Shopify Sidekick: Prompts, How and What to Use Shopify AI Assistant

The e-commerce landscape is undergoing rapid transformation, demanding unprecedented efficiency and strategic agility from merchants. Navigating competitive markets, managing daily operations, and fostering growth requires more than traditional tools. Enter Shopify Sidekick, a revolutionary Shopify AI assistant poised to redefine how Shopify merchants operate.

This comprehensive guide will explore Sidekick's capabilities, offer practical insights anduse cases for its application, and detail its profound impact on your store's success. This article included tests and reviews from SalesHunterThemes - Shopify theme expert to helps you maximize Shopify Artificial Intelligence power.

In this article:

• Shopify Sidekick capability lists (with use case TESTED and sample PROMPT)
• How to work with Shopify Sidekick? How to access
• Who can benefit from Shopify Sidekick?
• Shopify Sidekick Case Study
• Common Concerns and Limitations

What is Shopify Sidekick? The AI Assistant Redefining E-commerce

Shopify Sidekick - Shopify Magic is an advanced, AI-powered assistant seamlessly integrated into the Shopify platform. Far beyond a simple chatbot, Sidekick is engineered to interpret complex commands, automate routine tasks, and deliver strategic insights, truly acting as an indispensable co-pilot for merchants.

Its deep integration within Shopify’s expansive ecosystem allows it to leverage existing data and tools, providing highly context-aware assistance. Positioned as a cornerstone of Shopify’s evolving suite of AI functionalities, Sidekick signifies a monumental leap in intelligent e-commerce management. It streamlines operations, allowing businesses to focus on growth and innovation.

When is Shopify Sidekick release date?

Shopify Sidekick Official Release Date: December 2024

Shopify Sidekick first introduction date: July 26, 2023

Sidekick AI assistant was first introduced officially by Shopify in the 2023 Summer Edition.

However, it was launched as just a beta version. Up until December 2024, the AI Assistant was released officially since December 2024, and was available for all store since then.

Key Features of Shopify Sidekick: Empowering Merchants to Do More, Faster

Theme editing & storefront design

Shopify Sidekick and theme blocks now allow users to generate and update section using built-in Shopify Sidekick AI power. 

Coming with the new free theme revolution in Shopify Summer Edition 2025: Horizon, its integration of the new Horizon theme's AI-generated themes and modular blocks facilitates rapid design iterations.

Whether you're aiming for bold minimalism or quirky charm, Sidekick helps you create new sections as you desire. What a wow!

Edit unpublished themes without breaking your live store. It’s like hiring a designer—minus the bill. Perfect for merchants who want their storefront to stand out and sell more, without wrestling with code or complex theme files.

As a Shopify theme expert, we have tested Sidekick capability to generate sections and it actually an eye opening experience even with Shopify natives like us.  With this feature, you can customize the store page without installing a third-party store builder, what a cost-time saving!

However, please note that this feature only works for themes that allow theme custom section blocks (Eg, Blum, Normcore, Electro, Shine). 

How to use Shopify Sidekick in the theme section generation? See my use case below.

Step 1: Access Shopify Theme Editor and ask your Sidekick assistant to navigate to the AI theme editor screen.

Simply go to the theme editor screen, then input this prompt: “Navigate to the AI section generator”. You’ll get there in a second.

Step 2: Generate a section you want with a simple prompt

In this example, I use the predefined sample from Shopify: “An interactive vertical timeline that highlights as the user scrolls.”

It generates the whole section, and with simple settings!

Step 3: Add a prompt to update and customize the section.

Here I have asked Sidekick to “add a heading title and sub heading for the section”. And it immediately adds the heading with settings for me:

Want to customize your theme just like the above example? Get Blum and use the below prompts (or any prompts you want) to generate a custom section.

Sample prompts to use the Sidekick section generator:

• “Customize my [theme name] to use rounded buttons, bold headings, and a pink/beige color scheme for a soft, feminine vibe.”
• “Design a homepage layout for [store name] that prioritizes featured bundles and promotes our [email signup offer] above the fold.”
• “Switch my product grid to 3 columns on desktop and 2 on mobile with tighter spacing and lighter product image backgrounds.”

Step-by-step guidance and navigation

Running a store shouldn’t mean navigating endless menus. Shopify Sidekick makes setup and management smooth by giving you step-by-step walkthroughs for tasks like shipping setup, domain connections, taxes, and custom features. Don’t know where to change a setting? Just ask. Sidekick either takes you straight there or shows you how, one click at a time.

No more guesswork or Googling—just clear, confident steps tailored to your store’s context. It’s the ultimate shortcut for new merchants and a time-saver for seasoned pros. Less friction, more action.

Use case example:

Our customers often face difficulties finding the collaboration code to send to our support team. Previously, we needed to send them the step-by-step guide. But now, simply asking Sidekick, “Take me to the collaboration code setting,” is enough.

Sample prompt to ask Sidekick for guidance:

• “Take me to the exact settings I need to update shipping zones for [Europe] and add a new rate for [DHL Express].”
• “Guide me through setting up local pickup for my [city name] store location—hours, instructions, and notification setup included.”
• “Show me how to add Google Analytics 4 and Meta Pixel tracking to my [theme name] so I can monitor [conversion events].”

Automation Tasks and Streamlined Store Management        

Sidekick turns hours into minutes by automating repetitive admin work - through simple prompts. Want to create a discount, launch a product collection, or build a subscriber workflow? Just say the word. Sidekick builds the process for you and asks for your confirmation before it goes live.

Additionally, its inventory and order management support helps maintain optimal stock levels, preventing oversells or stockouts.

Perfect for scaling your time and reducing errors, it’s like having a full-time assistant who knows your store inside and out. Whether you’re running promos, tagging orders, or managing fulfillment rules, automation with Sidekick lets you focus on selling, not setting up.

Use case example:

I generated a discount code for new users in 1 second, 1 prompt:

Sample prompts to automate Shopify store operation:

• “Create a sitewide flash sale offering [X% off] for [collection name], running from [start date] to [end date], and automatically tag all orders with ‘flash2025’.”
• “Set up free shipping for orders over [$amount] in [region/country], excluding products tagged [‘bulk’ or ‘oversized’].”
• “Build an automated welcome email flow for new subscribers to [store name], including a [10% off] coupon and a CTA to visit our [best-sellers collection].”
• “Add a new metafield for [product] called ‘care_instructions’ and populate it with: ‘Hand wash cold, hang dry.’”
• “Update metaobject values for my [lookbook page] to include new images and captions for our [Fall 2025] collection.”
• “Connect the ‘material_type’ metafield across all [accessories] and display it under product titles on PDPs.”

Enhanced Marketing & Content Creation: Unleashing Your Creative Potential

Sidekick significantly enhances your marketing and content creation efforts. It can generate innovative blog post ideas and comprehensive outlines, helping you maintain a consistent content strategy.

For product pages and advertisements, Sidekick crafts compelling copywriting that resonates with your target audience. It also provides tailored social media content suggestions, ensuring your brand maintains a dynamic and engaging online presence.

This AI-powered assistance liberates merchants from creative blocks and time-consuming content generation, accelerating your marketing campaigns.

Use case tested:

You can also mention the exact product/collection/page to tailor the result:

Sample prompts:

• “Create a segment for repeat customers who placed 3+ orders, spent over [$X], and haven’t ordered in the last [60 days].”
• “Write a persuasive product description for [product name], a [type] made from [materials], targeting eco-conscious urban millennials.”
• “Draft a playful abandoned cart email for [store name] with urgency (‘Items are almost gone!’) and a [15% off] recovery discount.”

Data Analysis & Performance Insights: Decoding Your Business Metrics

Sidekick excels in transforming raw data into actionable insights. It interprets complex sales trends and customer behavior patterns, offering clarity on your store's performance. The AI identifies crucial areas for improvement, such as opportunities for conversion rate optimization provides targeted recommendations.

While a graphic illustrating efficiency gains via Sidekick would be invaluable here, suffice it to say its analytical prowess helps merchants make data-driven decisions, optimizing strategies for maximum impact and sustained growth.

Use cases tested by SalesHunterThemes - Shopify expert:

Ask for any metrics you want, Sidekick calculates them in seconds for you in detail:

Get your metrics by using the prompts below:

• “Compare sales performance of [collection A] vs. [collection B] from [last 30 days]—highlight conversion rates and average order value.”
• “What’s my best-selling SKU over the past 90 days by revenue, and what inventory level is currently available?”
• “Visualize cart abandonment trends this quarter and suggest optimizations for [checkout flow].”

Personalized Recommendations & Strategic Advice: Your Custom Business Consultant

Beyond operational tasks, Shopify Sidekick serves as a personalized business consultant, offering strategic advice tailored to your unique needs. It suggests relevant Shopify apps or features that could enhance specific aspects of your business. Moreover, Sidekick provides insightful guidance on marketing strategies or theme customizations. For instance, it might recommend optimizing your store with robust themes like SalesHunterThemes' themes: Blum or Electro for superior performance, ensuring your store is always aligned with best practices for merchant success.

Use case tested:

I simply ask Sidekick for a suggestion to improve my product conversion (the question SalesHunterThemes’ customers often ask):

Ask for personalized suggestions with the below sample prompts:

• “Based on my last 60 days of traffic and sales, what 3 actions should I take to increase conversions on my best-selling product, [Product Name]?”

(Get custom conversion strategies for a product already performing well.)

• “I’m planning a holiday campaign—what’s the best discount strategy for my average order value of [$X] and repeat purchase rate of [Y%]?”

(Let Sidekick tailor a promo plan based on your actual metrics.)

• “What are my weakest sales days over the past 90 days, and how should I plan email or ad campaigns to boost revenue on those days?”

(Use data-backed timing for your next push.)

Visual Generation & Creative Assistance: Elevating Your Store's Aesthetic

A groundbreaking feature of Shopify Sidekick, highlighted in Shopify's 2025 updates, is its capacity for visual content generation based on user prompts. Imagine effortlessly creating stunning product banners or eye-catching hero sections. This creative assistance revolutionizes how merchants approach visual merchandising, enabling rapid design iterations and consistent brand aesthetics.

Sidekick’s ability to generate visual assets streamlines the creative workflow, reducing reliance on external design tools and accelerating content production cycles for marketing campaigns.

Use case example:

In the past months, I used ChatGPT to generate product image, but now I can use Sidekick in seconds:

Sample prompts to generate images with Sidekick:

• “Create a homepage hero banner for [store name]’s [product category] launch featuring a moody, high-end aesthetic in black and gold.”
• “Make 4 Instagram-ready images of [product name] styled for a beach photoshoot vibe, with lifestyle props and soft sunlight.”
• “Design a fall-themed email header with pumpkins, sweaters, and [featured product] shown in a cozy, rustic setting.”

> Explore the official document from Shopify quickly introducing Sidekisk capabilities and guides.

Is Shopify Sidekick Free? Understanding Pricing & Accessibility

How is Sidekick integrated with Shopify? Shopify Sidekick's initial rollout is progressively being integrated into all Shopify plans, without any additional charge. Even trial and Basic plan users can access this assistant. You can simply chat with Sidekick to leverage all of its powerful features, or use the below-mentioned ways to interact with Sidekick more easily.

• Notes: While specific pricing models and accessibility details may evolve, merchants should refer to official Shopify announcements and product news for the most up-to-date information on its availability.

How to access Sidekick? 

Sidekick AI Assistant is now available for all users and can be accessed right in the Shopify admin dashboard by clicking the Sidekick icon.

Screen share, Mobile & Voice Chat Capabilities: E-commerce Management on the Go

Sidekick's design prioritizes accessibility, offering robust mobile support and convenient voice chat capabilities. This ensures that merchants can manage their stores and access critical insights from any device, anywhere. Whether you're on the move or away from your desk, voice interaction allows for quick queries and task execution, making on-the-go management seamless and efficient. No more long prompts, you can now share screen with voice chat to make it words within seconds!

Despite being released since Jun 16, 2025, the voice chat and screen sharing features are still in beta mode and are not available to all users.

Global Reach: Sidekick in 20+ Languages: Expanding Your International Footprint

To truly serve a global merchant base, Shopify Sidekick offers multilingual support in over 20 languages. This extensive linguistic capability is crucial for international merchants, breaking down communication barriers and making advanced AI assistance accessible worldwide. This global accessibility ensures that Sidekick is a truly versatile and indispensable tool for e-commerce.

Addressing Common Concerns: Data Privacy, Prompt Tips, and Limitations

Data Security & Confidentiality: Safeguarding Your Business Information

Shopify prioritizes robust data security and confidentiality within Sidekick's operations. Merchants can be reassured that sensitive business information, including sales data and customer details, is handled with the highest standards of privacy and protection. Shopify's commitment to data integrity ensures Sidekick operates within a secure environment, providing merchants with peace of mind regarding their valuable business assets and proprietary information, upholding trust and reliability.

Mastering Your AI Co-Pilot Prompting and Follow-up

To master your AI co-pilot efficiently, focus on clear and specific prompting. Experiment with different command structures and ask follow-up questions to refine Sidekick's responses.

Consistent interaction helps Sidekick learn your preferences, improving the quality of its assistance over time. Embrace the iterative process, and you'll quickly unlock its full potential for streamlined e-commerce operations.

Pro tip: Mention the exact product/collection/etc. By using @symbol to get the most exact answer.

Limitations of Shopify Sidekick: What Merchants Should Know

While Shopify Sidekick is a game-changer, it’s important to know where its superpowers stop:

• Requires approval before action: Sidekick prepares automations and edits, but nothing goes live without your confirmation.
• Doesn’t manage third-party apps: Tools like Klaviyo, Google Ads, or Mailchimp remain outside Sidekick’s direct control.
• Limited to the Shopify ecosystem: Sidekick excels in admin tasks and design tweaks—but not in writing custom code or managing complex integrations.
• No live visitor tracking: It uses Shopify’s analytics—not external data like heatmaps or user sessions.
• Still needs human judgment: Recommendations are smart, but not perfect. Review before acting to ensure it aligns with your unique goals.

Sidekick vs. Other Shopify AI Tools/Assistants: Understanding the Core Difference

It's crucial to distinguish Shopify Sidekick's unique capabilities from other specialized AI tools available on the Shopify App Store. While many apps offer single-function AI solutions (e.g., dedicated AI product review generators), Sidekick acts as a centralized, versatile "assistant."

Its strength lies in understanding complex, multi-step commands and providing holistic support across various operational domains, rather than being limited to a specific task. This positions Sidekick as a comprehensive co-pilot, enhancing, not replacing, specialized AI tools.

Who Can Benefit from Shopify Sidekick? Tailored Use Cases

For Small Business Owners & Solopreneurs: Maximizing Limited Resources

For small business owners and solopreneurs, Shopify Sidekick is a game-changer, addressing the critical pain point of limited time and resources. It dramatically saves time on daily administrative tasks, freeing them to focus on core business activities. For example, a new store owner can use Sidekick to quickly set up their first product collection, automatically drafting descriptions and categorizing items.

For E-commerce Marketers: Supercharging Campaign Efficiency

E-commerce marketers will find Sidekick an indispensable tool for supercharging campaign efficiency. It accelerates content creation and ideation for marketing initiatives, from brainstorming ad copy to generating email sequences.

Sidekick can also assist in analyzing campaign performance, providing insights that inform future strategies. Imagine using Sidekick to draft engaging email marketing copy for a flash sale in minutes, then getting quick feedback on its potential impact.

For Designers & Visual Merchandisers: Revolutionizing Creative Workflows

Shopify Sidekick offers immense value to designers and visual merchandisers, particularly in streamlining visual refreshes for new collections, a challenge often faced by professionals like Emily Johnson.

Sidekick's visual generation capabilities enable quick mock-ups and brainstorming design concepts. This means designers can leverage themes like SalesHunterThemes' Blum or Electro to implement Sidekick's suggestions, quickly updating promotion banners with unprecedented agility.

For Large Enterprises & Scaling Brands: Optimizing Complex Operations

For large enterprises and scaling brands, Shopify Sidekick serves as a powerful engine for optimizing complex operations. It automates intricate workflows across various departments, from supply chain management to customer service. Sidekick also provides quick, accessible data insights, empowering strategic decision-making at an organizational level.

Shopify Sidekick in Action: What does Merchants talk about Sidekick?

Taylor Page, a Shopify Developer stated: “Sidekick has actually gotten really good!

When a merchant makes a request, it's not always for an obvious scenario and sometimes we're fortunate enough to get ahead of potential issues or concerns - meaning it may not be obvious what product we should test.”

While another merchant commented in his post: “Taylor I find it good, but if you know your inventory really well, it misses stuff and suggests things that can’t be achieved. It admits as much when you insist that it rechecks and generally gets there in the end, but this can be painful, especially if it gets in a ‘doom loop’ after multiple questions suggesting the thing it got wrong in the first place.”

Shopify Sidekick is proving to be a valuable tool for merchants and developers alike—streamlining tasks and providing intelligent support. While users like Taylor Page highlight its ability to anticipate needs and handle complex requests, others caution that it occasionally misfires—especially for merchants deeply familiar with their store’s inventory. The consensus? Sidekick is a powerful co-pilot, but still benefits from a human touch and patience as it learns.

The Future of E-commerce with Shopify Sidekick (2025 & Beyond)

Integration with Horizon Theme & Shopify 2025 Updates: A Synergistic Evolution

Shopify Sidekick also comes as a pivotal component of Shopify's "Horizons", embodying a synergistic evolution within the platform. It works seamlessly in tandem with the new Horizon theme foundation and its modular theme blocks.

Sidekick's role extends to facilitating AI-generated themes and blocks, enabling merchants to rapidly create and customize their storefronts with unprecedented ease. This deep integration signifies a future where AI not only assists with tasks but actively shapes the very design and functionality of your online store.

Expected Enhancements & AI Evolution: Pioneering Intelligent E-commerce

The future of e-commerce with Shopify AI promises continuous enhancements and a remarkable evolution in AI capabilities. Based on current trends and Shopify’s aggressive development roadmap, I can anticipate increasingly sophisticated functionalities, deeper data integration, and even more proactive strategic insights.

Future rollouts will likely include advanced predictive analytics and highly personalized automation features. Shopify's commitment to continuous improvement ensures Sidekick will remain at the forefront of pioneering intelligent e-commerce management.