# What is Snapty

**Snapty is version history for your Shopify theme.**

It takes a full copy of your live theme's files on a schedule, shows you exactly what changed between any two points, and lets you put any of it back — a single file or a whole version — without touching your storefront until you say so. It also gives you a place to keep tracking code and custom snippets *outside* your theme files, so a theme update cannot take them with it.

Think of it as the undo history your theme does not have.

## The problem it exists for

<Hint type="warning" title="Shopify stops updating your theme without telling you">

The moment anyone edits a file in your live theme other than `settings_data.json` or a file under `templates/`, that theme is no longer eligible for the updates your theme vendor ships. Shopify does not warn you, does not mark the theme, and does not tell you which edit did it.

</Hint>

A developer pasting a tracking script into `theme.liquid` is enough. So is an app that writes a snippet and removes it later.

Most stores are in this position and do not know.

## What Snapty does about it

Snapty records your live theme — every file, on a schedule — so that three things are always true:

<Cards columns="3">
  <Card title="You can see what changed" subtitle="Every recording can be compared with the one before it, or with your theme as it is right now. Files that were modified, added or deleted are listed by name, and you can read the exact lines that differ." icon="fa:magnifying-glass" />

  <Card title="You have a way back" subtitle="Any recording can be restored: a single file, or the whole version. Restoring a whole version makes an unpublished copy of the theme with the recorded files put back, for you to check and publish yourself. Nothing goes live unless you publish it." icon="fa:rotate-left" />

  <Card title="New code stops going into theme files" subtitle="The Code Vault delivers tracking scripts, CSS and markup through a Shopify app embed instead of a theme file. Code in the Vault survives a theme update, and survives switching to a different theme entirely." icon="fa:vault" />
</Cards>

## What Snapty is not

- **Not a backup of your whole store.** It records your live theme's files, and nothing else — no products, no orders, no customers.
- **Not an editor.** Snapty reads your theme; it writes only when you ask it to restore something.
- **Not a theme updater.** It does not update your theme for you.

## Key concepts

Five words that mean something specific in Snapty. Everything in this Help Center is built out of them.

| Word | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Live theme** | The theme your customers see — the one Shopify marks as published. Snapty records this theme and no other |
| **Recording** | A point-in-time record of every file in your live theme: each file's path and a fingerprint of its contents. What you compare against, and what you restore from. The app also calls it a **snapshot** — same thing |
| **Baseline** | Your first recording of a theme, taken the day you install — or the day you publish a different theme. The point every later change is measured from. It records the theme **as it was found**, edits and all |
| **Check** | One scheduled run: Snapty resolves which theme is live, reads its files, compares them with the last recording, and decides whether anything changed. **A check that finds nothing writes no new recording** — but the run is logged |
| **Snippet** | A piece of code you store in the Code Vault — a script, a stylesheet, or a fragment of markup — delivered to your storefront through an app embed, outside your theme files |

## Which theme Snapty watches

<Hint type="info" title="Your live theme, and only your live theme">

Not the copies in your theme library, not a development theme, not a theme you are still working on.

</Hint>

- **Why only one.** Shopify sends no notification when a theme file is edited. The only way to know is to read the theme and compare, and that read has a cost. Snapty spends it on the theme your customers are looking at. This is what the app does today — not a limit on your plan, and there is nothing to upgrade to.
- **Re-checked every time.** "Live" is not a fact Snapty stores and trusts. On every check it asks Shopify which theme is published right now. If you published a different theme five minutes ago, the next check follows it.
- **When you publish a different theme.** Nothing is lost. The old theme's timeline stays, marked as no longer your live theme, with the date its history ends. A new timeline starts for the new theme, beginning with a fresh baseline.
- **If a watched theme is deleted from Shopify.** Its recordings survive and stay readable. What you lose is restoring from them — both restore shapes need the theme, and there is nothing left to write into or copy from.
- **If Snapty cannot find a published theme.** It has nothing to record. The History screen says so rather than showing an empty list, and the next check asks again.

## What Snapty never does

Snapty holds permission to write to your themes. This is the exact shape of what it does with it.

| Never | |
| --- | --- |
| **Publishes a theme** | There is no button, no setting and no code path that publishes. A restored copy arrives unpublished; you publish it in Shopify's own theme editor, or you do not |
| **Deletes a file from a theme** | Not during a restore, not during anything else. Restoring puts files back and removes nothing — which is why a restored copy is not a perfect replica of the recording |
| **Writes to your live theme, except in one case** | A single file that you named and confirmed on screen. Everything else targets an unpublished theme. Before that one write, Snapty records your live theme first, and if it cannot, the restore does not run. Live is never the preselected option |
| **Gives you your theme's files** | No export, no archive, no way to take a theme's contents out of Snapty. Your recordings are readable inside the app and restorable into your own store |
| **Tells you who changed a file** | Shopify does not record who edited a theme file — not for apps, not for staff, not for developers. Snapty tells you *what* changed and *when it was first seen*, and never shows a name, an app, or a "probably" |

## What Snapty reads

<Hint type="success">

Your themes' files, and your shop's name, plan, timezone and contact email. No products, no orders, no customers, no customer data of any kind — Snapty does not request the permissions that would let it read them.

</Hint>

## Common questions

<Expandable title="Does Snapty change my theme when I install it?">

No. Installing records your live theme. Nothing is written into any theme until you ask for a restore.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="Why does Snapty ask for permission to write to my themes?">

To put a file back when you restore one. Restore is the reason the permission is requested, and it is the only thing that uses it.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="Can Snapty publish a theme by accident?">

No. Snapty contains no code that publishes a theme. Publishing is always your action.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="How often does Snapty check my theme?">

Once a day. Checks are spread across the day rather than all firing at midnight.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="My History has not changed in two weeks. Has Snapty stopped?">

Almost certainly not. A check that finds nothing writes no new recording, on purpose. The checks themselves are in the activity log. If those have stopped too, contact support.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="Can I record a theme that is not live?">

No. Snapty records the live theme only.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="Does Snapty see my customers' data?">

No. It does not request the permissions that would let it.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="Do I have to use the Code Vault?">

No. History and restore work without it. The Vault matters when you are about to paste code into a theme file — that is the moment it saves you.

</Expandable>

<Expandable title="Is Snapty free?">

Yes. The free plan is permanent — daily checks and 30 days of history — and paid plans, when they arrive, will add to it rather than take from it. See [Settings & your data](https://docs.foxecom.com/snapty-app/settings-and-your-data/overview).

</Expandable>