Preview
The sections a channel would draw if its staged edits were published: draft content replaces published content, staged status and order are applied, sections that are off are left out, and footer_links stays last.
A headless storefront renders this to show a merchant their unpublished work. The storefront's own sections endpoint never returns staged content, which is why the preview lives on the admin side and needs an admin token.
Endpoint
| Method | Path | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
GET | /api/admin/appearance/themes/{code}/sections/preview | Preview a theme with staged edits applied |
Path parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
code | Theme being previewed. |
Query parameters
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
channel | Channel being previewed. Falls back to the current channel. |
locale | Locale the content is read in. Must be one the channel runs; otherwise the app locale, then the channel's first locale. |
Response fields
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
themeCode | string | Theme that was previewed. |
channelId | integer | Channel that was previewed. |
locale | string | Locale the content was read in. |
sections | array | Sections in the order they would be drawn. |
sections[].id | integer | Section ID. |
sections[].name | string | Section name. |
sections[].type | string | Section type. |
sections[].sortOrder | integer | Position, staged value applied. |
sections[].status | boolean | On/off, staged value applied. Always true for returned sections. |
sections[].hasDraft | boolean | Whether this section is holding a staged edit. |
sections[].options | object | null | Content for the locale, staged value applied. |
Use cases
- Render an unpublished storefront page — the array is ready to draw in order, with each section's content already resolved for the locale.
- Show a merchant what publishing would change — compare
hasDraftper section against the published List sections response.
Best practices
- Sections staged off do not appear at all. The preview is what shoppers would see, so an off section is absent rather than present with
status: false— do not use this endpoint to build the editor's list. - A section with no staged edits is returned with its published values, so the preview is complete even when only one section was touched.
Errors
| Status | When |
|---|---|
404 | Unknown theme code. |
Permissions
Requires appearance.sections.