Contributing Guidelines

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Contribution Policy

Shopify is not accepting contributions to Horizon at this time.

According to the official Horizon repository, Shopify does not accept direct contributions, pull requests, or issues for the Horizon theme. This is because Horizon serves as a flagship reference implementation that Shopify maintains internally.

Why No Contributions?

Horizon is designed as:

A Reference Implementation: Demonstrates best practices for Shopify theme development
A Starting Point: Provides a foundation for building custom themes
An Educational Tool: Showcases modern web development techniques
A First-Party Theme: Maintained exclusively by Shopify’s internal team

Alternative Ways to Help

While you can’t contribute directly to Horizon, there are other ways to support the Shopify theme ecosystem:

1. Build on Horizon

Create your own theme using Horizon as a foundation:

Clone Horizon

git clone https://github.com/Shopify/horizon.git my-custom-theme
cd my-custom-theme

Create your own repository

# Remove Horizon's git history
rm -rf .git

# Initialize new repository
git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit based on Horizon"

# Add your remote
git remote add origin your-repo-url
git push -u origin main

Customize and share

Build your custom theme and share your learnings with the community through blog posts, tutorials, or open-source examples.

Important: Themes based on, derived from, or incorporating Horizon are not eligible for submission to the Shopify Theme Store. Use the Skeleton Theme instead if you’re building for the Theme Store.

2. Contribute to Other Projects

Consider contributing to these community projects:

Theme Check

Contribute to Theme Check - the linting tool for Shopify themes.

Liquid

Help improve Liquid documentation and examples.

Shopify CLI

Contribute to Shopify CLI development tools.

Polaris

Help with Polaris - Shopify’s design system.

3. Report Issues to Shopify

While direct contributions aren’t accepted, you can still help by:

Reporting bugs to Shopify Support

If you find bugs in Horizon:

Verify it’s a bug: Test in a clean Horizon installation
Document the issue: Include steps to reproduce, expected vs actual behavior
Contact Shopify Support: https://help.shopify.com/
Provide context: Horizon version, browser, screenshots

While you can’t submit a pull request, Shopify may address the issue in future releases.

Suggesting features

Feature suggestions for Horizon should go through:

Shopify Community Forums
Shopify Partner feedback channels
Direct communication with Shopify support

Be specific about:

What problem the feature solves
How it benefits merchants and developers
Real-world use cases

Documentation improvements

If you find errors or gaps in Shopify’s official documentation:

Visit Shopify.dev
Use the feedback widget on documentation pages
Suggest specific improvements with examples

Contribute to the broader community:

Write tutorials

Create blog posts or videos showing:

How you solved specific challenges with Horizon
Best practices you’ve discovered
Migration guides for your projects

Answer questions

Help others in:

Shopify Community Forums
Stack Overflow (tag: shopify)
Reddit (r/shopify)
Discord communities focused on Shopify development

Create educational content

Develop:

Open-source example implementations
Code snippets and gists
Documentation for common patterns
Video tutorials on YouTube

Code of Conduct

While not accepting direct contributions, if you interact with Shopify’s repositories or community spaces:

Be Respectful

Treat everyone with respect and consideration
Welcome newcomers and help them learn
Assume good intentions
Disagree respectfully and professionally

Be Constructive

Provide helpful, actionable feedback
Focus on solutions, not just problems
Share knowledge generously
Credit others for their work

Be Professional

Keep discussions on-topic
Avoid spam, self-promotion, or off-topic content
Don’t share confidential information
Follow platform-specific guidelines

Building for the Shopify Theme Store

If your goal is to create a theme for the Shopify Theme Store:

Do NOT use Horizon as your starting point. Themes derived from Horizon are not eligible for the Theme Store.

Use Skeleton Theme Instead

Start with Skeleton

git clone https://github.com/Shopify/skeleton-theme.git

Skeleton Theme is specifically designed for Theme Store submissions.

Review Theme Store requirements

Read the Theme Store Requirements carefully.

Follow submission guidelines

Ensure your theme meets all technical and design requirements before submission.

Learning from Horizon

Even though you can’t contribute, Horizon is an excellent learning resource:

Code Quality Standards

Study Horizon’s implementation to learn:

{%- liquid
  # Horizon uses liquid tags for cleaner code
  assign product_available = true
  if product.available == false
    assign product_available = false
  endif
  
  # Efficient whitespace control
  echo product.title
-%}

// Web Components pattern
class ProductForm extends HTMLElement {
  connectedCallback() {
    this.form = this.querySelector('form');
    this.form.addEventListener('submit', this.onSubmitHandler.bind(this));
  }
  
  onSubmitHandler(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    // Handle submission
  }
}

customElements.define('product-form', ProductForm);

/* Mobile-first responsive design */
.product-grid {
  display: grid;
  gap: var(--grid-gap);
  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(280px, 1fr));
}

/* Progressive enhancement */
@supports (container-type: inline-size) {
  .product-card {
    container-type: inline-size;
  }
}

Architecture Patterns

Learn Horizon’s approach to:

Theme blocks: Modular, reusable content blocks
Section schema: Merchant customization options
Progressive enhancement: Modern features with fallbacks
Performance optimization: Fast, efficient code
Accessibility: WCAG AA compliance

Development Workflows

Adopt Horizon’s best practices:

Theme Check integration: Automatic linting
Git workflow: Version control strategies
Testing approach: Browser and device testing
Documentation style: Clear, helpful comments

Staying Updated

Keep track of Horizon’s evolution:

Watch the repository

On GitHub, click “Watch” to get notifications of changes: https://github.com/Shopify/horizon

Check release notes

Review release notes regularly to learn about:

New features
Bug fixes
Breaking changes
Best practice updates

Follow Shopify developers

Stay connected:

License

Horizon is released under a permissive license:

Understanding the license

Use Horizon as a starting point for your own themes
Modify it for your projects
Learn from the code

What you cannot do:

Submit Horizon-based themes to the Theme Store
Claim the code as your own original work
Remove copyright notices

See LICENSE for full details.

Future Opportunities

Shopify’s contribution policy may change in the future:

Check the GitHub repository for updates
Watch for announcements on Shopify.dev
Follow Shopify’s developer communications

Contact

For questions about Horizon:

Shopify Support

Technical support and store-specific issues: https://help.shopify.com/

Community Forums

Community discussions and peer help: https://community.shopify.com/

Developer Docs

Official documentation and guides: https://shopify.dev/

Partner Support

For Shopify Partners: https://partners.shopify.com/

Summary

While you cannot contribute code directly to Horizon:

✅ Use it as a foundation for your own themes
✅ Learn from its implementation
✅ Share knowledge with the community
✅ Contribute to related Shopify projects
✅ Report bugs through proper channels
❌ Submit pull requests to the Horizon repository
❌ Use Horizon as a base for Theme Store submissions

Thank you for your interest in improving Shopify’s theme ecosystem!

⌘I

API Reference

Resources

Contributing Guidelines

Contribution Policy

Why No Contributions?

Alternative Ways to Help

1. Build on Horizon

2. Contribute to Other Projects

Theme Check

Liquid

Shopify CLI

Polaris

3. Report Issues to Shopify

Code of Conduct

Be Respectful

Be Constructive

Be Professional

Building for the Shopify Theme Store

Use Skeleton Theme Instead

Learning from Horizon

Code Quality Standards

Architecture Patterns

Development Workflows

Staying Updated

License

Future Opportunities

Contact

Shopify Support

Community Forums

Developer Docs

Partner Support

Summary

​Contribution Policy

​Why No Contributions?

​Alternative Ways to Help

​1. Build on Horizon

​2. Contribute to Other Projects

Theme Check

Liquid

Shopify CLI

Polaris

​3. Report Issues to Shopify

​4. Share Knowledge

​Code of Conduct

​Be Respectful

​Be Constructive

​Be Professional

​Building for the Shopify Theme Store

​Use Skeleton Theme Instead

​Learning from Horizon

​Code Quality Standards

​Architecture Patterns

​Development Workflows

​Staying Updated

​License

​Future Opportunities

​Contact

Shopify Support

Community Forums

Developer Docs

Partner Support

​Summary

Contribution Policy

Why No Contributions?

Alternative Ways to Help

1. Build on Horizon

2. Contribute to Other Projects

3. Report Issues to Shopify

4. Share Knowledge

Code of Conduct

Be Respectful

Be Constructive

Be Professional

Building for the Shopify Theme Store

Use Skeleton Theme Instead

Learning from Horizon

Code Quality Standards

Architecture Patterns

Development Workflows

Staying Updated

License

Future Opportunities

Contact

Summary