Shopify Launches Canvas, an AI Chat-Based Store Builder

Shopify introduced a new site-building tool called Canvas on October 1, 2026, that lets merchants create and customize their online stores by chatting with its AI agent, Sidekick, while watching changes render in real time.

Unlike Shopify’s previous no-code builder — which required merchants to rearrange modular sections and blocks within a selected theme, with deeper customizations needing developer involvement — Canvas allows users to simply describe what they want in a chat. Sidekick then makes the changes directly to the store’s actual theme files, not a static preview, meaning merchants can test full interactivity, animations, and how pages appear across different screen sizes. Sidekick also takes screenshots of the work so it can see the same view the merchant sees as updates are made.

Sidekick itself is not new; it has previously been used to write code, build apps, and customize themes. Canvas brings those capabilities together into a single site-building interface where users can see their entire store at once and zoom and pan while edits are applied to live files. To support this, Shopify gave Sidekick direct access to theme files and simplified the theme architecture to make the store’s structure, logic, and design easier for the AI to interpret and modify.

Canvas joins a growing category of AI-powered site builders from companies including Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Framer, as well as platforms like Lovable and Replit. Merchants can still click individual elements to make manual changes if they prefer.

The tool launches with notable limitations: it does not yet support third-party themes, app blocks and extensions, markets, translations, rollouts, or theme updates, and it is currently desktop-only. Shopify told TechCrunch it plans to add these capabilities over time. As Canvas expands, it could make online selling more accessible to merchants without the budget for developers or the time to learn to code.