Automated Deployment with Buddy CI/CD

Automated deployment eliminates manual errors and ensures consistent quality. Buddy is a CI/CD platform with excellent Shopify integration, making it ideal for theme deployment workflows.

Why Automate Deployment?

Manual Deployment Problems

Human error (wrong theme, wrong store)
Inconsistent processes
Forgotten quality checks
Time-consuming repetitive tasks

Automation Benefits

Consistent quality gates
Faster deployments
Automatic testing
Audit trail
Team collaboration

Buddy Overview

Buddy is a CI/CD platform that:

Has native Shopify CLI integration
Provides visual pipeline builder
Offers Git-based triggers
Supports multiple environments

Setting Up Buddy

1. Create Buddy Account

Sign up at buddy.works
Connect your Git provider (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket)
Select your theme repository

2. Create New Project

Project Name: my-shopify-theme
Repository: github.com/username/my-theme

3. Create Pipeline

Pipelines define automated workflows triggered by Git events.

Basic Deployment Pipeline

Pipeline: Deploy to Development

Trigger: Push to develop branch

# Pipeline configuration (visual builder creates this)

Pipeline: Deploy to Development
Trigger: On push to develop

Actions:
  1. Shopify CLI
     - Command: theme push
     - Theme: Development theme
     - Store: my-store.myshopify.com

Buddy Visual Configuration

Add Pipeline
- Name: “Deploy to Development”
- Trigger: On push
- Branch: develop
Add Action: Shopify CLI
- Action type: Shopify CLI
- Command: theme push
- Store URL: my-store.myshopify.com
- Theme ID: Your development theme ID
- Add Shopify CLI token (from Partner Dashboard)

Full CI/CD Pipeline

Pipeline: Quality + Deploy

Pipeline: Quality Check and Deploy
Trigger: On push to develop

Actions:

  1. Run Theme Check
     Type: Shopify CLI
     Command: shopify theme check

  2. Push to Development Theme
     Type: Shopify CLI
     Command: shopify theme push
     Theme ID: dev-theme-id
     Ignore: config/settings_data.json

  3. Slack Notification
     Type: Slack
     Message: "Theme deployed to development"

Pipeline: Production Release

Pipeline: Production Release
Trigger: On push to main

Actions:

  1. Run Theme Check
     Type: Shopify CLI
     Command: shopify theme check
     Fail on: warnings

  2. Backup Current Theme
     Type: Shopify CLI
     Command: shopify theme pull --live
     Output: ./backup

  3. Upload Backup
     Type: Upload to S3/Storage
     Source: ./backup

  4. Deploy to Production
     Type: Shopify CLI
     Command: shopify theme push --live
     Ignore: config/settings_data.json

  5. Notify Team
     Type: Slack
     Message: "🚀 Theme v${VERSION} deployed to production"

Shopify CLI Authentication

Get CLI Token

Go to Shopify Partners Dashboard
Navigate to Apps → CLI Tokens
Create new token for Buddy

Configure in Buddy

Go to Project Settings → Variables
Add variable:
- Name: SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN
- Value: Your token
- Type: Secret

Use in Pipeline

Environment Variables:
  SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN: ${SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN}

Multi-Store Deployment

Pipeline: Deploy to Multiple Stores

Pipeline: Multi-Store Deployment
Trigger: Manual or on tag

Actions:

  1. Theme Check
     Command: shopify theme check

  2. Deploy to Store A
     Store: store-a.myshopify.com
     Theme ID: 123456789

  3. Deploy to Store B
     Store: store-b.myshopify.com
     Theme ID: 987654321

  4. Summary Notification
     Message: "Deployed to 2 stores"

Environment-Specific Pipelines

Development Pipeline

Trigger: Push to develop
├── Theme Check
├── Push to dev theme
└── Notify: Slack #dev-updates

Staging Pipeline

Trigger: Push to release/*
├── Theme Check (strict)
├── Push to staging theme
├── Lighthouse audit
└── Notify: Slack #staging-review

Production Pipeline

Trigger: Push to main
├── Theme Check (strict)
├── Backup current theme
├── Push to live theme
├── Smoke tests
└── Notify: Slack #releases

Advanced Actions

Lighthouse Audit

Action: Lighthouse CI
Type: Custom script

Script: |
  npm install -g @lhci/cli
  lhci autorun --config=lighthouserc.json

Lighthouse Config (lighthouserc.json):
{
  "ci": {
    "collect": {
      "url": ["https://my-store.myshopify.com/"]
    },
    "assert": {
      "preset": "lighthouse:recommended",
      "assertions": {
        "categories:performance": ["error", {"minScore": 0.8}]
      }
    }
  }
}

Custom Notifications

Action: Slack Notification
Channel: #theme-deployments

Message: |
  🚀 *Theme Deployment*

  Repository: ${BUDDY_REPO_SLUG}
  Branch: ${BUDDY_EXECUTION_BRANCH}
  Commit: ${BUDDY_EXECUTION_REVISION_SHORT}
  Author: ${BUDDY_INVOKER_NAME}

  Status: ${BUDDY_EXECUTION_STATUS}

Conditional Actions

Action: Deploy to Production
Condition: Only when tag matches v*

Action: Send Alert
Condition: On failure

Pipeline Templates

Template: Feature Branch Preview

Pipeline: Feature Preview
Trigger: Push to feature/*

Actions:
  1. Create Preview Theme
     Command: shopify theme push --unpublished
     Name: "Preview: ${BRANCH_NAME}"

  2. Comment on PR
     Type: GitHub Comment
     Message: "Preview ready: https://admin.shopify.com/themes/${THEME_ID}/editor"

Template: Nightly Backup

Pipeline: Nightly Backup
Trigger: Schedule (daily at 2am)

Actions:
  1. Pull Live Theme
     Command: shopify theme pull --live

  2. Archive Theme
     Command: tar -czf theme-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz ./theme

  3. Upload to S3
     Bucket: theme-backups
     Path: backups/${DATE}/

Buddy Variables

Built-in Variables

${BUDDY_EXECUTION_BRANCH}     - Branch name
${BUDDY_EXECUTION_REVISION}   - Full commit SHA
${BUDDY_EXECUTION_REVISION_SHORT} - Short commit SHA
${BUDDY_INVOKER_NAME}         - Who triggered
${BUDDY_EXECUTION_START_DATE} - Timestamp
${BUDDY_PROJECT_NAME}         - Project name

Custom Variables

Project Variables:
  SHOPIFY_STORE: my-store.myshopify.com
  DEV_THEME_ID: 123456789
  STAGING_THEME_ID: 987654321
  PRODUCTION_THEME_ID: live

Usage in Actions:
  Store: ${SHOPIFY_STORE}
  Theme ID: ${DEV_THEME_ID}

Handling Secrets

Secure Variable Storage

Secrets (encrypted):
  SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN: ****
  SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ****
  AWS_ACCESS_KEY: ****

Access in Actions

Environment Variables:
  SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN: ${SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN}

Debugging Pipelines

View Execution Logs

Buddy provides detailed logs for each action:

Command output
Error messages
Timing information

Test Actions Locally

# Replicate Buddy environment locally
export SHOPIFY_CLI_THEME_TOKEN="your-token"
shopify theme check
shopify theme push --development

Manual Trigger

Run pipelines manually to test:

Go to Pipeline
Click “Run”
Select branch/tag
Monitor execution

Best Practices

1. Always Run Theme Check First

# Fail fast if there are issues
1. Theme Check
   Fail on: errors (or warnings for production)

2. Backup Before Production Deploy

# Always have a rollback option
1. Backup Current Theme
2. Deploy New Version

3. Use Separate Pipelines per Environment

develop → Development Pipeline
release/* → Staging Pipeline
main → Production Pipeline

4. Notify on All Outcomes

On Success: "✅ Deployed successfully"
On Failure: "❌ Deployment failed"

Practice Exercise

Set up a complete CI/CD workflow:

Create Buddy account and connect repo
Create development deployment pipeline
Create production deployment pipeline with backup
Add Slack notifications
Test complete workflow

Key Takeaways

Buddy has native Shopify support for easy setup
Pipelines automate repetitive tasks
Multiple environments need separate pipelines
Theme Check should run before every deploy
Backups protect against bad deployments
Notifications keep team informed
Variables keep secrets secure

What’s Next?

The final lesson is the Capstone Project where you’ll build, deploy, and document a complete theme.