4 · The everyday loop
The safe, repeatable way to change your shop — preview every change on its own URL before it touches your live store.
This is the skill that makes everything else worth it. Once you've got it, you can change your shop confidently, forever — because nothing risky ever hits your live store until you approve it.
The idea in one sentence
Make changes on a branch (a safe copy) → Vercel gives that branch its own preview URL → when it looks right, merge it → your live shop updates.
The loop
- Start a branch (a safe parallel copy of your shop).
In GitHub Desktop: Current Branch → New Branch, name it something like
new-homepage, and click Create Branch. You're now editing the copy, not the live shop.
git checkout -b new-homepage-
Make your change — edit text, swap an image, add a product, change a colour. Save the files.
-
Save a version (a "commit") and send it to GitHub.
GitHub Desktop lists what you changed. Type a short summary at the bottom-left (e.g. "New homepage headline"), click Commit to new-homepage, then click Publish branch (or Push origin) at the top.
git add -A
git commit -m "New homepage headline"
git push -u origin new-homepage-
Open a Pull Request — this asks "please consider these changes for the live shop".
On your repo's GitHub page you'll see a Compare & pull request button — click it, then Create pull request. (In GitHub Desktop, use Branch → Create Pull Request.)
-
Preview it on its own URL.
Within a minute, Vercel posts a comment on your Pull Request with a preview link — a complete, live copy of your shop with your change, at its own address. Click it, click around, share it with someone. Your real store is untouched.
-
Publish — merge the Pull Request.
Happy with the preview? Click Merge pull request on GitHub. Vercel rebuilds your live shop with the change. Done.
Made a mistake? Undo it.
Because every version is saved, you can always go back. In Vercel: Project → Deployments, find a previous good one, and click ⋯ → Promote to Production (an instant rollback). Or revert the change on GitHub. Nothing is ever truly broken.
When do I just push to main?
For tiny, confident changes you can commit straight to your main branch — it deploys to
production directly, skipping the preview. The branch-and-preview loop above is the safe default,
especially while you're learning. Use previews for anything you're unsure about.
That's the whole craft. You now have everything: a shop, a home on GitHub, automatic deploys on Vercel, and a safe way to change anything.
Optional next: add a Sign in with GitHub button to your shop's login.