Missing component generation command in plugin-devkit

[burakduganci]

I've recently migrated to using the plugin-devkit for Shopify theme development, but I'm unable to find a command similar to the old CLI's "shopify theme component generate [component_name]" functionality.
In the previous plugin-theme-component CLI, this command would conveniently create a new component directory with all necessary files. However, I don't see an equivalent command in the plugin-devkit documentation or help menu.

Is there a similar command available in plugin-devkit that I'm missing? If not, are there plans to implement this feature in the future? Component generation was a very useful productivity feature that helped standardize component structure across the team.

Steps to reproduce:

Install plugin-devkit
Search help documentation for component generation
Attempt to find an equivalent to "shopify theme component generate"

Expected behavior: A command to generate component scaffolding
Actual behavior: No such command seems to exist

Thank you for your help!

[chrisberthe]

👋🏻 @burakduganci, sorry for the delay—I never got notified!

You’re right that the generate command was left out of plugin-devkit. The simple reason is that we didn’t feel the version at the time was very useful, and we saw an opportunity to make it a lot better.

Is this something you relied on often? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what could be improved from the original command. Was anything missing or frustrating about it?

[burakduganci]

Hi 👋🏻 thanks for the explanation!

In the previous version of the plugin, I was using the generate command to scaffold new components. For example, I could run:

shopify theme component generate section-main-product

…and it would automatically create a new component in my project.

This was a very useful workflow for me. I’m wondering:
What is the new recommended way to generate or scaffold a new component in the latest version of the plugin?

If this functionality has moved or changed, I’d love to learn how I can achieve the same outcome with the new version.

Thanks again! 🙏🏻

[chrisberthe]

Thanks @burakduganci—this is helpful context.

At the moment, there isn't a built-in way to generate a component. Typically what we’ve been doing is either copying an existing component directory and renaming things, or starting fresh by creating the folder and files manually. One of the reasons we decided to remove the old generate command was that it generated all files, including ones in assets/ and setup/, which sometimes felt too "heavy" or unnecessary.

That said, I'd love to hear from you:

• Did the older generate command work well for your workflow as it was?
• Were there things about it you didn't like or found yourself cleaning up after (like deleting extra files or folders)?
• Are there things you wish it had done differently?

Appreciate you sharing your experience.

[chrisberthe]

@burakduganci so you're aware I started working on something #8