Shopify has announced a new feature for its AI assistant, Sidekick, designed to help merchants work more efficiently. Users can now turn their most effective prompts into reusable skills, making everyday e-commerce tasks even easier to automate and share with their teams or other merchants.
Key Takeaways
- Users can save their frequent Sidekick prompts as custom skills for quick access
- Up to 25 skills can be managed per user
- Skills are easily shared using unique URLs, with built-in safety checks
- The new feature aims to streamline repetitive e-commerce tasks
What Are Sidekick Skills?
Sidekick skills are custom shortcuts created from the prompts users send to Shopify’s AI assistant. Whether it's requesting specific sales data, generating product descriptions in a unique brand voice, or segmenting customer lists, users can save these tasks as reusable skills. This capability helps merchants and team members execute regular tasks much faster and with consistent accuracy.
How To Create and Manage Skills
Users can create a new skill by typing "/" in the Sidekick interface and selecting “Create new skill.” Any prompt that a merchant finds themselves reusing can be saved in this manner. Additionally, any message sent to Sidekick can be turned into a skill by clicking on the message’s action button. Skills are given shortcut names for easy recall, like "weekly-sales" or "brand-voice-description."
A maximum of 25 skills can be managed at any time, allowing users to prioritize their most essential tasks without clutter. This limit ensures that only the most valuable workflows are kept readily available.
Sharing and Safety
A standout feature is the ability to share skills via URL links. Users can send a link to teammates or fellow merchants, who can review and easily add the skill to their own Sidekick collection. Importantly, every shared skill is reviewed for safety to prevent potential misuse and ensure business data remains secure.
Use Cases for Sidekick Skills
The versatility of Sidekick skills makes them suitable for a wide range of activities:
- Generating daily, weekly, or custom reports
- Writing consistent, brand-specific product listings
- Segmenting customers based on purchase behaviors
- Analyzing trends in sales or inventory
Consider this scenario: one team member creates a detailed skill for regular sales analysis, while another drafts one for on-brand product descriptions. These skills can then be distributed across the team, reducing duplicated effort and streamlining collaboration.
Looking Forward
Shopify’s newest upgrade to Sidekick represents a significant step in helping merchants automate repetitive yet essential tasks. By allowing skills to be saved, managed, and securely shared, Shopify aims to free up more time for creativity and business growth, all while maintaining data safety and consistency across teams.
