[Bug]: shopify --theme-serve "Keep the remote version" deletes files on new development theme

[ceri-waterscreative]

Please confirm that you have:

• Searched existing issues to see if your issue is a duplicate. (If you’ve found a duplicate issue, feel free to add additional information in a comment on it.)
• Reproduced the issue in the latest CLI version.

What type of project are you working on?

theme

Expected behavior

When doing "shopify theme serve" anew (No development theme uploaded yet) it says that all .json files are out of sync. "is different from the remote version in the development theme", choosing "Keep the remote version" actually results in all of your .json files being deleted!

It shouldn't say any files are out of sync because they don't yet exist on the development theme..

Actual behavior

All of my .json files were deleted

Stack trace

No response

Reproduction steps

1. Login to a Shopify Store. (shopify login --store store-a.myshopify.com)
2. Login to a different Shopify Store ((shopify login --store store-b.myshopify.com))
3. Run "shopify theme serve --theme-editor-sync"
4. Wait for message "xx is different from the remote version in the development theme"
5. Choose number 1 (Keep the remote version)
6. Watch as all of your .json files get deleted!

Operating System

Windows 11

CLI version (run shopify version if you're not sure)

2.19.0

Shell

Git Bash

Ruby version (run ruby -v if you're not sure)

2.7.3p183

What language and version are you using in your application?

N/A

[vfonic]

I've encountered this issue several times. For both new development theme as well as existing one (but I logged in/out of a different Partner organization).

This is a huge issue. Shopify CLI should never delete local files. I have email_templates directory locally and it's constantly getting deleted...but that's a separate issue.

This issue with fantom conflicting or non-existing files is a bug and the given options are confusing and at this point I'm just guessing which option I can choose to cause the least amount of work, reverting back to how everything was before I was offered the list of possible solutions to proceed...

[vfonic]

Possible duplicate: #2424

[mikez93]

I have the same issue.

[vfonic]

Can someone please have a look at this issue?

I'm working on several stores and one of them is an old theme with lots of files and it takes almost 2 minutes to completely start shopify theme serve and sync all the files, with no file changes between live theme and local development theme.

2 minutes is an eternity and is annoying to have to do this every time I switch store with shopify login ...

[vfonic]

/cc @mgmanzella @gonzaloriestra

[karreiro]

Thank you for reporting and sharing those details, @vfonic. They help us towards a proper fix for this issue.

The initial decision of keeping the remote or the local version just impacts the setup of the development theme (which happens when the progress bar is loading) - the other 2-way sync features of shopify theme serve --theme-editor-sync are not affected by this initial decision.

As a temporary workaround, when you run shopify theme serve --theme-editor-sync, if your development theme doesn't exist (due to a re-login), you may select the option to keep your local files. Then, the development theme will be created using your local files as the reference, and nothing will be deleted.

But, as I mentioned, that's a temporary workaround, and the team is already working on a proper fix for this issue.

[adam-ainsworth]

For anyone else who stumbles across this and is despairing that they've lost a load of work because the sync overwrote the files on the cloud - you can retrieve previous versions of files from within the code editor.