From editing a section to redesigning the whole store
Canvas is Shopify's new store design surface: every page sits on one canvas you can pan and zoom, and merchants can click to edit directly or tell Sidekick what they want. Unlike most site builder previews, Canvas renders the store's real code, so interactions, animations, different products and different screen sizes can be tested on the spot.
The key change is under the hood. Sidekick now rewrites theme files directly, working from a set of store-building instructions and skills; after writing, it validates the code and looks at screenshots of the result before deciding whether to keep going. Shopify also simplified its theme architecture so the model can understand it. The company says Sidekick made more than 25 million theme edits in the first half of 2026. Design director Austin Knight put it plainly: getting Sidekick to write code was easy, but guiding it to make good design decisions took a great deal of time.
The limits are spelled out
Canvas rolls out over the coming days, desktop-only and only on plans that include theme customization. It does not yet support third-party themes, app blocks and embeds, Markets, translations or rollouts, and themes edited in Canvas stop receiving theme updates. Shopify says it is not replacing the existing editor yet, and original themes can still be maintained there.
What it means
For small merchants without front-end skills, this is a direct e-commerce answer to the AI site builders from Wix and Squarespace; product director Ben Sehl says a fully custom store now takes about 20 minutes. But stores that already depend on apps or Markets are better off trying it on a duplicated theme for now, not on the one that is actually selling.