Read this before you open a file.
A change to the code moves responsibility for the consequences to whoever made it.
If something stops working after your own edits, that is not a support case: we do not diagnose or repair code we did not write, wherever it sits. This boundary is what lets us stand behind the product in the form we released it. It is written down in the support policy and the terms and conditions, and it does not change from ticket to ticket.
The same boundary covers third party plugins, for the same reason.
#A child theme is the right place, and the code is still yours
A child theme is where custom code belongs, because it survives updates. It does not make the code ours, and it does not put what that code does inside support. Anything you write in functions.php is still yours no matter which folder it is in.
There is one exception, and it is narrow: if you use our own filter, action or template override correctly and it misbehaves, that is our bug. We wrote the extension point, so we own it. Report it with the smallest snippet that reproduces it.
Everything else your code does is yours, including the case where it works on its own and breaks when combined with something else on the site.
We will always help you find out which side a problem is on.
Deactivate the child theme, check against the parent, and you have the answer in a minute. That is the first thing a ticket would ask you for anyway, and it costs nothing to run.
#What to expect from the product
The theme was not designed around one particular developer, one stack of habits or one approach. It offers broad customization in code: filters, hooks, external facades, and a structure with extension points built in.
If something you specifically need is missing, that is not a defect. At most it becomes a feature request. The absence of an extension point you wanted does not fall under refunds or under a claim against the item.
This is a mass market product. It was built to suit as many people as possible, and first of all people who never open the code at all. At every compromise, convenience for that reader came first.
Even so, practically anything in the theme can be changed from outside, through settings, filters and template overrides.
#How to change things correctly
Through filters and hooks first. They change behavior without copying a template at all, which means the next update improves that template for you instead of diverging from your copy.
Through a child theme for everything else: stylesheets, scripts, and the templates you have to override. Edits made directly to the theme files, the Pro plugin or an integration are overwritten by the first update, along with all of the work you did.
Those two cover almost everything, and both survive updates by design.
#If you would rather not write it yourself
Custom work is a separate service with its own terms, quoted per job and paid separately from support. It is done in a child theme or a companion plugin for the same reason you would: so your next update does not undo it.
#Licensing
Modifying the theme does not grant rights to resell or redistribute it. Before reworking the item with the intention of selling it, read the terms and conditions and, for a marketplace purchase, the Envato license that governs it.
#Common questions
Does using a child theme affect support?
Yes, for the code inside it. A child theme is the correct place to put custom code and it is what we recommend, but the code you write there is still your code, and what it does to the site is outside support. The one thing that stays ours is our own filter or template hook misbehaving when used as documented.
Can I edit the theme files just once, for something small?
You can, and the next update removes it. No edit is small enough to survive a folder being replaced, which is why the child theme route exists.
Will you help me write custom code?
Not as part of support. We take on custom work through a separate paid channel with its own terms, and small questions about which hook to reach for are usually fine inside your support window.
I need a hook that does not exist
Send it as a feature request. We do consider adding extension points on request, and that is a better outcome for you than owning a copied template forever. There is no promise or date attached to it.
My site broke after custom work
Deactivate the child theme and check against the parent. It takes a minute, tells you which side the problem is on, and is the same first question we would ask you anyway.
A developer I hired made changes and now something is wrong
The same rule applies: their code is not ours to debug. Whoever wrote it is the person who can fix it, and if they are gone, repairing it is paid work rather than a support ticket.
#Still stuck
Open a support ticket and say what you tried and where it stopped. Your product, your domain, a screenshot and the exact message you saw are usually enough to settle it in one reply.
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