Installing the theme
Once you've purchased Akira from the Shopify Theme Store, it's added straight to your store's theme library. This guide covers what happens next and how to set it up safely before it goes live.
Akira is added to your theme library automatically
After checkout on the Shopify Theme Store, Akira appears under Online Store → Themes in your Shopify admin, in the "Theme library" section below your current live theme. No file upload or manual install step is required. From there you can preview it, customize it, or publish it whenever you're ready.
Publish now or customize first
You have two options once Akira appears in your theme library:
- Publish immediately – click Actions → Publish on the Akira theme card if you want it live right away with its default preset content.
- Keep it unpublished and customize first – click Customize to open the theme editor and work on Akira as a draft. Your current live theme stays untouched and visible to customers while you build. This is the approach we recommend for almost every store.
Duplicate before you make changes
Before editing anything, duplicate the Akira theme from Actions → Duplicate. Work on the duplicate, not the original install. If something goes wrong or you want to start over from a clean copy of the theme, the untouched original is still there.
Setting a password if your store isn't launched yet
If you're still building and don't want the public to see the store, go to Online Store → Preferences and turn on password protection under "Restrict access with a password." This works independently of which theme is published, so you can safely publish Akira while the storefront is still gated. See Password page for how Akira's own password screen is styled and what settings it exposes.
Tip: Rename your working copy of the theme to something like "Akira, working copy" as soon as you duplicate it. When a theme library has three or four Akira copies in it, a clear name is the only thing that stops you from editing the wrong one.
Demo content and presets
Akira ships with three ready-made presets, each with its own demo content structure covering the homepage, collection layout, and imagery placeholders. Rather than building a homepage from scratch, you pick the preset closest to your brand and replace the placeholder content with your own. Continue to Choosing a preset to see what each one is built for.