Shopify debuts Canvas, an AI chat tool for building online stores

Shopify has introduced Canvas, a site-building tool that lets merchants create and customize their online stores by chatting with the company’s AI agent, Sidekick. Shopify announced the product Thursday.

As Sidekick makes changes, Canvas shows the store in real time. Merchants can view the site as a whole or zoom in on details, and can test its interactivity and animations across different screen sizes. Shopify says Canvas renders the store’s actual code rather than a static preview. Sidekick also takes screenshots so it can see what the merchant sees as the site changes.

Shopify’s existing no-code builder let merchants rearrange sections and blocks in a selected theme. More extensive changes required editing code or hiring a developer. Canvas gives Sidekick direct access to theme files, while Shopify has simplified the theme architecture to make the store’s structure, logic and design easier for the agent to understand and change. Merchants can still edit individual elements directly.

Sidekick was already used to write code, build apps, customize themes and make other edits, but Canvas brings those capabilities into a product for working on an entire store. Shopify describes Canvas as early-stage, with areas that still need improvement. The tool joins AI site builders from Wix, Squarespace, Webflow and Framer, as well as platforms such as Lovable and Replit. Shopify says Canvas could make online selling more accessible to people without the budget for developers and designers or time to learn coding.