Shopify Theme Store Requirements

TL;DR: What Shopify requires before it will list your theme, in plain English.

Shopify’s official requirements page lists 22 numbered rules. Think of this page as a map. Each sub-page below covers a group of those rules in depth. You’ll get the reason behind each rule, a code example, and a link back to the exact official rule.

Why this section matters more than it might seem

Every one of the 22 requirements is a hard rule, not a suggestion. Shopify’s review team checks all of them, one by one (see Review Process & Rejections). If you miss even one item, like a missing @app block, a forgotten label on a setting, or a stray .scss file, Shopify rejects the whole submission. There’s no partial credit.

So build every requirement in from day one. Treat this section as a running checklist while you work, and check everything again right before you submit (see Pre-Submission Checklist). Don’t leave this for the end and try to patch it all in at once, it’s much harder that way.

The 22 requirements, grouped

Group	Official sections	Covered on
Store identity & design	1 Exclusivity, 2 Uniqueness, 3 Design & UX, 18 Naming, 20 Demo stores	Store & Design Requirements
Performance	6 Lighthouse	Performance & Lighthouse
Accessibility	12 Accessibility	Accessibility
Global reach	4 (language/country selection)	Internationalization & RTL, now covered in its own Internationalization & Locales section
Apps	5 (app blocks), 8 (no app-dependent features)	App Compatibility
Custom data	14 (metaobject settings)	Metafields & Metaobjects
Coverage	4 Features, 5 Templates, 7 Pages, 9 Browsers, 10 Assets, 11 SEO, 13 Social, 19 Versions, 21 Docs, 22 Support	Required Templates & Features
Schema quality	14 Settings, 15 Font picker, 16 Color system	Schema.json Best Practices

TL;DR — the requirements that reject the most submissions

Short on time? Triple-check these before you submit Solis. These are the things that trip up most first-time Theme Partners:

☑ Scaffolded from Skeleton Theme (or fully original code), never Dawn or Horizon
☑ Structurally unique design, not a reskin of an existing Theme Store theme
☑ Lighthouse Performance ≥ 60, Accessibility ≥ 90 on real content
☑ @app blocks in the main product section and featured product section
☑ Realistic demo store, no Lorem Ipsum, no placeholder copy
☑ Every metaobject/metaobject_list setting uses a standard definition, never a custom one

How to use this section day to day

When you’re building a new section or feature, check Required Templates & Features and Schema.json Best Practices first, before you start writing code.
When you’re reviewing a PR, check it against Accessibility and Performance & Lighthouse. These two break most often, usually because of an unrelated change somewhere else.
Right before submission, go through every sub-page here, start to finish. See Pre-Submission Checklist for the full combined list.

Do / Don’t

✅ Do	❌ Don’t
Build each requirement in as you go, section by section. Don’t save this list for a “fix it before submission” pass. Adding accessibility or app-block support to 20 sections after the fact costs far more work than building it in from the first one.	Treating requirements as a final check instead of a rule you build with from the start. If you build 15 sections without app-block support, adding it later means touching every single one of them.
If a requirement seems unclear for a specific design decision, go with the stricter reading. What feels like a pass to you can still read as a clear fail to Shopify’s review team.	Assuming something “basically” meets a requirement. Shopify’s review is pass or fail per rule. There’s no partial credit for an accessibility rule you “mostly” followed.
Re-read these pages every so often, not just once at the start of the project. Shopify updates these requirements, so a rule you memorized early on may have changed by the time you submit.	Not re-reading updated requirements. Shopify keeps changing this list on its end. Check the official page every so often, not just once.