No-template Shopify front end

How to Build a Custom Shopify Storefront With AI

By Shreyas Raj. Written from my YouTube video, about 22 minutes long.

Video: I Built a Premium Shopify Store in 20 Minutes Using AI (No Templates) on the AI with Shreyas Raj YouTube channel.

Short answer: Find a full-page website mockup for inspiration, ask an AI model to reverse engineer it into a detailed build prompt, generate hero visuals, and give both to a coding agent. Then connect it to Shopify through the headless channel using storefront tokens and the store domain.

What you will learn

Look for full website mockups on design sites for inspiration
Capture whole pages in one image with a full page screenshot extension
Ask an AI model to turn the image into a very detailed build prompt
Generate hero images and animate them into short clips
Connect products through Shopify headless storefront tokens

What the finished store does

The store in this video is a custom front end linked to a real Shopify store. It has four active products, a top-selling products section, add to cart and checkout, a dark mode, a language switch to German, an about page, a solutions page with an interactive savings calculator, a projects page that reads like a blog and a shop page.

In the checkout I only demonstrated entering details, since I was not accepting payments. The point is a fully functional store without a boring template. Shopify is the backend and Google Antigravity builds the front end.

The reason I find this interesting is that the visitor experience feels like a premium custom site, yet the product and cart logic still lives in Shopify, so you do not have to rebuild commerce yourself.

Find the design inspiration

I look for inspiration on Dribbble and on award-winning website galleries. I search for the client's niche, here solar, and look for images that show a whole website with all its sections. That is basically a website mockup.

Another trick is a browser extension called GoFullPage. On any static website you click it and it scrolls and captures the whole page as one image. That saves you from taking many screenshots.

I try to find mockups that show the whole website with all sections visible. Award-winning website galleries are another place to look, and you can screenshot a full page from there.

I also say that the animations on the final site were done with Antigravity and Nano Banana, and the design came from Dribbble. So the three inputs are a design reference, generated visuals and a coding agent.

Turn the mockup into a build prompt

I give the mockup to an AI model, in this case Claude 4.6 through Perplexity, and ask it to help me recreate the website from scratch for Google Antigravity. I say the new site should have multiple pages, but keep the aesthetics, color, style and vibe of the mockup.

I also ask for the prompt to be highly detailed. I tried the Gemini model too, but in my experience its prompt came out condensed, and Claude's was far more detailed, which makes it easier for the coding agent to replicate the design.

The image is the anchor. In the prompt I describe what should differ, such as multiple pages, and what should stay, such as aesthetics, colors, style and vibe.

Add small interactive elements

For little touches, I use React Bits, which has a library of free components. Browse, find one you like, copy its prompt and give it to your AI agent. This is how you make the interface feel alive without writing it yourself.

Components such as animated backgrounds, buttons or text effects can make a site feel less static. The library has a free tier, and the AI agent can integrate each component from its prompt.

Create the hero visuals

Before generating, you need a clear idea of what you want the hero to look like. I gave the first mockup image to Perplexity along with a JSON style prompt from a Nano Banana prompt library, and asked for a variation with more solar panels and wind turbines at the bottom.

I took the result into Google Whisk, which I use for many projects because it is simple, and generated several images. Then I used animate on the best one, asking for rotating wind turbines, moving solar glare and drifting clouds. Run a few generations and keep the best.

You need a clear vision of the final hero before you start prompting. I could tell the image tool what I wanted because I had already thought about how the hero should look. Then I generated several variations and chose the best.

Build with the coding agent

Create a new folder, open it in Antigravity and paste the detailed prompt and the mockup image. I also reference an agent SOP markdown file, which gives the agent a set of skills and working rules, so it follows a process before coding. Then I add the hero image and video and let it work.

If you do not have the visuals ready, upload them all to your AI model and ask it how to integrate them. It will give you a prompt that incorporates those images.

I mention an agent SOP file that I share in the description. It is a markdown file written for AI agents, listing skills and rules to follow before it begins coding. You reference it at the start of the prompt.

Connect Shopify headless

In the Shopify admin, search apps, open the Shopify app store and install the headless channel. Add a storefront, open the storefront API and manage it. Copy the public access token, the private token and the store domain.

Paste them into the agent along with a markdown file of Shopify storefront web components instructions, which gives the AI everything it needs. Ask for a full integration displaying all products and the cart. I say that web components are the easiest way, because they avoid building a login flow yourself.

If products do not show, check three things: inventory is above zero, the product is not a draft, and it is published to the headless channel.

The second prompt, the Shopify integration, is queued behind the first and sends automatically when the first completes, so you do not have to wait and babysit.

One extra note from me: I say the Shopify integration was the part that took me a while, so I am giving the markdown file and the SOP in the description to save you that time.

Watch the full video to see the design search, the build and the Shopify connection step by step.

Watch the full video See EducateXAI

Results vary and depend on your effort. Read the results disclaimer.

Questions people ask

Why not use a Shopify template?

A template limits layout and feel. With a custom front end, Shopify still handles products, cart and checkout, while the design is fully yours. The headless channel connects the two.

How do I get a whole website in one image?

Use a full page screenshot extension such as GoFullPage. It scrolls the page automatically and stitches a single image. It works best on static websites, since animated ones may capture little.

Which AI model writes the better build prompt?

In my experience Claude gave a far more detailed prompt than Gemini, which tended to condense it. A detailed prompt makes it easier for the coding agent to replicate the design faithfully.

Why are my products not showing?

Check that inventory is not zero, that products are not drafts, and that they are published to the headless sales channel. Missing any of these means they will not appear on the front end.

More from the channel

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