Shopify has launched Canvas, a new design workspace that lays out every page of an online store on one infinite surface. Its Sidekick AI assistant is built in to make changes on request.

Merchants can pan across the whole store, zoom in on any section and click an element to edit it. Or they can describe the change to Sidekick in the chat panel.

Sidekick’s edits show up in real time. They can be as small as one section or as big as a full redesign.

The preview is a working version of the store, so interactions, animations, different products and collections, and screen sizes can all be checked without leaving Canvas.

Shopify announced Canvas on 1st October and said it would reach existing stores over the following days. However the Help Center still lists the feature as early access, available only to certain stores.

The new feature opens from the Themes page in the Shopify admin. Merchants can start a new theme there or duplicate an existing one into Canvas. The original stays in the current theme editor.

Canvas is desktop-only and needs a plan that includes theme customisation. Staff also need the edit code permission to open it.

The biggest catch is theme support. Canvas only works with Shopify’s own themes and custom builds, which rules out any store running a paid third-party theme from the Theme Store.

Some features are missing at launch too. App blocks and app embeds can’t be added or configured, themes can’t be customised by market, and content can’t be translated inside Canvas. Translations go through Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app instead.

Merchants can’t add new blocks by hand, either. Sidekick has to do it.

Once a theme has been edited in Canvas, it stops receiving theme updates and its files can’t be downloaded. Any future changes have to happen in Canvas.

A Canvas theme can be added to a rollout to replace a store’s main theme, but it can’t be edited from inside the rollout.