Storefront and publishing
Preview, edit, version, publish, and verify your Runner storefront.
Use this section to move a storefront from an in-app preview to a verified live store. Each page covers one task and explains what every important control does.
What this covers
Choose the guide that matches your current storefront task, without confusing an editable preview with a live, purchasable store.
Understand the four storefront states
| State | What it means | What it does not prove |
|---|---|---|
| Preview | Runner is showing a working copy inside your project. You can review pages and layouts. | The store is not necessarily public. |
| Publish | Runner checks and sends the current version to a public store URL for the first time. | Products, stock, shipping, payments, and checkout are not automatically verified. |
| Publish Changes | A live store already exists and Runner can send newer changes to it. | Unsaved or unfinished changes are not live yet. |
| Republish | Runner can retry after a failed publication or a completed publication that did not return a usable URL. | It is not the normal label for publishing new changes to a healthy live store. |
Choose a task
| What you want to do | Guide | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Review the current storefront | Preview your store | Check pages, routes, refresh behavior, and responsive layouts. |
| Make visual changes | Use Design Mode | Select an element and open the editing controls. |
| Change copy, spacing, type, or images | Edit content, pages, and media | Update one visible page and save the result. |
| Inspect or change a storefront file | Inspect and edit storefront code | Open the conditional code editor, save a focused file change, and review its Git state. |
| Compare or recover an earlier state | Use version history | Preview a version or restore it as a new current version. |
| Check whether the store is ready | Prepare to publish | Resolve or explicitly acknowledge the checks shown by Runner. |
| Put changes online | Publish and republish | Start the correct publication flow for the current state. |
| Prove the customer journey works | Verify the live store and checkout | Confirm the public catalog, cart, and checkout separately. |
| Use your own web address | Connect a custom domain | Add, buy, transfer, renew, or diagnose an eligible domain. |
| Recover from a blocked state | Troubleshoot preview and publishing | Match the message on screen to the safest next action. |
Recommended order for a first launch
- Review the latest version in Preview.
- Make and save any visual edits in Design Mode.
- Check the publication prerequisites.
- Select Publish and follow the confirmation flow.
- Open the public URL and verify the catalog and checkout.
- Add a custom domain only after the first successful publication.
Availability and safety
- Design Mode is conditional. It is intended for a ready latest version on a desktop layout and may be unavailable while Runner is working.
- Open code editor is conditional. Saving, committing, pushing, publishing, and verifying the live store are separate results.
- Publishing can be gated by plan or store state. Follow the message shown in your workspace rather than assuming every account has the same access.
- A publish confirmation can let you acknowledge incomplete setup. That choice can put a browseable storefront online while checkout remains paused or incomplete.