Shopify Introduces Canvas, an AI-Powered Site-Building Tool
Shopify introduced Canvas on Thursday, a new site-building tool that allows merchants to create Shopify stores by chatting with AI. Before Canvas, Shopify already offered a capable no-code builder that enabled users to customize selected themes by rearranging modular sections and blocks. However, more extensive customization required merchants to edit code or hire a developer.
Real-Time Store Creation with Sidekick
With Canvas, merchants can create their sites by chatting with Shopify’s AI agent, Sidekick. As the AI makes changes, Canvas displays the results in real time. Merchants can view the store as a whole while it takes shape or zoom in to focus on specific details.
According to Shopify, Canvas does not provide a static preview. Instead, it renders the store’s actual underlying code. This allows merchants to test the page’s full interactivity and animations and see how pages will appear across different screen sizes. Sidekick also captures screenshots of the work, enabling it to see the same updated site view as the merchant.
Part of a Broader Shift in Website Development
Canvas reflects a broader shift toward a future in which building a website no longer requires direct coding. It joins numerous AI-powered site-building tools from companies such as Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, and Framer, as well as vibe-coding platforms including Lovable and Replit.
Merchants can still click individual elements and modify them directly. However, they will likely make most changes by describing what they want to Sidekick through chat.
Expanding Sidekick into a Complete Site-Building Product
Sidekick itself is not new. It has already been used to write code, build apps, customize themes, and make other edits. Until now, however, these capabilities had not been integrated into a complete site-building product like Canvas, where users can view the entire store, zoom and pan around it, and update the site’s actual files.
To enable this functionality, Shopify gave Sidekick direct access to theme files and simplified its theme architecture. These changes make a store’s structure, logic, and design easier for Sidekick to understand and modify.
Current Limitations and Future Development
Canvas is still in its early stages and has several areas that require expansion and improvement. The initial release does not support third-party themes, app blocks and extensions, markets, translations, rollouts, or theme updates. Canvas is also currently limited to desktop use.
Shopify told TechCrunch that it plans to support these capabilities over time, emphasizing that the product is still new.
As Canvas becomes more robust, it could make online selling more accessible to people who lack the budget to hire developers and designers or the time to learn how to code.
