Shopify has introduced Canvas, a new tool that lets merchants build an online store through a conversation with its AI agent Sidekick. Merchants describe the changes they want in chat while watching the site take shape in real time.
From rearranging blocks to building a complete site
Shopify’s existing editor let merchants build a store without programming, but the process started with a selected theme. Merchants adjusted its layout by rearranging modular sections and blocks. More extensive customization required changes to the code or help from a developer.
Sidekick itself is not new: it was already used to write code, create apps and customize themes. Canvas brings those capabilities together in a single tool for building an entire site.
Interactive pages rather than static previews
The workspace lets merchants view the store as a whole, zoom into individual areas and pan across it to examine details. According to Shopify, Canvas renders the store from its actual code rather than simply displaying a static design.
While making changes, merchants can test interactive page elements and animations. They can also check how pages look at different screen sizes. Sidekick takes screenshots as it works so it can see the same version of the site as the user.
Chat is not the only way to make changes. Merchants who prefer direct editing can click an individual element and adjust it without prompting Sidekick in chat.
Sidekick works directly with theme files
To support Canvas, Shopify gave Sidekick the ability to work directly with a store’s theme files. It also simplified the theme architecture to make the store’s structure, logic and design easier for the agent to understand and modify.
