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  • Step 1: Create an API Account
  • Step 2: Install Stencil CLI
  • Step 3: Clone the Cornerstone Theme
  • Step 4: Initialize Stencil
  • Step 5: Start the Live Preview
CoursesStorefront FoundationsModule 1: Intro to Stencil

Lab - Getting Started with the Stencil CLI

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About Stencil

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Plan: Developer Foundations

 Lesson 4 of 16 · 30 min

Developing a custom Stencil theme usually starts with cloning the official default theme, Cornerstone. To develop effectively in a local environment, you’ll use the Node.js-based Stencil CLI tool to run a local server, connecting your custom theme code to your BigCommerce store data.

In this lab, you will:

  • Create an API account for Stencil
  • Clone the Cornerstone theme
  • Install Stencil CLI
  • Connect your local theme files to your BigCommerce store
  • Run a local dev server

Prerequisites

To successfully complete this tutorial, you will need the following:

  • A BigCommerce store admin user with the “Create store-level API accounts” permission
  • Node.js 20 or later
  • The Git CLI
  • A command-line interface on your local machine

Node Version Manager (nvm) is an alternative way to install Node.js and allows you to install and use different versions.

With nvm installed, you can install a specific version:

nvm install 20

… and switch to the Node.js runtime of any version you have installed:

nvm use 20

Whether you use nvm or install Node.js via another method, make sure you are running a compatible version:

node -v

Step 1: Create an API Account

  1. In the BigCommerce control panel, navigate to Settings > API > Store-level API accounts.
  2. Click “Create API account” and select “Stencil CLI token” as the token type.
  3. Enter a name for the account.
  4. Select “publish theme” as the Stencil CLI access level.

You’ll use this API account in a later lab to bundle and publish your theme. For proper access control, you should create a separate account with the “local development only” access level for any team members who should have permission to develop on the theme but not upload it.

  1. Save the account and record the access token that is displayed in the resulting modal.

Step 2: Install Stencil CLI

This step only needs to be performed once for a specific version of Node.js.

  1. Run the following command to install the Stencil CLI tool.
npm install -g @bigcommerce/stencil-cli

Remember to make sure you have Node.js 20 or later running before installing the package. If you’re using Node Version Manager:

nvm use 20

The command will install the stencil-cli package globally. This will allow you to use it in multiple Stencil theme projects using the same version of Node.js.

ARM Based Macs

For ARM based Macs, you will need to run the following before installing the package:

arch -x86_64 /bin/zsh

Installing Dependencies on Windows

See the BigCommerce documentation for more details on options for installing dependencies on Windows before installing the Stencil CLI package.

  1. Test the stencil command and verify that a list of possible sub-commands is output.
stencil -h

Step 3: Clone the Cornerstone Theme

  1. Run the following command to clone the Cornerstone default theme from GitHub to a local location.
git clone https://github.com/bigcommerce/cornerstone.git
  1. Install npm dependencies.
cd /path/to/theme
npm install

You should now have a complete copy of the Cornerstone theme source files, with dependencies installed in the node_modules directory.

Step 4: Initialize Stencil

This step only needs to be performed once for a given Stencil theme project locally.

You’ll need the access token you recorded after creating the API account in your control panel.

  1. In your theme working directory, run the following command.
stencil init --url <store_url> --token <access_token> --port 3000 --packageManager npm

This init command will generate a configuration file connecting your local theme package with your store.

  • Replace <store_url> with the fully qualified URL of your Stencil storefront (for example, “https://<store-name>.mybigcommerce.com”).
  • Replace <access_token> with your recorded access token.
  • The —port option specifies the local port the server will run on (for example, localhost:3000).
  • The —packageManager option specifies which package manager to use for dependencies.

You may also choose to run the command with no options:

stencil init

This will result in interactive prompts allowing you to provide appropriate values.

  1. Verify that the file config.stencil.json has been generated in your main theme directory.

Step 5: Start the Live Preview

  1. In your theme working directory, run the following command to start a local dev server with a live preview of your theme.
stencil start
  1. If necessary, choose a storefront to run from the interactive prompt.

After the dev server starts, you should see output printing the local URL(s) you can use to access the preview.

Stencil URLs

  1. Browse to the main “Local” access URL printed in the output. This should be http://localhost:3000 if you used the 3000 port in the init command. Verify that your storefront is loaded in the browser.

Example storefront loaded in live preview

You should leave the dev server process running in your terminal as you customize and preview your theme. When you’re ready to stop the server, simply cancel the process (Ctrl+C).

Run stencil start from within your theme directory at any time to restart the dev server.