We are Dhruv Goyani and Nishad Kikani, Shopify developers at HTML to Liquid Converter and the K2 Devworks theme studio. This page documents how we got here — not as a marketing narrative, but as context for why the tool exists and who maintains it.
Why we chose Shopify theme development
Shopify sits at an unusual intersection: merchants need visual control without breaking production storefronts, and developers need structured templates that survive theme updates. That tension — between editable content and safe Liquid — is where we spent most of our careers. Before HTML to Liquid Converter, we were already shipping custom sections, migrating legacy themes to Online Store 2.0, and debugging schema JSON on client deadlines.
We did not pick Shopify because it was trendy. We picked it because every project repeated the same workflow: design arrives as static HTML, merchants need editable fields, and someone has to translate markup into {% schema %} settings, block loops, and scoped CSS. Nishad started that work in 2019 on DTC and wholesale stores. Dhruv joined in 2021 when agency-scale delivery demanded repeatable Figma-to-section pipelines. Over time, section work became our specialty — not apps, not ads, not general web builds.
- Merchants edit content in the theme editor — developers own structure, performance, and schema correctness.
- Online Store 2.0 made sections the unit of composition; JSON templates reward teams that ship clean section files.
- Every client theme taught us the same lesson: hand-typing schema for every hero, FAQ, and product grid does not scale.
- We document patterns openly in the resources hub because the problems are industry-wide, not proprietary.
K2 Devworks — the studio behind the product
K2 Devworks is the small Shopify theme studio that builds and maintains HTML to Liquid Converter. We are not a venture-backed SaaS company with a sales team. We are two developers who ship sections on client themes, dogfood our own exports before release, and publish guides when we learn something painful on a deadline. The studio name reflects that builder-first identity: we make tools we wished existed when a merchant asked for one more editable hero before launch.
Client work still informs the product roadmap. When a wholesale merchant needed repeatable size-guide sections, we improved block detection. When a beauty brand migrated from a legacy theme, we hardened validation rules around image_url filters and preset naming. When agencies asked for consistent setting IDs across projects, we standardized export conventions. The converter is not a side project bolted onto unrelated services — it is the codified version of workflows we run weekly.
If you want to understand our standards before using the tool, read our Shopify development experience page or explore anonymized client scenarios that describe common project shapes without fake customer quotes.
Company timeline
The milestones below are drawn from our actual delivery history — client section work first, internal tooling second, public platform third. Dates are approximate where early freelance projects blended together; the patterns are accurate.
2019 — Shopify client work begins
Nishad starts shipping custom Liquid sections and theme edits for DTC and wholesale merchants — learning schema pain points on real deadlines.
2021 — Agency-scale section delivery
Dhruv joins full-time Shopify theme work. The team standardizes Figma-to-section handoffs, preset libraries, and scoped CSS conventions across client projects.
2023 — HTML-to-Liquid bottleneck identified
Repeated client projects expose the same bottleneck: hours spent mapping static HTML to {% schema %} JSON. The development team prototypes an internal conversion compiler.
2024 — HTML to Liquid Converter launches
The internal tool becomes htmltoliquidconverter.com — a free workspace for developers with validation, block detection, and OS 2.0 exports.
2026 — Knowledge platform expansion
Developer guides, case studies, and Shopify workflows published openly — documenting mistakes, checklists, and real patterns from client work.
The bottleneck that became a product
By 2023 we could sketch a section in Figma, slice HTML in an afternoon, and still lose a full day mapping every heading, image, and repeatable row into Liquid and JSON schema. Copy-paste from old sections helped, but setting IDs drifted, presets broke, and CSS leaked across templates. We prototyped an internal compiler that parsed HTML structure and emitted section.liquid files with {% schema %} blocks. That prototype became why we built HTML to Liquid Converter as a public workspace.
The public launch in 2024 did not change our day job — it made the internal tool available to freelancers and agencies facing the same bottleneck. We added validation checks learned from production mistakes: missing presets, ambiguous block parents, inline styles that should be settings, and loop variables that collide with Shopify objects. Today the converter workspace is free for core conversion; we fund maintenance through client work and optional platform features.
What we believe about Shopify tooling
Honest tooling beats hype. We do not claim the converter replaces theme review, accessibility audits, or brand-specific CSS polish. We do claim it removes the tedious structural step — turning static HTML into a merchant-editable OS 2.0 section with typed settings and block definitions. That belief shows up in our docs: every guide stresses testing in your target theme before shipping live.
- Schema-first sections — settings and blocks before cosmetic tweaks.
- Block mode when merchants need to add rows, not when a layout is fixed.
- Liquid clarity — readable templates, no mystery variables.
- Educational examples instead of fabricated testimonials.
Who maintains the platform today
Dhruv Goyani (3 years web design + 3 years Shopify development experience) and Nishad Kikani (2 years web design + 6 years Shopify development experience) maintain HTML to Liquid Converter and still ship client sections weekly. Full roles, skills, and LinkedIn profiles are on meet-the-founders.
What comes next
We are expanding the knowledge platform — developer guides, workflow case studies, theme-specific deployment notes, and cheat-sheet snippets grounded in client work. The converter will keep improving block detection, schema validation, and export modes (Flat vs Block) because those are the friction points we still hit on projects. If you are learning Liquid, start with Liquid for beginners; if you are shipping today, open the HTML to Liquid Converter guide and paste your markup.
Working with agencies and freelancers
Many users discover the converter through agency Slack channels — a senior developer exports a reference hero, juniors adapt class prefixes per client, and schema IDs stay consistent across the team. We built the tool for that workflow because it was ours. Agencies ask for naming conventions, preset defaults, and validation before merge; freelancers ask for speed without sacrificing editor UX for merchants. Both audiences share the same requirement: output must survive theme editor scrutiny, not just look fine in VS Code.
We publish client scenario write-ups and converter workflows so teams can onboard developers without repeating oral tradition. If your agency wants a shared preset library, start from ready sections and adapt tokens per client theme.
Why public tooling instead of keeping it internal
The internal compiler gave us a delivery edge on client projects — faster schema, fewer typos, happier merchants. Keeping it private would have helped one studio while thousands of freelancers faced the same bottleneck. Open tooling raises the floor for schema quality across the ecosystem, which ultimately helps merchants get better theme editor experiences even when they hire different agencies.
Public also means accountable. When validation misses an edge case, developers file issues we can reproduce. When Shopify changes platform conventions, we update guides and exports in the open. That feedback loop is slower than stealth mode but produces a tool that survives contact with real themes.
Values that do not change with product features
- Merchants deserve editable sections — hardcoded marketing copy is technical debt.
- Developers deserve deterministic exports — AI assists, it does not replace review.
- Documentation should name authors and cite real experience — EEAT is practice, not buzzword.
- Free core features for learning and freelance work — gate advanced convenience, not fundamentals.
