What is Shopify Sidekick?

Sidekick is the AI assistant built into the Shopify admin. A merchant can ask it questions in plain language and have it help get things done without leaving the page they're on. It ships as part of Shopify Magic and sits inside the admin, not on the storefront.

What are Sidekick app extensions?

They're a way for the apps you install to plug their own data and actions into Sidekick. An app can register read-only tools that answer questions using its data, and scoped actions that take you to the right place to make a change. When you ask Sidekick something an app can answer, Sidekick calls that app's tool and folds the result into the conversation.

Can Sidekick change my store data through an app?

Not on its own. Shopify's model keeps the merchant in control: data tools are read-only, and any change runs through an action where the app brings up the relevant screen and you confirm it. Sidekick suggests and navigates; it does not silently write to your store.

Are Sidekick app extensions available to every app yet?

Not yet. As of mid-2026 they're in a developer preview that Shopify is opening to selected partners, so availability depends on which apps have been accepted and have shipped an extension. Expect the surface to widen over time the way checkout and theme app extensions did.

Do I need to do anything to use an app's Sidekick tools?

If an app you've installed ships a Sidekick extension, its tools become available to Sidekick automatically once the app is updated. You just ask Sidekick a question in natural language; it decides when one of the app's tools is the right way to answer.

Shopify Sidekick App Extensions, Explained: What They Mean for Your Store

Shopify's assistant used to be able to tell you about Shopify. Now it can tell you about the apps you run on top of Shopify. That's the shift behind Sidekick app extensions, and it changes where the apps in your stack actually show up.

Here's the plain-English version of what they are, how they behave, and why the timing matters for any merchant who cares about being legible to AI.

What Sidekick is

Sidekick is the AI assistant baked into the Shopify admin. You ask it something in normal language and it helps you do the thing, in the flow you're already in, rather than sending you off to hunt through menus. It's part of Shopify Magic and it lives inside the admin you already log into.

Until recently, Sidekick mostly knew about Shopify's own surfaces: your orders, your products, the platform's features. What it didn't know was the inside of the apps you'd installed. If your reviews app held your best testimonials or your email app knew your top-performing subject lines, Sidekick couldn't reach any of it.

What the extensions add

A Sidekick app extension lets an installed app hand Sidekick two kinds of capability.

The first is data. An app registers read-only tools that answer questions from its own data. Ask Sidekick something the app can answer and Sidekick calls the tool, gets back a structured result, and works it into the conversation. Think "what were my best-performing campaigns last month" answered by your email app, or "why isn't this product showing up in AI search" answered by a readiness app.

The second is actions. An app can expose scoped, safe actions, and Sidekick will suggest a change and bring up the right screen to make it. The crucial detail is who's in control: the action only navigates you to the place where the change happens. You review and confirm. Sidekick proposes; it doesn't quietly edit your store.

That division is deliberate. In Shopify's own words, data extensions stay read-only and "mutations belong in action extensions, where the merchant confirms the change." It keeps an assistant that can do more from becoming an assistant that does things behind your back.

Why it runs inside Shopify, not bolted on

The tools don't run on the app's own servers in the usual sense. They execute in Shopify's sandbox using Shopify authentication, and Sidekick indexes them ahead of time so it can pick the right one fast. The upshot for you as a merchant is that the integration feels native: responses come back inside the same conversation, in a second or two, with no extra connection to set up. If you've installed the app and it ships an extension, the tools are simply there.

It also means the bar for what an app can say is set by Shopify. Extension descriptions, instructions, and the data tools return get checked, and content that tries to use the assistant to upsell you or steer its decisions is blocked. Sidekick is being kept as a neutral helper, not an ad slot.

Why the timing matters

We've spent the last year writing about how shopping itself is moving into assistants: buyers asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and Shop to find and compare products instead of scrolling a results page. That's the storefront side, and it runs on Shopify's Global Catalog and the protocols around it.

Sidekick app extensions are the same idea pointed inward, at the merchant. The person running the store now manages it through an assistant too, and the apps that show up usefully in that assistant are the ones that earn attention. An app that can answer "where do I rank in AI search" or "what should I fix first" the moment you ask is in a very different position than one you have to remember to open.

There's a quieter implication for app makers, which we cover in the companion piece on building for Sidekick. The short version: being useful to the assistant is becoming its own distribution channel, and the apps that treat it as one will be the ones merchants reach for.

What to do about it now

You don't need to configure anything. But two things are worth doing.

Check which of your installed apps are leaning into agentic surfaces at all. An app actively shipping for Sidekick and for the Global Catalog is an app betting on where commerce is going; one that isn't may quietly fall behind. And make sure your own store data is legible in the first place, because an assistant can only surface what's structured well enough to read. If you're not sure where you stand, our free AI-readiness checker is a fast way to see how an agent reads your store today.

Sidekick app extensions are early, and in a limited preview as of this writing. But the direction is not subtle. The admin is becoming conversational, the storefront already is, and the apps worth keeping are the ones ready to answer when asked.