I’m working on creating a custom Shopify theme from the ground up and need complete control over the design and functionality. However, I’m running into major issues with the Shopify CLI that’s preventing me from getting started.
The Problem:
Whenever I try to run basic commands like shopify auth login or shopify theme dev, I get this error:
Error: Invalid hook call. Hooks can only be called inside the body of a function component.
TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'useState')
What I’ve tried:
- Multiple CLI versions (3.49.0 and 3.47.0)
- Different environments (Windows PowerShell, WSL2 Ubuntu)
- Fresh Node.js v20 installations
- Clean npm cache and reinstalls
- Using
npm install -g @shopify/cli @shopify/theme
Sample commands that fail:
shopify auth login
shopify theme dev --store=my-development-store.myshopify.com
shopify theme download
The CLI seems to have issues with its React-based interface components. Since I can’t get the official tools working, what are my alternatives for developing a custom Shopify theme? I want to build custom sections, templates, and have full control over the codebase just like any other web project.
Are there alternative workflows or tools that don’t rely on the broken CLI?
Try Themekit instead of the Shopify CLI. It’s older but way more stable on Windows. I grabbed mine from GitHub releases and haven’t had those React hook issues since - it doesn’t use React at all. Just authenticate with a private app password and work directly with theme files using theme watch and theme deploy. Setup’s easy: make a config.yml with your store info and theme ID, then run commands without all the modern CLI bloat. I’ve been using this on Windows 10 for two years and it handles custom sections, templates, and liquid files perfectly. Shopify still officially supports it and it’s much more reliable for regular theme work. The docs are solid and you won’t waste hours fixing CLI React bugs.
honestly, just use the online theme editor with git for version control. upload a basic theme zip to ur store, then edit directly in shopify admin. way less headache than dealing with CLI bugs. i’ve been doing this for months and it’s actually faster once u get the hang of it.
Had the same CLI problems last year and ditched it for manual theme development. Way better control honestly. Skip the CLI completely - use the Theme API directly with your own build tools. Set up a private app with theme permissions through the Admin API. Build your theme structure locally following Shopify’s liquid conventions, then push files using the REST Admin API endpoints. I wrote a simple Node.js script that watches for changes and auto-uploads through the Asset API. For previews, just use the theme editor in Shopify admin or set up a local server that proxies requests. Cut my deployment time in half since I’m not dealing with the CLI’s flaky connection issues. The Theme API docs are solid and you get the same results without those React hook headaches.