Shopify Magic is not a single AI design control. It is Shopify’s broader suite of AI features, while theme generation, editor text suggestions, custom theme blocks, and image tools each handle different kinds of storefront changes. Sidekick is the conversational assistant that can help with some of those jobs—and with work beyond design.
Shopify Magic vs. Shopify AI design tools: the difference
Shopify Magic is the umbrella for Shopify’s integrated AI features across store building, marketing, customer support, and back-office tasks. Within that suite, separate tools target different storefront assets. A personalized theme changes the starting point for a store; text suggestions fill certain supported fields; theme-block generation creates a custom block and Liquid code; and media tools edit or generate images. Shopify’s Magic overview describes the suite and its feature availability.
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Sidekick is Shopify’s conversational assistant, not a synonym for every Magic feature. It accepts natural-language requests and can generate content, assist with store tasks, and help with theme settings or recommendations while the merchant is in the theme editor. The merchant remains in control of applying and saving theme changes.
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| Workflow | What it can change | Where it runs and what to check |
|---|---|---|
| Theme generation | Creates a free personalized theme based on a description of the business. | Started from Shopify’s Themes area. Treat the result as a theme draft, not a finished, uniquely art-directed storefront; review and adjust it before launch. Shopify’s theme-generation guidance. |
| Sidekick in the theme editor | Can recommend or make some theme-setting changes, and can help generate text or custom blocks. | Use Sidekick while in the theme editor for theme suggestions or changes. Review changes and save them yourself. Shopify’s Sidekick theme-editor instructions. |
| Theme-editor text suggestions | Drafts text for eligible headings, titles, announcements, and other supported fields. | Use the generation control shown in a supported field. Check names, specifications, product details, and every other factual claim. Shopify’s text-generation instructions. |
| Theme-block generation | Creates a custom theme block and the Liquid code behind it from a requested layout and content. | Review and test the generated code for correct behavior, accessibility, and performance. Shopify says its Support team and third-party theme developers do not support customizing or troubleshooting generated blocks. Shopify’s theme-block guidance. |
| Media generation and editing | Can replace an image background or transform an image from a natural-language prompt, including product and marketing image use cases. | Availability depends on the workflow and plan; inspect the result and save it deliberately. Shopify’s media-generation documentation. |
Where to start for the change you want
- Need a starting theme? Describe the business and use theme generation, then refine the result to suit the store’s products, brand, and layout needs.
- Need wording in a theme field? Use the generation control in that field, then verify the copy—especially product claims and specifics.
- Need a layout element your theme does not provide? Ask for a custom theme block. Because the result is code, plan time to test its function, accessibility, and performance.
- Need to adjust a theme setting through conversation? Open Sidekick from the theme editor, describe the desired change, inspect the suggestion, and save the theme when satisfied.
- Need to alter a product or marketing image? Use the media workflow available to your store and check the result before using it publicly.
Availability depends on the feature
Shopify says Magic tools are available at no additional cost regardless of subscription plan, while also noting that access to specific features can vary by plan, device, or language. That means “Shopify Magic is free” should not be read as a guarantee that every AI workflow is available to every store in every context. Check the live feature documentation and your admin interface for current access.
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Shopify’s media-generation documentation specifically lists Sidekick media generation for Basic, Grow, Advanced, and Shopify Plus stores. It separately describes file-editor media generation as available on all plans at no additional cost for a limited time. That limited-time condition and plan information can change, so confirm the current terms on the media-generation page before relying on them.
How to get better drafts and review them safely
Shopify recommends clear instructions, a specified tone and format, relevant store context, iterative refinement, and reviewing proposed changes before applying them. The same request can produce different results, so treat prompting as a working session rather than a guaranteed one-shot design process. Shopify’s AI-tool best practices provide further guidance.
- State the intended audience, purpose, tone, and format; include the store details the result needs.
- Give feedback when the first draft misses the brief instead of accepting it by default.
- Check generated text for accuracy, particularly factual product descriptions and claims.
- Preview image changes and ensure the final image fits its intended use.
- Test generated blocks on the storefront, including on relevant screen sizes and with accessibility and performance in mind, before publishing.
Generated blocks carry a distinct technical risk: Shopify warns that code may contain errors or fail accessibility or performance best practices. Shopify places responsibility for reviewing and testing the block on the merchant and suggests hiring a Shopify Partner when assistance is needed. The generated-block support limitation is described in Shopify’s documentation.
What Shopify says about store data
Shopify says it does not use one merchant’s store-level data to power Shopify Magic for other merchants. It says a merchant’s own store-level data may personalize that merchant’s results and is not shared with other merchants. This statement is specific to Shopify Magic and store-level data; it should not be taken as a blanket description of every connected tool or data flow. See Shopify’s Magic overview.
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