This is the more powerful path
Claude Code is a version of Claude that runs in your computer's terminal (the command-line window most people never open). It can read and edit files directly on your computer, which means instead of copying and pasting code between browser tabs, Claude Code works directly inside your theme files.
When you add Shopify's official MCP server (Model Context Protocol), Claude Code gets two extra abilities. Live access to Shopify's developer documentation. The ability to validate that your Liquid code is correct before you install it. The validation step is what makes this path noticeably more reliable than Path 1.
Setup takes about 30 minutes the first time. After that, building each new section takes about 10 minutes.
A note before we start. The terminal is the part of this lesson that intimidates most vendors. That's normal. We're going to type a few specific commands, one at a time, and I'll tell you what each one does before you type it. You don't need to memorize anything. Follow along, and you'll have it set up before lunch.