Shopify Magic

Shopify Magic helps you turn product facts into store copy, emails, images and customer-reply drafts inside the tools you already use. Start with product descriptions and a restock email: these have clear inputs and clear checks. The useful change is fewer handoffs between a writing tool and your store, with your team still deciding what customers see.

What Shopify Magic Means Now

Look for the task, not a separate Magic dashboard. As of October 23, 2026, Shopify's current Help Center attributes the Generate text tools in product descriptions, pages, blogs, theme fields and emails to Sidekick. Shopify's Magic marketing address also redirects to Sidekick. Older instructions and some Shopify pages still use the Magic name. Shopify AI tools, Shopify's current product page.

Think of the field-level generator as a writer sitting beside the box you're editing. Sidekick chat is the assistant you can ask for help across a store task. The two now overlap; treating them as completely separate products makes the current admin harder to understand.

This guide covers the content work you can do this week. For the wider platform decision, read the Shopify review.

Cost: Sidekick is included with your Shopify plan, with features and usage limits varying by plan; file-editor media generation currently has no additional charge for a limited time, while email sending can incur usage charges. Sidekick, media generation, email billing, Shopify pricing.

Check Access Before You Start

Use a desktop for this walkthrough. Feature availability is specific to the workflow, so don't read “included” as “every feature on every plan.”

Sources: product generation, theme fields, blog generation, Messaging plans, sending requirements, media requirements, Inbox plan listing.

Language rule: Shopify lists all Shopify-supported languages for product descriptions, pages, blogs, theme copy and email text. Write the prompt in the language you want back. Inbox suggestions are English-only. The media-generation page gives no language list; don't extend the text tools' language promise to images.

Image generation's eligibility banner lists Basic, Grow, Advanced and Shopify Plus, despite broader wording elsewhere on that page. Use that specific requirement. Media Help. The text-generation pages don't provide a separate tier-by-tier entitlement table.

Give Every Task the Same Factual Starting Point

Prepare the facts before asking for prose. Our fictional shop, Alder Home, sells an Alder stoneware mug: forest green, 350 ml, hand-wash care. Its supplier has not confirmed dishwasher or microwave suitability. The shop sells mugs and linen napkins, and packs orders in Bristol.

Every input and edited output below is an illustrative editorial example, not a transcript of a Shopify test. The image example describes the result to approve. Replace these invented store details with your own verified information.

Keep a short source sheet with product specifications, permitted claims, care instructions, campaign terms and the intended link. A draft that reads smoothly but adds “dishwasher-safe” has failed the job.

Product Descriptions: Start With Your Incomplete Listings

This is the best first task for a merchant with accurate specifications and thin product pages. The input is bounded, and you can judge the result against the actual item.

1. Open Products, then the product.
2. In the description toolbar, select Generate text.
3. Submit the product facts, audience and writing instructions.
4. Edit and format the result, then Save. For a published product, the saved description appears immediately. Shopify's product steps.

Input: “Write a short description for the Alder stoneware mug. Forest green, 350 ml, hand wash. For someone choosing a mug for their desk. Calm, direct tone. Do not add claims about origin, sustainability, durability, dishwasher or microwave use.”

Edited output:

Meet Alder, a forest-green stoneware mug for your desk or kitchen shelf. Its 350 ml capacity gives you room for your usual tea or coffee. Hand wash after use.

Before publishing: Match the capacity, color and care instruction to the selected product. Remove unsupported performance claims and any promise the supplier hasn't confirmed. Check that a description written for one variant doesn't describe every variant as green. Your gain is a usable first draft inside the product record.

Email Subject Lines: Say Exactly What Happened

A restock announcement is a useful second job because the message has one verifiable purpose. Subject generation belongs inside the campaign you're preparing.

1. Go to Apps > Messaging > Create campaign and choose a template.
2. In Subject, select Generate text and submit your brief.
3. Edit the result and save it. Shopify's email text steps.

Input: “Alder forest-green stoneware mugs are back in stock. Write a direct restock subject. No discount, deadline, scarcity claim or emoji.”

Edited output:

The Alder mug is back in forest green

Before publishing: Confirm that the advertised variant is actually available. Cut “last chance,” “selling fast” or a discount unless you can substantiate it. Read the subject beside the preview text so the two don't repeat each other. A clear subject is the goal; this guide makes no claim about open-rate or sales improvements.

Email Campaigns: Turn the Subject Into a Complete Message

Use the generator for the message, then finish the campaign deliberately. A saved paragraph still needs the correct audience, product link and send decision.

1. In that campaign, open a text section and select Generate text in its rich text toolbar. Submit your brief, edit and save. Email text generation.
2. Set the audience in To, add preview text, and check the product section and button destination.
3. Use Send test. After checking it, choose Review > Schedule send, then Now > Send or a custom date and time. Campaign and sending steps.

Input: “Write a short restock email for Alder Home's email subscribers. Alder mug, forest-green stoneware, 350 ml, hand wash. The button should invite readers to view the mug. No offer or delivery promise.”

Edited output:

Alder is back on the shelf. Our forest-green stoneware mug holds 350 ml and is ready for your next tea or coffee break. Hand wash after use.

Take a closer look at the color and product details below.

Button: View the Alder mug

Before sending: Open the button in the test email, check the variant and remove template placeholders. Verify recipients and the scheduled time. Email isn't automatically translated for each recipient: Shopify sends it in the language you wrote. Free-trial and Pause and Build stores can prepare campaigns and send tests to themselves, but can't send to subscribers. Campaign language, plan restrictions.

For a small team, the payoff is keeping the campaign draft and its final layout together. The generator doesn't relieve you of checking the offer.

Theme Copy: Make One Storefront Message Clearer

Use this for a heading or announcement that has a specific job. A merchant refreshing a homepage can draft directly in the element being changed.

1. Open Online Store > Themes and choose Edit theme.
2. Select a text element, then Generate text in its text box.
3. Describe the intended message; edit the applied text and Save. A field without the icon doesn't support this generator. Theme content instructions.

Input: “Write a brief homepage heading for Alder Home. We sell stoneware mugs and linen napkins for everyday use. Name what we sell. No claims about being handmade or sustainable.”

Edited output:

Stoneware mugs and linen for everyday tables

Before publishing: Check the line breaks in your layout and the destination of any nearby button. Avoid a promise that applies only to one collection. This task is most useful when the existing heading sounds pleasant but leaves a shopper guessing what the shop sells.

Store Pages: Write From Your Actual Business Details

An About page benefits from a factual brief more than an elaborate brand voice prompt. Give it your real location, offer and point of view.

1. Go to Online Store > Pages > Add page.
2. Use Generate text in Title or Content, then submit your brief and edit.
3. Choose Hidden while drafting. New pages are otherwise visible after saving. Preview, then publish when ready. The generator supplies text; it doesn't create a working contact form. Page creation and generation.

Input: “Draft a short About page for Alder Home. We sell stoneware mugs and linen napkins. We pack orders in Bristol. We choose pieces for everyday tables. Do not invent a founding story, workshop, manufacturing location or environmental certification.”

Edited output:

About Alder Home

Alder Home brings together stoneware mugs and linen napkins for everyday tables. We choose pieces with a place in your daily routine, from the first cup of coffee to dinner with friends. We pack your order in Bristol.

Before publishing: Verify the address or location wording, contact links and any service commitments. “Packed in Bristol” must not become “made in Bristol.” Add the page to your navigation if customers need to find it there. Page navigation.

Blog Posts: Expand Useful Knowledge You Already Have

Use a blog draft when you have something specific to teach. The owner with a repeated product question has a better starting point than the owner asking for a generic “SEO article.”

1. Go to Content > Blog posts > Add blog post.
2. Generate the Title and Content from their respective icons; edit and save. Blog generation.
3. Check the blog, author and visibility. Posts start hidden; select Visible and save when ready. Blog publishing.

Input: “Write a short post answering how to choose an Alder mug. Verified facts: stoneware, forest green, 350 ml, hand wash. Help a customer check capacity and care before ordering. Do not invent heat-retention tests, health benefits or microwave compatibility.”

Edited output:

Is the Alder Mug Right for Your Daily Cup?

Start with capacity: Alder holds 350 ml. Compare that with the mug you already use so you know whether it suits your usual drink.

Next, check your care routine. Alder is a hand-wash mug, so choose it with that extra step in mind.

Finally, view the forest-green finish in the product photos. The product page brings the size, color and care details together before you order.

Before publishing: Check every factual sentence, add the real product link and remove repeated filler. If the draft needs research, do that research before publishing it. The generator can organize your knowledge; it doesn't supply evidence for a claim about your product.

Image Edits: Change the Setting, Then Inspect the Product

Start with an accurate product photo. For a merchant with inconsistent backgrounds, a solid-color treatment is the simplest first experiment.

1. Open the media thumbnail in Shopify's file editor.
2. Choose Color background for a plain background. Correct the subject selection with Choose subject if needed, pick the color, then Save as new.
3. For a different setting, choose Generate, describe the change and Submit. Inspect the result before Save as new. File-editor steps.

Input: Your own accurate Alder mug photo, plus “Green mug sitting on a cream kitchen counter, soft daylight, plain background.”

Edited output to approve: The same mug on a cream counter, with a believable contact shadow. Reject any version that changes the handle, rim, glaze color or shape. For the plain-background route, approve the original mug against your chosen cream color after correcting the selection around its handle.

Before publishing: Compare with the source at full size. Inspect cutout edges, reflections and any packaging text. Shopify's default generated resolution is 1 megapixel; larger inputs are scaled down. Save results before closing the editor. Image limits.

A more attractive setting is not permission to show a different product. Keep the original photo available for comparison.

Inbox Replies: Give Staff a Draft to Check

Suggested replies help the person answering the customer. They are separate from the automatic replies of Shopify's opt-in Inbox agent. Suggested replies.

Eligibility requires an English storefront and admin, installed Inbox, at least one conversation, and no more than 200,000 products. Suggestions are enabled by default for eligible stores. Reply requirements.

1. Open Shopify Inbox and the customer conversation. Access instructions.
2. A draft can appear in the composer when there's an unanswered customer message and enough store information to answer it.
3. Read, edit and send. To manage suggestions, use Settings > Message preferences > Automatically generate a reply, choose On or Off, and save. Reply workflow.

Input: Customer message: “Can the green Alder mug go in the dishwasher?” Store listing: “Hand wash.” This is conversation context, not a separate prompt you paste into Magic.

Edited output:

The Alder mug should be washed by hand. We haven't confirmed dishwasher suitability, so please follow the hand-wash instruction on its product page.

Before sending: Check the exact product and answer only what you know. Don't turn a question about care into an invented warranty. Missing drafts can mean missing store information; improve product details, shipping and return policies, and useful pages. Suggested replies don't process your terms of service or privacy policy. Improving replies.

Sidekick: Use Conversation When the Task Crosses Fields

Sidekick is useful when you need help working through the job. It uses the admin page you're on as context and presents changes for approval. Open the Sidekick icon, or the Sidekick field in the refreshed desktop admin, type your request and review the response before applying anything. On a phone, use the Shopify app, not a mobile browser. Starting Sidekick.

Input: With the Alder restock campaign open: “Rewrite this campaign's introduction in a calm tone using only the Alder mug details. Keep the restock message. Do not add a discount or delivery promise.”

Edited output:

The forest-green Alder mug is back. Take a look at its 350 ml size and hand-wash care details before choosing your next everyday cup.

Review the proposed copy, correct it, and apply it only when it fits the campaign. Shopify lists email text, design, images and audience-segment assistance among Sidekick's campaign tasks. That broader assistance doesn't replace the campaign's final sending checks. Sidekick campaign capabilities.

Sidekick cannot handle customer-support conversations on your behalf. Use Inbox for those. Also avoid assuming image generation is unlimited: Sidekick chat image limits depend on your plan and are shared across your store. Sidekick limitations, image-generation limits.

Preparing store content is also a different decision from letting shopping agents transact. For that broader shift, see agentic commerce.

When to Use a Separate AI Tool Instead

Move outside Shopify when the work needs a broader workspace or specialist controls. My recommendation is to consider a separate writing tool for a campaign spanning several channels, substantial source research, or a long document with several reviewers. Use a specialist image editor when precise retouching, production resolution or a large batch matters more than editing beside the product record.

These are selection criteria, not claims that a particular external tool will solve the job. Compare the AI copywriting tools against your actual brief, then bring approved copy back into Shopify. For one short product description with verified facts, start with the built-in field.

Two Small Workflows Worth Building Around This

The stronger opportunity is checking content against product facts. Neither idea below assumes Shopify exposes a Magic API or provides the proposed workflow automatically.

A product-copy approval pack. A small ecommerce team could maintain a verified specification sheet, reusable briefs and a review queue that flags unsupported claims. DataForSEO estimates 210 US monthly searches for “ai product description generator”, checked October 23, 2026. That is a modest interest signal, not evidence of paying customers. The smallest version could be a spreadsheet, prompt library and ten-product pilot. A larger catalog team might pay for consistent review and traceability. The catch: someone must keep the underlying facts current. I would build this first because every worked example above depends on that foundation.

A product-image acceptance board. A studio or merchant could keep source photos beside candidate edits, with checks for shape, color, labels and required crops. DataForSEO estimates 320 US monthly searches for “ai product photography” in the same check. Start with a shared board and one approver before considering software. The catch: detecting subtle product changes still needs human judgment, and built-in editing makes a generic background generator hard to distinguish. Search demand alone doesn't establish a business.

Questions Store Owners Ask

Does Shopify use AI?

Yes. For the tasks in this guide, Shopify provides text-generation tools, image editing and Inbox reply suggestions. Its current Help Center places many content tasks under Sidekick. Shopify AI tools.

Do I need a Shopify Magic app?

The product, page, blog and theme text tools are accessed inside their admin editors. Messaging and Inbox have their own app workflows; start from the task's path above. Shopify AI tools, Inbox installation.

How is Shopify Magic related to Sidekick?

Current Shopify documentation attributes the field-level Generate text tools to Sidekick as well as providing Sidekick chat. Follow the current instructions for the field you're editing rather than assuming Magic and Sidekick have a fixed separation. Shopify's current overview.

Your Monday Move

Give one product and one restock email an hour of focused work. This is a suggested work budget, not a measured time-saving claim: spend 15 minutes confirming the product facts, 15 drafting the description, 15 drafting the email, and 15 reviewing the live product view and a test email. If verification takes longer, finish that before sending.

Keep the approved brief for the next product. The decision after this session is simple: did drafting inside Shopify remove work, or did correcting it create more? Expand to a small batch only when the first item passes your checks.

If your team needs a repeatable content approval workflow, we can help build it.