Shopify debuts Canvas, a way to build online stores by chatting with AI

Shopify launched Canvas, a store-building tool that lets merchants build their shops by chatting with Shopify's AI agent Sidekick, with page changes rendered in real code rather than static previews. To enable this, Shopify let Sidekick work directly on theme files and simplified the theme architecture. At launch it does not support third-party themes, app blocks and extensions, markets, translations, rollouts or theme updates, and is desktop-only, though the company says support will come gradually.