How to Start Shopify Development Locally (for Free) on macOS — Step-by-Step Guide

If you’ve ever wanted to develop Shopify themes locally — with live preview, hot reload, and zero hosting cost — this guide is for you.
I set this up on my MacBook Pro, hit a few common CLI errors along the way, and documented everything so you can skip the confusion.

What You’ll Get from This Tutorial

• Build and customize Shopify themes locally (no paid plan needed)
• Work inside a free Shopify Development Store
• Use Shopify CLI v3+ for live reload and preview
• Fix real-world errors like

“Command login not found. Did you mean auth login?” and “Nonexistent flag: –store”

Let’s dive in.

Create Your Free Shopify Development Store

Shopify offers free development stores through the Shopify Partners dashboard.

1. Log in or create a Partner account.
2. Go to Stores → Add store → Create development store.
3. Name it something like test.
   You’ll get a URL like:
4. test.myshopify.com

Install Shopify CLI and Dependencies (macOS)

Open your terminal and install everything you need:

# Install Node.js (LTS)
brew install node

# Install Shopify CLI
npm install -g @shopify/cli @shopify/theme

# Verify installation
shopify version

Optional but helpful:
# Install Theme Check (validates Liquid & JSON)
sudo gem install theme-check

Connect Shopify CLI to Your Store

Here’s where I hit the first gotcha!
Initially, I tried:

shopify login --store test.myshopify.com

 Error:

Command `login` not found. Did you mean `auth login`?

Okay, so I tried:

shopify auth login --store test.myshopify.com

Another error:

Nonexistent flag: --store

Turns out, Shopify CLI v3.60+ no longer accepts the --store flag.
The correct way is:

Correct command:

shopify auth login

Then follow the browser prompt:

Log in with your Shopify Partner account

Select your development store

Verify it worked:

shopify auth whoami

Expected output:

Organization: My Partner Org

Store: test.myshopify.com

Account: your-email@example.com

If the store isn’t set yet:

shopify config set store test.myshopify.com

Create and Run Your First Theme Locally

Now the fun part

Start a new theme:

shopify theme init test

cd test

Launch local dev with hot reload:

shopify theme dev

It’ll open a live preview:

https://test.myshopify.com/?preview_theme_id=1234567890

Every time you save a file, it refreshes instantly in the browser.
Zero hosting, zero fees.

Pro Tips for Smooth Local Development

• Preview safely: Shopify CLI uses a development theme, not your live one.
• Format Liquid automatically:
• npm install -D prettier prettier-plugin-liquid
• npx prettier –write .
• Lint for errors:
• theme-check
• Push changes manually:
• shopify theme push

/tab

Common Errors (and Fixes)

Error	Cause	Fix
Command login not found	CLI v3+ changed command syntax	Use shopify auth login
Nonexistent flag: –store	Newer CLI no longer uses –store flag	Just run shopify auth login and select store
Error connecting to store	Wrong store or session expired	shopify auth logout && shopify auth login
Permission denied	Partner account not linked to store	Ensure you have collaborator access
Preview not loading	Cache or session issue	Hard refresh or re-run shopify theme dev

Conclusion

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