Zeus, our Shopify theme framework, now powers every build we ship.

Zeus

Shopify theme framework

The framework every Mindhive theme starts from.

Starts from Zeus
Every buildStarts from Zeus
Median LCP at launch
1.1sMedian LCP at launch
Performance budgets enforced
In CIPerformance budgets enforced

Storefronts running on Zeus

Pura Vida BraceletsBrixtonKylie CosmeticsHalden

Rather than beginning each build at a blank file or a marketplace download, we start from a base we maintain: Online Store 2.0 architecture, a component library your team can extend, and a build pipeline with performance budgets already wired in.

  • 01

    Sections from the first commit

    Sections, blocks and app-block architecture, so merchandisers can build pages without a developer.

  • 02

    Content modelling built in

    Metafield and metaobject definitions shipped with the theme rather than bolted on afterwards.

  • 03

    Budgets enforced in CI

    Core Web Vitals thresholds fail the build, instead of being measured once after launch.

  • 04

    Accessible by default

    Components tested to WCAG 2.2 AA — keyboard paths, focus order and contrast included.

  • 05

    Upgrade path

    Framework updates land as reviewable pull requests, so a theme doesn't drift from the base.

  • 06

    Documented handover

    Editor training and written docs, so your team owns the theme when we step back.

Our theme framework

React islands, not a headless rebuild

An Online Store 2.0 theme built with React, Tailwind v4 and Vite that still works in the theme editor. Merchants keep real sections, blocks, drag-and-drop and live preview. We get a component model, a build step and a serverless gateway — without the second codebase headless would cost you.

  • Sections opt into React one at a time; Liquid serialises settings, blocks and Shopify resources straight into props
  • One import for the framework — blocks, cart, localisation and the theme-editor hooks
  • Section state survives the editor swapping markup, so a merchant never loses their place mid-edit
  • A serverless gateway fronts the Admin API and third-party services, with credentials off the theme entirely
  • Built for stores with unusual business models — the ones where a conventional theme runs out of road
1{% comment %}
2 The contract every React section goes through. It renders a mount
3 point and the section's data beside it; islands.jsx finds the element
4 and mounts the .jsx whose filename matches `component`.
5
6 min_height holds the right shape open before the bundle runs. A mount
7 point contains only a script tag, so until React commits it is zero
8 pixels tall and the page assembles collapsed, then shoves everything
9 down. Liquid already knows the height — a slideshow's is a setting —
10 so it passes it through.
11 {% endcomment %}
12
13 <div
14 data-react-component="{{ component }}"
15 class="{{ class }}"
16 {% if min_height %}style="--island-min-h: {{ min_height }}"{% endif %}
17 >
18 {% comment %} Typed, or the browser would execute it as JavaScript. {% endcomment %}
19 <script type="application/json">
20 {% render 'json--section',
21 section: section,
22 with_product: with_product,
23 with_collection: with_collection,
24 product_variants: product_variants
25 %}
26 </script>
27 </div>
How it works

A base we maintain, a theme you own

  1. 01

    Fork, don't copy

    Your theme starts as a branch of the framework rather than a snapshot of it, so improvements upstream stay mergeable.

  2. 02

    Build on the components

    Sections, blocks and metaobject definitions are already there. Design work goes into what makes your store yours, not into rebuilding a cart drawer.

  3. 03

    Ship with budgets on

    Core Web Vitals thresholds and accessibility checks fail the build. Performance is a gate rather than a report written after launch.

  4. 04

    Take updates as PRs

    Framework changes arrive as reviewable pull requests against your repository. You choose what to take and when.

We had quotes from three agencies and Mindhive's timeline was the shortest by a month. The reason turned out to be that half the theme already existed and had been through production forty times.
Halden

Iris KowalskiOperations Lead

At a glance
Surface
Online Store 2.0 theme
Delivered as
A repository you own outright
Budgets
Core Web Vitals enforced in CI
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA component tests
Built with
LiquidTailwindViteShopify CLIWeb Components
FAQ

Zeus, answered

Not today. Zeus ships as part of a build we deliver — you own the resulting theme outright, including all of the framework code inside it, but there is no standalone licence.

No. Zeus is architecture, not design — the section model, the content model and the build pipeline. What a shopper sees is designed for your brand every time.

Nothing breaks. The theme is in your repository and runs on standard Shopify APIs with no callbacks to us. You lose access to upstream updates, not to your store.

A premium theme is built to satisfy thousands of merchants, so it carries settings and code paths you will never use. Zeus is built to be extended by developers on one store at a time.

Zeus

Start a theme on Zeus

Every theme we build starts here. Tell us about the store and we'll scope it properly.

Start a project

Build it with us

Tell us what you're shipping. We'll come back with an approach, a timeline and a fixed scope.