Question about Child Theme Updates and Best Practices

Hello,

I would like to ask a few questions as I’m a bit unclear on some points:

1. Everywhere it’s recommended to use a child theme, but when there are updates to the main (parent) theme, these updates don’t apply automatically to the child theme, right? (At the moment I’m using the child theme, and I’m seeing updates via the Patcher and applying them.)

2. If updates don’t affect the child theme, wouldn’t it be better to use the main theme directly? Because after 1-2 years there would theoretically be many improvements and fixes, and if I stick with the child theme, the old bugs and issues might remain, and I wouldn’t stay up to date.

3. Do updates overwrite my current .json configuration both for the child and the parent theme?

In general, I’m building everything from scratch with your theme right now and I would like to define the best approach from the beginning.

Could you please share your recommended best practices and give me some advice on this?

Thank you in advance!

Hello,

01. You’re absolutely right — using a child theme is recommended so that your customizations are preserved and not lost during parent theme updates.

When you update the parent theme, those updates do apply automatically and immediately to your site — even when using a child theme. The child theme only overrides specific files or settings you’ve customized, and the rest still comes from the updated parent theme.

02. Yes, you still get all parent theme updates when using a child theme. Only the files you override manually won’t update, but everything else stays up to date.

03. Theme updates do not overwrite your .json configuration or settings saved via the Theme Settings l — whether you’re using the parent or child theme. Use a child theme to safely customize code, templates, or styles, Avoid modifying core theme files directly.

Best Regards,

Wow, great explanation! I think I understood you. Can I just repeat it to make sure I got it right:

I’m using a child theme by default. If I make any changes to a .php file, for example, or any other file, that file won’t be overwritten as long as I’m using the child theme. But the bug you’re fixing in the parent theme which is not related with “my edited .php file”, will also be fixed on my site while the child theme is active at the moment, right?

Hello,

As long as you’re using a child theme and haven’t overridden a specific parent theme file (like a PHP template), then any updates or bug fixes made to the parent theme will still apply on your site — even while the child theme is active.

Only the files you intentionally override in your child theme will remain unchanged during parent theme updates.

Best Regards,

Understood, thank you. You can close the topic.

Hello,

You’re very welcome! If you need anything else, feel free to reach out!

Thanks for contacting us.
Have a great day.

Topic Closed.
Best Regards,

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