What is Shopify Schema? A Beginner's Guide with Examples

🧠 What is Shopify Schema?

In a Shopify theme, a schema is a block of JSON (inside Liquid files) that defines settings, blocks, presets, and how they appear in the theme editor. It allows store admins to customize content without editing code.

You write the schema inside {% schema %} ... {% endschema %} tags in .liquid files (like inside sections/).

🧩 Example: A Basic Section Schema

{% schema %}
{
  "name": "Banner",
  "settings": [
    {
      "type": "text",
      "id": "heading",
      "label": "Heading Text",
      "default": "Welcome to our store"
    },
    {
      "type": "image_picker",
      "id": "banner_image",
      "label": "Banner Image"
    }
  ],
  "presets": [
    {
      "name": "Default Banner",
      "category": "Custom"
    }
  ]
}
{% endschema %}

🔍 Let’s break this down:

🛠 Common type values inside settings

🧱 Blocks inside Schema (For Repeating Content)

You can add blocks if you want multiple repeated items (like features, FAQs, testimonials):

{% schema %}
{
  "name": "FAQs",
  "settings": [],
  "blocks": [
    {
      "type": "faq",
      "name": "FAQ item",
      "settings": [
        {
          "type": "text",
          "id": "question",
          "label": "Question"
        },
        {
          "type": "textarea",
          "id": "answer",
          "label": "Answer"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "presets": [
    {
      "name": "FAQ Section"
    }
  ]
}
{% endschema %}

🧾 Usage in Liquid:

{% for block in section.blocks %}
  <h3>{{ block.settings.question }}</h3>
  <p>{{ block.settings.answer }}</p>
{% endfor %}

🛎 Where do you use schema?

• Inside sections/ (like hero.liquid, testimonial.liquid)
• Sometimes inside templates/ like product.json, index.json (for layout structure)

🧠 Summary