How to use Shopify Sidekick: 15 tasks to hand it

Sidekick is the AI assistant built into your Shopify admin. Click the Sidekick field on almost any admin page, type what you want done in plain words, and review what it drafts before anything reaches your live store.

Sidekick is included with your Shopify plan. Features and usage limits vary by plan.

Open Sidekick

Desktop: go to Sidekick in your admin, or click the Sidekick field on the page you’re on. It opens in a panel beside the page and uses that page as context.
Shopify app: tap the Sidekick icon on any page.
Mobile browser: tap the Sidekick field.
Apple Watch: voice questions only. It can’t make changes there.

Type your request, click the up arrow to send, and answer any follow-up question it asks. Type @ and a name to point it at a specific product, order, customer, collection or discount.

15 tasks to hand Sidekick

#	Task	Prompt to try	What you approve
1	See best sellers	”Show me my best-selling products this month”	Nothing, it’s a report
2	Compare periods	”Compare my sales this quarter to the same quarter last year”	Nothing
3	Sales by channel	”What were my sales by channel this month?”	Nothing
4	Explain a payout	”Why was my last payout lower than I expected?”	Nothing
5	Check chargebacks	”Group my chargebacks from the last 90 days by reason”	Nothing
6	Cancel risky orders automatically	”Create a workflow that cancels and refunds orders with a high fraud risk level”	You review and turn on the workflow
7	Edit an order	”Add 2 more units of the blue t-shirt to this order and apply a 10% discount”	Update order
8	Create a draft order	”Create a draft order with 2 blue t-shirts for John Doe and apply a 10% discount”	Save
9	Fill in a policy	”Insert the return policy template and fill in my store’s address”	Save
10	Fix SEO titles	”Rewrite the page title and meta description for @PRODUCT, and keep the title under 60 characters”	Save on the product form
11	Launch a collection	”Help me create a collection, add products to it, and set up a discount for it”	Each form in its to-do list
12	Connect a domain	”How do I update my DNS settings?”	Nothing, it walks you through
13	Find an app	”Can you recommend gift card apps for my store?”	The install
14	Change the homepage	”Add a slideshow section to the top of my home page”	Save in the theme editor
15	Repeat a weekly job	”Create a skill that writes a weekly sales summary”	Nothing, it saves the instructions

Sidekick can also write product descriptions and other text, create and edit images, build customer segments, discounts and custom reports, and generate custom apps. For photos already in your store, the file editor tools are covered in Shopify AI background remover.

Review changes before they go live

Sidekick shows its work in different places depending on the task:

Form fields it fills are highlighted in purple, so you can check them before saving.
Changes to several items go into a Store changes card. Click Start review, step through each change, then Publish all changes. One set holds up to 50 changes, drafts expire after 10 days without updates, and the card isn’t available in the Shopify app.
Order edits open on the order edit page. Nothing changes until you click Update order.
Flow workflows are created as Inactive and tagged “sidekick”. Sidekick may leave out business-specific logic, so test before you click Turn on workflow. Building workflows with Sidekick needs a desktop.

Once you publish, Sidekick can’t undo the change automatically. You have to ask it to revert and then publish again. Ask for a before-and-after table before Sidekick changes anything, and tell it to confirm before any change that can’t be undone.

Write prompts that get it right first time

Name the exact item with @ instead of describing it.
Say what is in scope: “Only change products in the Winter collection.”
Name the metrics or columns you want in a report.
Refine in small steps (“make it shorter”) rather than rewriting the whole request.

If you repeat the same instructions often, save them as a skill. You can save up to 50, Sidekick loads the right one when your request matches, and skills only work when memory is on in the conversation. Type “List my skills” to see them, since there’s no menu.

Build a custom app

On the Basic, Grow, Advanced or Shopify Plus plan, Sidekick can generate apps that run inside your admin, such as a tool that flags products to reorder based on sales speed.

Open Sidekick, click the plus icon and select Generate an app.
If asked, select Yes, turn on Generate app mode.
Describe the app, then review and refine it in the app editor.
Click Install in the chat window.

App generation works only in a desktop browser, and staff need the App development > Develop permission. Generated apps can change store data customers see, so test them before you install.

Act on Sidekick’s suggestions on Home

Sidekick also posts up to five suggested actions as cards on your admin Home page. These used to be called Pulse. Select an action and Sidekick opens a chat with a to-do list, or click the X to dismiss it. Suggestions need recent sales and Shopify Network Intelligence turned on, and not every store is eligible.

What Sidekick won’t do

Talk to your customers or handle support chats.
Change your live store without your approval.
Release Shopify Payments reserves, remove account holds or change payout details.
Change your checkout directly or edit your privacy policy.
Add theme sections or blocks your theme doesn’t already include, outside the theme editor’s block generation or Canvas.
Show you data your staff permissions don’t allow.

If an older guide sends you looking for Shopify Magic, that page shows where each tool is now.