# Sidekick and Canvas: putting Shopify's AI to work without losing control > Sidekick now plans, codes and applies bulk changes, and Canvas rebuilds theme editing around it. How to use both, and where to keep a person in the loop. In Shopify Fall '26, Sidekick stops just answering questions and starts doing the work. It plans multi-step changes, applies them after one approval, writes code, researches your market and tests its own ideas. Shopify reports daily Sidekick sessions up 4.2x year on year. Canvas rebuilds theme editing around it. Used well, Sidekick is a capable junior team member. Used carelessly, it is a quick way to make 400 product descriptions worse at once. This article covers what both tools now do and where a person should stay in the loop. It is part of our Shopify Editions Fall '26 series. For the wider picture, start with [what UK brands should act on in Shopify Editions Fall '26](https://thinkcommerce.com/insights/shopify-editions-exponential). ## What Sidekick can now do - **Bulk changes from one plan.** Ask it to rewrite descriptions across a collection, approve the plan once, and watch it apply each change. - **Code, calculate and search the web**, and remember your instructions across conversations. - **Pulse recommendations on your admin home.** Up to five suggested actions drawing on your sales data, the apps you use and web research on your market. Pulse needs recent sales activity and Shopify Network Intelligence switched on. - **Tested recommendations (early access).** For desktop theme changes meant to lift add-to-cart, Sidekick builds the change into an unpublished copy of your theme. SimGym then runs simulated shopping sessions against your live theme. Only changes that win show "Tested by Sidekick". - **Admin jobs.** Create or edit draft orders, with changes highlighted. Explain why a payout came in lower or what is driving chargebacks. Give product-level pricing advice from Shopify Smart Pricing. - **Checkout.** Build and tune customisations in the checkout editor and the Checkout Blocks app. - **Everywhere.** A floating chat on every page of the redesigned admin. ## Canvas: the new way to edit your store Canvas shows your whole store in one view and lets you zoom into any detail. Sidekick works alongside you to turn ideas into custom design. Shopify claims it gets stores from no theme to launch 20% faster. Canvas is built on Shopify's new theme architecture, so check your current theme supports it before you plan around it. Sidekick's tested recommendations only work on Canvas-compatible themes too. ## Teach Sidekick your theme The most useful developer-facing change for merchants is two optional files at the root of your theme. AGENTS.md and DESIGN.md explain how the theme is built and record its design intent. Sidekick reads both before it changes your theme in Canvas, and can update DESIGN.md when you ask for a new stylistic direction. The same files guide your developers' own coding agents and sync through Shopify CLI and GitHub, so the rules stay consistent wherever the work happens. If an agency built your theme, ask it to write them. It is the cheapest way to stop AI edits drifting from your design system. ## Where to keep a person in the loop - **Read every plan before approving it.** One approval can cover hundreds of changes, and bulk copy edits can quietly undo SEO work. - **Treat untested suggestions as hypotheses.** A card without "Tested by Sidekick" didn't beat your live theme. Simulated shoppers aren't your shoppers either, so confirm a winner with a real A/B test. Our guide to [A/B testing with Shopify Rollouts](https://thinkcommerce.com/insights/shopify-rollouts-ab-testing) shows how to set one up. - **Publish deliberately.** Tested changes arrive as an unpublished "[Sidekick] Suggested theme". Preview it, and don't publish theme changes while a Black Friday rollout is scheduled. - **Check the numbers.** Use Sidekick's payout and pricing explanations as a starting point, then verify them against your Payments activity report. - **Watch for the audit trail.** Shopify says a filterable admin activity log is coming soon. It will show which person or app changed what. ## A sensible rollout for a small team 1. Make one person responsible for Sidekick, and review what Network Intelligence shares before you switch it on. 2. Add AGENTS.md and DESIGN.md to your theme. 3. Start with low-risk, reversible jobs: reports, draft orders, building collections and image alt text. 4. Move on to bulk content and theme changes once you have seen a few plans through from start to finish. ## Get your team using Sidekick well Our [AI coaching for Shopify teams](https://thinkcommerce.com/offers/ai-coaching-audit) is a working session with your team, on your own store. We cover the prompts that work, what to delegate to Sidekick and what to check. A half-day session costs £750, ex VAT. For the wider picture of how we put AI to work for merchants, see our [AI services for Shopify brands](https://thinkcommerce.com/services/ai). ## More in our Shopify Editions Fall '26 series - [Shopify Editions Fall '26: what UK brands should act on](https://thinkcommerce.com/insights/shopify-editions-exponential) - [Checkout, payments and fraud: what Fall '26 changes before and after Black Friday](https://thinkcommerce.com/insights/shopify-checkout-payments-fraud) - [Agentic commerce on Shopify: getting your products sold inside ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude](https://thinkcommerce.com/insights/shopify-agentic-commerce) ## Sources - [Introducing Canvas](https://www.shopify.com/news/introducing-canvas) (Shopify) - [Sidekick Pulse](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/ai-powered-tools/sidekick/pulse) (Shopify Help) - [Agentic workflows for themes](https://shopify.dev/docs/storefronts/themes/agentic-workflows) (shopify.dev) --- Source: https://thinkcommerce.com/insights/shopify-sidekick-canvas · Published: 4 November 2026 · Last updated: 5 November 2026 · Author: Paal Soberg · Contact: hello@thinkcommerce.com