Kobold vs Shopify Sidekick

Shopify Sidekick is Shopify's built-in assistant. You open it with the purple glasses icon in the admin. As of October 2026 it can analyse store data, manage orders, edit products, write content, set up discounts and segments, build Flow automations and generate custom admin apps ^[10][13]. It also works on your theme, in two ways:

• Theme editor (since December 2025)

  You describe a change in plain words and Sidekick changes the matching theme settings. It can also generate a new theme block (Liquid, HTML, CSS, JSON and JavaScript) and save it as its own file ^[7][8].

• Canvas (since 1 October 2026)

  A new visual workspace where Sidekick works directly on the theme's files. Shopify says it validates its code and reviews screenshots of its changes before handing them back. Canvas is in early access and is rolling out to some stores ^[1][2].

Shopify says Sidekick made more than 25 million theme edits in the first half of 2026 ^[1].

Kobold (usekobold.com) is a standalone web app for Shopify theme code. It connects to your store through a Shopify app that asks for five permissions, two for your theme and three for translations:

• read_themes
• write_themes
• read_translations
• write_translations
• read_locales

Kobold doesn't ask for orders, customers, payments or analytics, and it can't create or edit products: it only adds translations of their text after you approve them ^[18]. Three agents work on every task:

• PipPlanner

  Reads your theme and store memory. Asks a few questions, one at a time, then writes a plan: the files it will touch, the files it won't, what you'll see, and a credit estimate.

• NibBuilder

  Writes the Liquid, JavaScript and CSS on a copy of your theme, reusing the styles you already have.

• MossQA

  Tests the change on your real storefront at 390 and 1440 pixels wide.

Kobold has its own canvas, which is not Shopify Canvas: a board with your store's pages as they look right now. You click a section, a block or a single element, describe the change, and Nib makes it on a copy of your theme while the page updates in place. Go to (⌘K) opens any template, product, collection or page, you can drag sections to reorder them, switch every page between desktop and mobile, and undo any step from History. Ask for a new look (“make this hero like the one on nike.com”, or attach a screenshot) and Nib designs a new section in that direction, keeping your text, images and links. It works on the themes Kobold supports, third-party ones included, in a browser at least 1024 px wide. When you press Done, the change goes through the same QA and approval as any other task ^[20].

Shopify Canvas is a visual workspace where you design the store with Sidekick, with live previews at desktop, tablet, mobile and custom widths ^[1][4]. It works on Shopify-made and custom themes, and a theme edited there stops getting theme updates ^[3][5].

Kobold duplicates your theme as kobold-NNNN for every task, and Nib writes only to that copy. Writing to the live theme is blocked in code, not just in the prompt. You can also start from an unpublished theme instead of live.

Sidekick in the theme editor applies its edits, once you save, to whichever theme you have open. That can be your live theme or a duplicate. Canvas works differently. It can duplicate a theme, it shows whether you're on live or a draft, and edits to a published theme reach customers only after you press Update and publish ^[4][5].

Kobold runs a QA pass, usually a few minutes long, on your real storefront at 390 and 1440 pixels:

• Static

  Theme Check (only new errors count), valid JSON templates and locale files, every new translation key exists in every store language, and no new render-blocking scripts.

• Visual

  A pixel diff of live against the copy, with the changed area masked.

• Scripted

  Steps written for this task, for example “type WELCOME10 and check the total”.

• Smoke

  Add to cart, change quantity, remove, and go to checkout (never submitting). App blocks must still render.

• Console and speed

  No new console errors and no Liquid errors on the page (any Liquid error fails). Lighthouse is reported for mobile and desktop as advice, not as a gate.

If something still fails, Moss explains what and why. Then you choose: ask Nib to fix it, send it for approval anyway, or talk it through with Nib.

According to Shopify, Sidekick validates its code and reviews screenshots of its changes in Canvas. Canvas lets you preview pages with full interactivity at desktop, tablet, mobile, full-width and custom widths ^[1][4]. Shopify doesn't describe separate automated checks, a code diff view, or a test report a reviewer can sign off on.

Sidekick shows changes for review and, in Shopify's words, “can't make changes to your store without your approval” ^[10]. That approval comes from the person using Sidekick. Shopify's docs don't describe a review step involving teammates or an outside client. Sidekick does respect staff permissions: Shopify says it “respects access controls, so team members only interact with data and features they're authorized to use”, and Canvas needs the Edit code permission ^[3][13].

Kobold shows a before-and-after of the feature at both widths, the QA report, the code diff and a preview link. Publishing needs approval from the owner or a member with the approver role. Before publishing, Kobold checks whether live has changed since the copy was made. Afterwards Moss re-runs the smoke tests on live (about 6 credits). On the Agency plan you can send a client a private approval link. It works without an account, expires after 7 days, and logs every decision.

One click rolls back any published task for 30 days. It takes about 10 seconds and the store stays online.

In Canvas, theme history lets you restore an earlier version, and the restored version goes live once you publish it. Undo can't reverse a Sidekick change, because the change clears the undo history. You can ask Sidekick to reverse it or restore an earlier version from theme history ^[5].