Shopify has launched Canvas, a new tool that lets merchants create their online stores through a simple chat interface with an AI agent named Sidekick. This marks a shift from the traditional approach of building websites, which often required users to edit themes and rearrange modular sections, usually needing some coding knowledge or a developer’s help.
With Canvas, merchants can chat with Sidekick to set up their site. As they express their needs, the AI makes real-time updates, allowing users to see their store evolve instantly. Notably, this isn’t a static preview but the real code behind their store being rendered. That means merchants can test the page’s full interactivity and animation, and view pages as they’d appear across different screen sizes.
Sidekick is familiar to Shopify users, having previously assisted with writing code, building apps, and customizing themes. However, Canvas takes it a step further by integrating Sidekick into a comprehensive site-building tool, enabling dynamic interactions where users can zoom in and pan around their entire store while making updates. Thanks to a simplified theme architecture, Sidekick can now work directly with theme files, making it easier to understand and modify the store’s structure and design.
Merchants can still click on individual elements to make changes directly, if they choose. But more likely, they’ll just tell Sidekick in a chat what they want to do. This feature not only improves user experience but also aligns with the trend of making website building more accessible, reducing the need for direct coding skills. Other AI-powered site-building tools include Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Framer, alongside vibe-coding platforms like Lovable and Replit, highlighting this shift toward more intuitive design processes.
Although Canvas offers promising features, it is still in its early days, so there are areas where it will need to expand and improve. However, Canvas could make becoming an online seller more accessible to those who don’t have the budget for developers and designers, or the time to learn to code.
