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Starting from a theme that already works is often faster than building one. The rule that matters: always work on a copy under your own vendor name, because an update replaces the bundled theme’s files.
Editing extra/extensions/heyaikeedo/default directly means the next Aikeedo update overwrites your work. Copy it first.

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Option 1: Copy, no build step

Good for text, colors and layout tweaks in the existing templates.
1

Copy the theme

2

Rename the package

In extra/extensions/acme/aurora/composer.json, change name to acme/aurora and extra.title to your theme’s name. The directory path must match the name.
3

Copy the published assets

The originals were published when the bundled theme was installed. Copying them gives your theme the same CSS, JavaScript and images.
4

Publish it

In the admin panel, open Themes and publish your copy. Preview it first at /preview?theme=acme/aurora.
5

Edit the templates

Change the Twig files in extra/extensions/acme/aurora/. With CACHE=false the changes appear immediately; otherwise clear the cache.
Your theme survives Aikeedo updates, because nothing ships a package under your vendor name.
Limits of this approach: the CSS is already compiled, so you can’t add Tailwind classes that weren’t used before, and there’s no hot reloading. Restyling is easier from source.

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Option 2: Rebuild from source

Good for real design work: new sections, new classes, changed JavaScript.
Then follow the quickstart from the renaming step: change static/composer.json, set BUILD_DIR to extra/extensions/acme/aurora, and run npm run dev. You get the default theme’s markup as a starting point, plus the full build pipeline.

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Option 3: Start from the starter kit

If you’re replacing the design anyway, the starter kit is a smaller base: a layout, a header, the script-tag snippets and the custom elements, with no marketing sections to delete.

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Marketplace themes

A purchased theme is installed like any other package. To customize it, copy it under your own vendor name first, exactly as in option 1. Keep a copy of the original archive: when the author ships an update, you’ll want to compare their changes against yours.

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Keeping changes maintainable

  • Track it in git, even a private repository. A theme is source code.
  • Keep a change log of what you altered relative to the original, so a future update is a diff rather than an archaeology exercise.
  • Prefer adding files over editing them. A new section you include is easier to carry forward than a rewritten one.
  • Don’t fork what you can configure. Logos, colors, policies and social links are admin settings; read them instead of hardcoding.

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What you can’t change in a theme

Auth pages, the app, the admin panel and error pages are core templates. Use resources/views/overrides/ for those, and see Extending Aikeedo.