that already happened. This section covers why it was built the way it was (scaffolded from Skeleton Theme, not Horizon), then walks you through building a practice section and block by hand, step by step, using our conventions, before you touch a real ticket.

What’s on this page group

• Scaffolding From Horizon: why Solis was scaffolded from Skeleton Theme instead of Horizon, and what that means for how you use Horizon as a reference.
• Your First Section & Block: a full worked example, from start to finish, to practice the workflow before you build something real.
• Settings Schema Walkthrough: the difference between theme-level settings and section or block settings.

What “ready to build” looks like

Before you move on to building real Solis features, check that you have all of these:

• ☑ Solis cloned and running locally with shopify theme dev
• ☑ At least one practice section and block that you built yourself, start to finish (see Your First Section & Block), not just read through the existing ones
• ☑ Read config/settings_schema.json and know what’s already in it, and added one small theme-wide setting yourself as practice
• ☑ A clear idea of when a setting belongs in theme settings, section settings, or block settings

If you’re missing any of these, work through the three pages in this section before you start a real ticket. The first section you build sets the pattern for everything you build after it, so it’s worth getting right from the start.

Do / Don’t

✅ Do	❌ Don’t
Build one small, low-risk section first. See Your First Section & Block for a full example. Use it to practice the whole process: writing the code, building the schema, previewing it, and opening a pull request. Do this before you take on a real feature.	Skipping straight to a real, complex feature as your first section. A testimonials section or a simple banner is a much better first exercise than a full product page.
Don’t copy an existing theme’s section code just to save time. Read Store & Design Requirements to understand why your code needs to be original, then build your own pattern from scratch.	Copying patterns from another theme’s public source code without changing them. It’s tempting because it’s quicker, but it risks breaking the uniqueness rule. You can also end up with patterns that don’t match our style.
Keep a running list of the settings you add to config/settings_schema.json. If the theme-wide settings panel grows without a clear pattern, merchants find it confusing fast.	Adding settings at the wrong level. This means making something theme-wide when it should be per-section, or the other way around. See Settings Schema Walkthrough for help deciding.

Further reading

• Create a theme (shopify.dev)