Shopify Glossary Terms

Online Store 2.0 (OS2.0) is the current architecture for Shopify themes. Released in 2021, it introduced sections on every page (previously sections only worked on the homepage), app blocks (apps that render within theme sections rather than injecting scripts), and a JSON-based template system.

The practical impact: your merchandising and marketing teams can customise any page using the Theme Customiser without developer help. Product pages, collection pages, blog posts, and custom pages all support drag-and-drop sections. Apps integrate cleanly into the theme without code injection, which means fewer performance issues and conflicts.

For Shopify Plus brands evaluating whether to stick with a theme or go headless, OS2.0 has raised the bar significantly. Many content and layout requirements that previously pushed brands toward headless can now be handled within a well-built OS2.0 theme. The decision to go headless should be driven by needs that genuinely exceed what OS2.0 can deliver.

Think: the reason most brands don't need to go headless anymore.