Shopify Sidekick Can Now Help Configure Checkout: What Merchants Should Know in 2026

Shopify merchants who want to change their checkout usually face the same question first: is this a setting, an app, a Checkout Blocks rule, or custom development? On October 13, 2026, Shopify put Sidekick where that question comes up, inside the checkout and accounts editor and the Checkout Blocks app.

It's a useful change, but a specific one. Sidekick can now explain checkout settings, recommend apps, search Shopify's documentation and help you plan Checkout Blocks configurations. Shopify's announcement doesn't say it configures your checkout for you. This guide covers what changed, how to use it in practice, and what you still need to set up, test and verify yourself.

What Shopify Changed on October 13, 2026

Shopify's changelog post, "Customize checkout and accounts configurations with Sidekick", adds Sidekick in two places and describes it as "answers and guidance right where you work, without searching the docs or contacting support."

In the checkout and accounts editor, Sidekick is now available in the desktop editor. You can ask it to:

• Learn how to configure checkout and customer account settings
• Get app recommendations based on your needs
• Search the Shopify Help Center

In the Checkout Blocks app, Sidekick "can help you understand and plan blocks and functions." Shopify's examples:

• Learning how to configure blocks for checkout, thank you and order status pages
• Understanding how payment, delivery and validation functions work
• Reviewing what is already configured and why
• Finding the relevant settings or steps to make a change yourself

Notice the wording: learn, understand, plan, review, find. The last example says "to make a change yourself." Elsewhere in the admin, Shopify's Sidekick documentation says it can handle tasks such as editing products and "presents changes for your review before applying them." The checkout announcement doesn't describe that kind of action, so treat Sidekick in checkout as an assistant that explains and plans, not one that edits your live checkout.

Where to Find Sidekick in the Checkout and Accounts Editor

The checkout and accounts editor opens from Settings > Checkout in your Shopify admin. Sidekick is available there on desktop. The editor covers:

• Checkout pages: one-page checkout, or Information, Shipping and Payment for three-page checkouts, plus Review where confirmation is required and the Thank you page.
• Customer account pages: Sign-in, Order status, Orders and Profile.
• Sections, Settings and Apps sidebars for functionality, appearance and app blocks.

For Checkout Blocks guidance, open the Checkout Blocks app, Shopify's own no-code app for checkout customization.

Practical Ways to Use Sidekick for Checkout

The examples below are hypothetical questions a merchant might ask. They show the kind of guidance the announcement describes, not tested results.

Finding the Right Checkout Setting

The fastest win is locating things. Checkout settings, customer account settings and app blocks live in different sidebars, and some features need an app.

Hypothetical: "Where do I change whether customers need an account to check out?" or "How do I add a field for gift messages?" Sidekick can point you to the setting, or explain that a gift-message field needs an app or a Checkout Blocks custom field.

Understanding Payment and Delivery Configuration

Payment and delivery customizations confuse many merchants because they aren't native toggles. Shopify's payment and delivery customization guide says you need a compatible app to sort, reorder, hide or rename payment methods, and a supporting app for delivery customizations. Setting payment terms is available only on Shopify Plus.

Hypothetical: "Can I hide cash on delivery for orders over $500?" Sidekick can explain that this is a payment customization, which apps or Checkout Blocks functions handle it, and what your plan allows.

Planning Checkout Blocks and Conditional Content

Checkout Blocks uses blocks with display rules. Its block types include address blocker, custom field, dynamic content, line item edit, line item content, shipping and payment icons, and static content. Some work only at checkout, and others also on the Thank you and Order status pages.

Hypothetical: "I want a delivery notice to show only for orders shipping to remote postcodes. What do I need?" Sidekick can help you work out the block type, the display rule and where it can be placed, before you build anything.

Reviewing an Existing Configuration

Stores that have had several people or agencies working on checkout often lose track of why a rule exists. Shopify lists "reviewing what is already configured and why" as a Checkout Blocks example. Ask Sidekick to explain an existing block or function before you change or remove it.

Finding Apps and Documentation

Sidekick can recommend apps and search the Help Center. You can also filter the Shopify App Store by Refine > Customizes checkout, as Shopify's checkout apps page describes. Check any recommended app's listing, plan compatibility and reviews yourself before installing it.

What Sidekick Helps With vs What You Still Do

Sidekick's answers are guidance, not a guarantee that a configuration works, converts better or is free of errors. Your plan, installed apps, markets and payment setup all affect what happens at checkout.

When you may still need a developer or an app: when no app or Checkout Blocks feature covers the requirement, when you need a custom Shopify Functions app or a checkout UI extension built for your store, or when a change involves external systems such as an ERP or a custom pricing service. Our guide to Shopify Checkout Components explains how extensions fit in.

Plan and App Limitations to Know

Sidekick's guidance doesn't change what your plan allows. The announcement doesn't list a plan requirement for Sidekick itself, but the features it explains do have limits:

• Checkout Blocks on Basic and higher: dynamic content and static content blocks, placed only on the Thank you and Order status pages.
• Checkout Blocks on Shopify Plus: "All other features of Checkout Blocks are available only to Shopify Plus," including placing content blocks on checkout pages, custom fields, functions and address rules.
• Checkout apps: apps that customize the information, shipping and payment pages are available only to Shopify Plus, as are custom Shopify Functions apps. Thank you and order status UI extension apps, customer accounts apps and public Shopify Functions apps work on Basic and higher.
• Market-specific checkout customization: available only on the Advanced or Plus plan.
• Editor limits: up to 3 apps in each highlighted area, some blocks can be added only once, and Checkout Blocks supports up to 30 active blocks per block type.

If Sidekick suggests something your plan can't use, the Shopify Plus vs Shopify guide covers when the upgrade is worth it.

A Checklist for Testing Checkout Changes

The editor is "a simulated checkout environment," and "you can't place orders in this editor," so preview alone isn't enough.

• Work in a draft checkout configuration where possible, not the active one.
• Save deliberately: after you save, you can no longer undo or redo.
• Preview each affected page, including Thank you and Order status, on desktop and mobile.
• Test every condition a display rule depends on, such as cart value, country and products.
• Test each payment and delivery method a customization touches.
• Place real test orders on the live checkout, then cancel and refund them.
• Check that apps and blocks don't conflict in the same area.
• Note what you changed and why, so the next person (or Sidekick) can explain it.

Before BFCM, our 2026 checkout pre-peak review covers the wider checkout audit.

Common Mistakes and Limitations

• Treating a plan as done. Sidekick can plan a block or function; it still has to be built, saved and published.
• Assuming every suggestion fits your plan. Check Plus-only features before you invest time.
• Installing the first recommended app. Compare listings, permissions and support.
• Testing only in the editor preview. Real orders behave differently from a simulation.
• Forgetting post-purchase pages. Thank you and Order status are separate pages with their own blocks; see Thank You Page vs Order Status Page.
• Expecting Sidekick on mobile in the editor. The announcement names the desktop editor.

Conclusion

Sidekick in the checkout and accounts editor shortens the distance between "I want to change this" and knowing how. It explains settings, recommends apps, searches Shopify's documentation and helps plan Checkout Blocks configurations. It doesn't remove the merchant's part: choosing, configuring, testing and verifying every change. Like Canvas for theme design, it's Shopify moving AI assistance into the tools merchants already use.

If your checkout requirements go beyond what settings and apps cover, our Shopify development team can help you evaluate requirements, compatible app options and what a custom build would involve.