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# BigCommerce Stencil Technology Stack

Plan: Stencil Developer

Lesson 3 of 31 · 5 min

## Stencil Technology Stack

The Stencil technology stack allows developers to create dynamic, templated customizations across a BigCommerce storefront.

BigCommerce Stencil Technology Stack includes:

* **Node.js** - a JavaScript runtime environment that provides the necessary infrastructure for running Stencil CLI
* **Handlebars** - a templating language used to create dynamic content in Stencil themes
* **HTML** - the standard markup language used to create the structure of Stencil themes
* **SCSS** - a preprocessor for CSS that provides additional functionality and ease of use
* **YAML** - a human-readable data serialization language used to configure Stencil themes

Stencil CLI enables developers to locally develop and customize any Stencil theme without impacting a merchant's live storefront during the development process. When developing locally, developers can access a real-time Browsersync preview and testing.

Stencil CLI runs on the [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/en/) runtime environment. Installing Node.js also provides the required [npm package manager.](https://www.npmjs.com/package/npm)

> **Info**
>
> **Before you begin**: Customizing Stencil themes requires in-depth knowledge of web development and the use of the Stencil CLI framework.
>
> Per our Design Policy, our technical support team is unable to provide assistance with custom themes. See our [BigCommerce developer articles ](/developer/docs/storefront/stencil/getting-started/about-stencil)for support resources.