Once the SpeedSize Shopify app is installed and configured using our Integration Guide for Shopify, the app can be used to manage theme processing, monitor processing status, configure processing behavior, and manage optimized assets.
This guide covers the day-to-day management workflows for the SpeedSize Shopify integration.
This article contains the following topics:
- Theme Management
- Automatic vs Manual Processing
- Processing Status
- JS Extension
- Asset Management
- Disabling SpeedSize
Theme Management
SpeedSize processes only the Shopify theme selected in the app configuration.
The app supports two theme targeting options:
- processing a specific selected theme
- following the currently published Shopify theme automatically
This behavior is controlled using the Theme to AI-Optimize setting.
Processing a Specific Theme
Selecting a specific theme allows testing SpeedSize on a staging or duplicated Shopify theme before deploying it live.
This is the recommended approach during initial integration and QA.
Typical workflow:
- Duplicate the live Shopify theme
- Enable SpeedSize on the duplicated theme
- Validate media optimization and storefront behavior
- Switch the app to Follow the main/published theme
Follow the Main/Published Theme
When Follow the main/published theme is selected, SpeedSize automatically follows the currently published Shopify theme.
This means:
- newly published themes are automatically processed
- SpeedSize remains active after theme switches
- no manual theme re-selection is required
This mode is recommended once the integration is fully validated and deployed to production.
Automatic vs Manual Processing
The app supports both Automatic and Manual processing modes.
Automatic Processing Mode
In Automatic Processing Mode, the app continuously monitors the selected theme for supported asset changes.
Examples include:
- modified Liquid files
- newly added theme assets
- newly published themes
- updated sections or snippets
When changes are detected, affected files are automatically reprocessed to help maintain full media coverage.
This is the recommended mode for most Shopify stores.
Manual Processing Mode
In Manual Processing Mode, files are processed only when manually triggered.
This mode may be useful for:
- development environments
- testing scenarios
- controlled deployments
- debugging integrations
Depending on workflow requirements, manual processing may provide more control over when theme assets are updated.
In Manual Processing Mode, newly added or modified assets can be processed manually through Asset Management.
Processing Status
After processing starts, the app displays the current processing status in the Info section.
The Info section displays the current processing state of the selected Shopify theme and provides additional integration details, including:
- SpeedSize ID status
- CDN base URL
- allowed (whitelisted) domains
- selected theme
- scanned and processed file statistics
Processing time depends on:
- theme complexity
- number of supported assets
- storefront traffic
- media processing requirements
In most cases, initial theme processing completes within several minutes.
Note: Media optimization occurs when assets are requested by real visitors. Some media may therefore continue optimizing progressively after theme processing itself is completed.
JS Extension
Some storefront media assets may be generated dynamically using JavaScript and therefore may not exist directly in Liquid files during theme processing.
Examples may include:
- dynamically injected sliders
- AJAX-loaded content
- Vue or React-generated images
- third-party app-generated media
For these cases, SpeedSize provides an optional JS Extension that detects and optimizes dynamically generated media directly on the storefront.
The extension can be enabled directly from the app settings.
To enable the JS Extension, ensure the toggle is on and save the settings.
The JS Extension is typically recommended when:
- some storefront images are not processed
- media appears dynamically after page load
- third-party apps inject storefront content
- JavaScript frameworks generate media elements dynamically
Asset Management
The SpeedSize Shopify app includes an Asset Management section that allows managing processed files individually.
Using Asset Management, you can:
- reprocess assets
- restore original files
- ignore files from processing
- review processing status
This may be useful when:
- testing integrations
- troubleshooting coverage
- excluding problematic or unnecessary files
- validating theme changes
Additional details on how to work with Asset Management, including how to ignore files and sections, are covered in:
Managing Assets in the SpeedSize Shopify App
Disabling SpeedSize
SpeedSize can be disabled at any time directly from the app settings.
Disabling the app stops SpeedSize processing for the selected Shopify theme. Original Shopify media files remain unchanged.
Depending on the selected options, processed theme assets can also be restored to their original state.
Additional details are covered in:
Disabling or Uninstalling SpeedSize