Shopify drops prompt-to-store AI builder and voice-enabled Sidekick

Setting up an online storefront has always been an exercise in frustration. Choosing themes, wrestling with CSS, and tweaking layouts can easily burn through days before you even make your first sale. Shopify wants to turn that entire ordeal into a single prompt.

On Wednesday, during its biannual Editions launch event, Shopify rolled out a fresh suite of AI-powered tools aimed at helping merchants get up and running with minimal friction.

Build a store in one prompt, code included

The centerpiece of the update is a new AI store builder. Instead of piecing together templates by hand, merchants can simply type in a short description of their brand, such as "tennis gear and stylish athleisure." Shopify's AI takes that prompt and generates a ready-to-launch storefront foundation, leaving users to fine-tune the final details inside the visual editor.

To go along with it, Shopify introduced a new public template called Horizon in its Theme Store. Horizon comes with built-in AI assistance and introduces Theme Blocks, modular elements that let store owners customize layouts without touching raw code.

If you need something specific, the AI can write the code for you on the fly. For instance, if you describe a custom banner with animated elements and promotional text, the system generates the underlying code and drops it right into your store.

Sidekick learns to talk and look at your screen

Shopify also gave its merchant assistant, Sidekick, a substantial upgrade. Sidekick can now converse via voice chat and guide merchants out loud through complex topics, such as navigating tariffs, which is currently a massive headache for online retailers.

Even better, merchants can share their screen with Sidekick. If you cannot remember where a specific shipping or payout setting lives, the assistant can watch your screen and point you in the right direction. The AI assistant has also made its way onto the Shopify mobile app.

Sidekick rolled out broadly in December 2024, and Shopify told TechCrunch that monthly active users have more than doubled since the start of 2025. In a recent internal memo, CEO Tobi Lütke noted that AI might help Shopify maintain a leaner workforce going forward.

Why it matters

For solo creators and small businesses, this dramatically lowers the barrier to entry. Building a professional ecommerce presence previously required either hiring an expensive freelance developer or spending countless hours learning theme customization. While AI-generated storefronts risk looking somewhat generic out of the box, having a functional framework in minutes changes the economics of launching a brand.

Shopify is making a smart play here by tackling the most tedious operational bottlenecks. Instead of chasing flashy AI gimmicks, it embedded generation directly into site building and support workflows. Adding voice and screen sharing transforms Sidekick into a genuine tier-one technical support agent for non-technical store owners.

Coupled with Lütke's comments on running a smaller team, it looks like Shopify is treating AI as an operational necessity on both sides of the platform. Rivals in the ecommerce space will be under heavy pressure to match this level of ambient, multimodal assistance.