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Code Review Checklist for Shopify Projects in 2025

Eugene Moreira
Eugene Moreira |

In 2025, Shopify has become one of the most developer-friendly and scalable ecommerce platforms. With the rise of Online Store 2.0, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and its growing app ecosystem, Shopify development now requires much more than basic coding skills. Development teams must focus on quality, performance, maintainability, and security to deliver professional, future-ready stores.

This comprehensive Shopify code review checklist helps ensure your custom themes, apps, and headless storefronts meet modern development standards before going live.

1. Liquid Code Quality and Organization

Key Review Areas

  • Use semantic and well-structured Liquid code to improve clarity and maintainability.
  • Avoid complex business logic inside templates — move it to JavaScript or middleware where appropriate.
  • Prefer {% render %} instead of {% include %} for better performance and variable scope safety.
  • Keep a clear separation between layouts, templates, sections, and snippets.
  • Follow DRY principles (Don’t Repeat Yourself) to reduce duplication.

Best Practices

  • Break reusable code into snippets for easier maintenance.
  • Avoid deeply nested for and if statements.
  • Leverage theme settings to improve flexibility and reusability.

2. Shopify Theme Folder & File Structure

Key Review Areas

  • Use the correct folder structure: /sections, /snippets, /assets, /templates, /config.
  • Adopt logical and consistent naming conventions.
  • Remove unused or duplicate files regularly.
  • Build modular sections and snippets for scalable themes.

Tools

  • Shopify Theme Check CLI for automated theme validation.
  • Prettier and ESLint for consistent JSON and JavaScript formatting.

3. Performance and Speed Optimization

Key Review Areas

  • Optimize images using modern formats like WebP or AVIF.
  • Enable lazy loading for images and iframes.
  • Minimize external libraries to reduce page weight.
  • Defer or lazy-load JS and CSS to avoid render blocking.
  • Optimize fonts using font-display: swap and load asynchronously.

Recommended Tools

  • Google Lighthouse
  • Shopify Analyzer by SpeedBoostr
  • GTMetrix or WebPageTest.org

4. JavaScript and Front-End Code Review

Key Review Areas

  • Use modular JavaScript structures like ES modules or bundlers (Webpack, Vite).
  • Avoid inline JavaScript inside Liquid templates.
  • Ensure production JS is minified and transpiled.
  • Use event delegation and performance-friendly DOM manipulation.
  • Prevent memory leaks from timers, event listeners, or third-party scripts.

Best Practices

  • Separate vendor scripts from custom JS logic.
  • Use lightweight reactive libraries like Alpine.js or Stimulus.js when necessary.

5. Shopify App Integration and API Usage

Key Review Areas

  • Ensure correct versioning for Shopify Admin and Storefront APIs.
  • Secure API requests and safely store credentials.
  • Optimize GraphQL queries to avoid over-fetching data.
  • Embed apps using Shopify App Bridge and Polaris UI for seamless integration.

Custom Shopify App Considerations

  • Implement secure JWT and OAuth authentication flows.
  • Validate webhooks with HMAC signatures.
  • Include rate limiting and retry logic for API calls.

6. Headless Shopify Development (Hydrogen & Oxygen)

Key Review Areas

  • Follow best practices with Shopify’s Hydrogen React-based framework.
  • Leverage Oxygen for server-side rendering and performance gains.
  • Use clean, modular routing and state management patterns.
  • Optimize GraphQL Storefront API usage for speed and efficiency.

Additional Considerations

  • Implement proper CDN caching strategies.
  • Reduce bundle size and speed up hydration for better user experience.

7. Responsive Design and Mobile Optimization

Key Review Areas

  • Ensure full responsiveness across all devices and browsers.
  • Apply mobile-first design principles.
  • Use fluid layouts and relative units like %, rem, em.
  • Create touch-friendly navigation and menus.

Testing Tools

  • Chrome DevTools responsive mode
  • BrowserStack or LambdaTest for cross-browser testing

8. SEO and Metadata Validation

Key Review Areas

  • Dynamic meta titles, descriptions, and OG tags for every page.
  • Use canonical URLs to prevent duplicate content issues.
  • Add structured data (JSON-LD) for products, collections, and articles.
  • Ensure semantic HTML with proper heading structure (h1, h2, etc.).

9. Shopify CLI and Deployment Strategy

Key Review Areas

  • Use Shopify CLI for theme development and Hydrogen workflows.
  • Set up .shopifyignore to exclude development files.
  • Version control with Git and branch-based workflows.
  • Automate deployments with Shopify GitHub integration.

CI/CD Considerations

  • Automated theme previews for every pull request.
  • Run linters and unit tests before merging code.

10. Accessibility (WCAG Compliance)

Key Review Areas

  • Use semantic HTML and correct ARIA roles.
  • Ensure color contrast meets WCAG 2.1 AA standards.
  • Interactive elements must be keyboard accessible.
  • Provide descriptive alt text for images and labels for form fields.

Testing Tools

  • axe DevTools
  • Lighthouse Accessibility Audit
  • Wave Accessibility Tool

11. Testing and QA Procedures

Key Review Areas

  • Manual QA across all pages, devices, and checkout flows.
  • Automated tests for apps using Jest, Cypress, or Playwright.
  • Proper error handling for user inputs and failures.
  • Remove debug logs before production release.

12. Security and Compliance

Key Review Areas

  • Ensure no exposed API keys or tokens in public repos.
  • Use encrypted channels and secure tokens for webhooks and APIs.
  • Comply with GDPR/CCPA: cookie consent, data handling, deletion policies.
  • Enforce Shopify Content Security Policy for embedded apps.

13. Internationalization and Localization

Key Review Areas

  • Configure Shopify Markets and proper currency formatting.
  • Set up language selectors and multi-language content structures.
  • Ensure translations are loaded efficiently.
  • Validate tax and shipping rules for each region.

Final Pre-Launch Checklist

  • All pages tested for responsiveness and speed.
  • No console errors or Liquid warnings remain.
  • Checkout and payment flows fully tested.
  • Apps tested under realistic traffic conditions.
  • Theme editor schema and admin settings validated.

Conclusion

A thorough code review goes beyond finding bugs — it enforces coding standards, scalability, and security. Shopify projects in 2025 require attention to performance, structure, and cross-functional quality. Whether you’re building a basic store, Shopify Plus enterprise setup, or a Hydrogen headless storefront, following this checklist ensures production-ready, maintainable, and high-performing projects.