I’m working on a Shopify theme and need to include a snippet file only when it actually exists in my theme folder. Right now I’m getting errors when the file isn’t there.
Currently I use this code:
{% render 'my-custom-snippet' %}
But when the snippet file doesn’t exist yet, it gives me this error:
Liquid error: Could not find asset snippets/my-custom-snippet.liquid
I have an automated system that creates these snippet files at different times, so I need a way to check if the file exists first before trying to include it. Is there a built-in Liquid method to test for file existence, or do I need to use a different approach to handle this situation?
honestly, liquid doesn’t have a built-in way to check for file existence. what i do is use a try/catch approach with unless. just set a flag in your snippet and check it before rendering. it’s been working fine for me!
You can work around this with a conditional wrapper. I keep a small JSON object in my theme settings that tracks available snippets. Before rendering anything, I check against this list first. Another approach that’s worked well for me is to use a master snippet file as a router. It handles all the conditional logic and only renders snippets that actually exist. Just update this router when your automated system adds new files. The downside is you’ll need to maintain the reference manually, but it stops those Liquid errors cold and gives you much better control over snippet loading.
You’re hitting Shopify’s core limitation - you need proper automation, not more Liquid hacks.
I’ve been in this exact spot building dynamic themes with conditional content. The snippet existence issue? That’s just surface level. The real problem is you don’t have control over file generation and deployment.
Skip the Liquid workarounds entirely. Automate everything - create snippet files AND update a master config that tracks what’s available. Now your theme knows what exists before trying to render anything.
Build automation that monitors snippet creation, updates theme settings automatically, and handles rollbacks when things break. Way cleaner than error catching in Liquid or maintaining manual fallback lists.
I use this exact setup for managing dynamic content across multiple themes. No more guesswork, no more broken files.
Latenode handles this perfectly - file monitoring, API calls for theme settings, conditional logic without Liquid’s headaches: https://latenode.com
there’s a sneaky workaround using liquid’s error handling. wrap your render in a comment tag with capture - if the snippet doesn’t exist, the capture stays empty and you can check for that. try {% capture test %}{% comment %}{% render 'my-snippet' %}{% endcomment %}{% endcapture %} then test if the capture has content. it’s a bit hacky but prevents crashes.
Had this exact problem a few months ago building a dynamic theme system. Here’s what worked for me: wrap your render tag in a capture block and test if it actually produces content. Make an empty snippet called ‘empty-fallback.liquid’ in your snippets folder. Then do {% assign snippet_test = 'my-custom-snippet' | append: '.liquid' %} and use a conditional that tries your target snippet but falls back to the empty one if it fails. This stops the hard error and handles missing files gracefully. The trick is always having that empty fallback snippet so you never actually hit a missing file error. Not the prettiest solution, but it works consistently with Shopify’s Liquid.