Overview
While Upcart includes a built-in preview feature that lets you view the cart on your live theme without publishing it (found in the top-left corner next to Cart Status), there are cases where you may need to test it directly within the theme editor.
Follow the steps below to do this safely.
Disclaimer:
You will need to briefly enable Upcart on your live theme, but this process takes less than a minute if done correctly.
Steps to Follow
In the Upcart Cart Editor, open the Cart Status dropdown and set it to Active.
In your Shopify Admin, go to Online Store → Themes → Live Theme → Customize.
Open App Embeds and ensure the Upcart Bridge is disabled on the Live Theme.
Switch to your Draft Theme, enable the Upcart Bridge in App Embeds, and click Save.
Click the three-dot menu in the top-left corner and select Preview.
✅ Success! Upcart is now active only on your Draft Theme, and any changes saved in the Upcart Cart Editor will be visible there without affecting your Live Theme.
Here's a video tutorial walking you through these steps:
Important Note
As outlined in the Quickstart Guide to Upcart, activation requires two parts:
Enabling the app in the Upcart interface.
Enabling it in your theme’s app embeds.
Upcart will not activate in the backend unless it is also enabled in your live theme’s app embeds.
You will need to temporarily enable Upcart in both your live and draft themes before activation. Once activated, you can safely disable the Upcart Bridge on your live theme.