6 Best AI Assistants for Shopify in 2026
Shopify is where the orders live. The work of running the store arrives by email: “where is my order”, a wholesale buyer asking for a line sheet, the 3PL saying a pallet slipped a week, a creator who wants a call on Thursday.
Shopify’s own AI is excellent inside the admin, and it costs nothing extra. The assistants below split by how much of the rest of the day they pick up.
TL;DR: Carly is the pick for store owners whose day is the inbox, because it looks up the order in Shopify, replies from your own mailbox and books the call without being asked. Sidekick is included with your Shopify plan and is the best help inside the admin. Shopify is a Carly integration, so you keep both.
1. Carly
Carly is an AI agent with its own real email address. It connects to Shopify, to all of your Gmail and Outlook mailboxes, to your Google Calendar and Outlook calendars, and to thousands of apps beyond them, including Stripe, Klaviyo, Gorgias and QuickBooks.
Here is one store. Emily runs Brook & Linden, a small candle brand that ships from a 3PL in Ohio. Customer mail lands in the store’s Gmail, wholesale buyers write to her Outlook address, and her evenings sit on a personal Google calendar.
Four emails come in overnight. Before Emily is up, Carly has:
- Found order #2291 in Shopify for the customer asking where her candles are, and replied from the store’s mailbox with the carrier and tracking link
- Answered Josh, the buyer at a gift shop in Asheville, with the wholesale line sheet from Google Drive, and booked a call at a time open on both of Emily’s calendars
- Read the note from Michael, her account manager at the 3PL, that the next pallet is five days late, pulled the 31 unfulfilled orders waiting on that stock, and logged them in a Google Sheet
- Put a short delay notice to those 31 customers in Emily’s drafts for her to approve
- Offered Claire, a creator Emily wants for the holiday launch, three times for an intro call and sent the invite when she picked one
Emily gets one text in the morning saying what happened. When Josh pays his first wholesale invoice in Stripe, Carly records it in QuickBooks and adds his shop to the accounts sheet. Buyers and creators who would rather choose their own slot get a booking page that checks every calendar she has.
What makes it different: it starts on its own. A new email, a calendar change or a form submission sets it going, so “where is my order” gets answered at 11pm instead of the next afternoon. It works across every mailbox and calendar you have at once, and because it connects to thousands of apps, the order lookup, the reply, the booked call and the updated sheet are one job. You give it instructions in plain language by email or text (“answer tracking questions yourself, send me anything about refunds”), and the steps you repeat become free Zapier-style workflows.
Best for: Owners and small teams whose store runs on email from customers, wholesale buyers, suppliers and partners. Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month
To connect, create an app for your store in Shopify’s Dev Dashboard, install it, and paste its client ID and secret into Connect an API on Carly’s integrations page. Or book a walkthrough and the Carly team will set it up with you.
2. Shopify Sidekick
Shopify’s AI assistant, built into the admin on desktop and in the Shopify mobile app, with voice mode on Apple Watch. It analyzes your data, manages orders, edits products, writes product descriptions and blog posts, sets up Flow automations, and runs longer tasks in the background with a notification when they finish. Sidekick Pulse puts recommendations on your admin Home page. Generating custom apps needs the Grow, Advanced or Plus plan.
What makes it different from Carly: it is the best assistant for operating Shopify itself, and you already pay for it. It works when you open the admin and ask, so the tracking question in Gmail, the buyer who wants a call and the 3PL thread still wait for you. For what Flow covers, see best AI automation tools for Shopify.
Best for: Running the store without clicking through the admin. Pricing: Included with your Shopify plan; features and usage limits vary by plan
3. Claude with the Shopify connector
Shopify’s official connector for Claude reads and writes. From a chat, Claude can create products with variants and inventory tracking, manage collections, discounts and inventory across locations, and review orders, customers and store performance. Shopify charges no extra fee for it.
What makes it different from Carly: Shopify’s own documentation lists the edges. Connected AI tools can’t issue refunds, cancel or capture orders, process returns or create gift cards, each connection works with one store, and they change items one at a time, so a large batch can stop partway. The work also begins when you open a chat and ask. See Claude + Shopify.
Best for: Catalog cleanups and store analysis in a conversation.
4. ChatGPT with the Shopify plugin
The Shopify plugin for ChatGPT works in Chat, Work and Codex, on the web or the desktop app. It adds and edits products (up to 50 at once), builds collections, manages inventory, reviews orders and customers, creates percentage-off discount codes and analyzes sales. Shopify makes the plugin free, and your ChatGPT plan is billed by OpenAI. It is separate from selling in ChatGPT, where shoppers buy your products through Shopify’s Agentic Storefronts.
What makes it different from Carly: the same order limits apply, so refunds, cancellations and returns go back to the admin, and each task starts when you type.
ChatGPT added event triggers for Gmail, Slack and GitHub, and the plumbing underneath is turning out to be the hard part. An open thread on OpenAI's own developer forum documents Gmail and Drive showing as authorized in Settings while conversations report them unavailable at runtime, logged on 28 August and 1 September 2026 with no public fix. Claude's Cowork tasks do not fire on events at all. Carly watches thousands of apps and names the account it acted on.
See ChatGPT + Shopify and Shopify MCP.
Best for: Owners already in ChatGPT all day who want product and sales answers there.
5. Gorgias AI Agent
A support agent for ecommerce brands that answers shoppers on email, chat and SMS inside the Gorgias helpdesk. With Shopify actions turned on, it can cancel an unfulfilled order, edit a shipping address, remove or replace an item, reship a lost order for free and add an order note. Gorgias charges for each conversation the AI resolves entirely on its own.
What makes it different from Carly: it faces the shopper and lives in the support queue. The wholesale buyer, the 3PL and the creator write to you, not to the helpdesk, and your calendar sits outside it. The two pair well: connect Gorgias to Carly and the ticket that needs a supplier answer or a call gets one. See best AI customer service tools.
Best for: Brands with a real support queue across email and chat. Pricing: $0.90 per resolved conversation on most plans; $1 on Starter
6. Klaviyo Customer Agent and Composer
Klaviyo’s two agents. Customer Agent answers shoppers on web chat, email, SMS and WhatsApp with eight built-in skills: connect Shopify and it tracks orders, edits orders and recommends products, and it handles returns through Loop or AfterShip, handing off to a person when something needs one. Composer, Klaviyo’s marketing agent, went to public beta in June 2026 and builds a full campaign, from audience to copy to timing, from a plain-language brief.
What makes it different from Carly: both work inside Klaviyo on your customer list, marketing going out and shopper questions coming in. Your own inbox, your calendar and your suppliers sit outside them. Carly connects to Klaviyo too, so a wholesale lead from an email lands on the right list. See Klaviyo alternatives.
Best for: Brands already sending email and SMS through Klaviyo.
Shopify AI Assistants Compared
| Tool | Works across your inboxes and calendars | Starts work on its own | Acts in Shopify | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Yes, all of them | Yes, on new email, calendar events and forms | Yes | From $35/mo |
| Shopify Sidekick | Shopify admin only | Background tasks you start; Pulse suggestions | Yes | Included with Shopify |
| Claude + connector | Through separate connectors | Clock-based tasks only | Yes, no refunds or cancellations | No extra Shopify fee; Claude plan |
| ChatGPT + plugin | Through separate apps | Gmail, Slack and GitHub events | Yes, no refunds or cancellations | Free plugin; ChatGPT plan |
| Gorgias AI Agent | Support inbox only | Yes, on shopper messages | Cancels, edits and reships unfulfilled orders | $0.90 per resolution ($1 on Starter) |
| Klaviyo agents | Shopper chat, email, SMS, WhatsApp | Yes, on shopper messages | Order tracking and edits | Priced by Klaviyo |
How to pick
If you mostly need answers and edits while you’re already in the admin, Sidekick is paid for. If a support queue is eating your week, Gorgias AI Agent or Klaviyo’s Customer Agent will take the tracking and address questions shoppers send. For a big catalog cleanup or a sales deep dive, Claude or ChatGPT with Shopify’s connector does it well from a chat.
If your store runs through your inbox, and the customers, buyers, suppliers and calls all land there first, go with Carly. Keep Sidekick for work inside Shopify and let Carly’s agents handle everything that arrives by email, with the order looked up and the sheet kept current. For apps to add to the store itself, see best Shopify integrations.
FAQ
What is the best AI assistant for Shopify? Carly, for store owners whose day runs through email and calendars. It connects to Shopify and to all of your Gmail and Outlook accounts, and starts work when a new email or meeting arrives. Sidekick is the best option for help inside the Shopify admin.
Is Shopify Sidekick free? Sidekick is included with your Shopify plan, with features and usage limits that vary by plan. Generating custom apps with Sidekick needs the Grow, Advanced or Plus plan. Carly’s AI agents start at $35/month, and repeated steps run as free Zapier-style workflows.
Is there a Shopify Sidekick alternative that answers customer emails? Yes. Carly reads the email, looks up the order in Shopify and replies from your own mailbox, across every Gmail and Outlook account you connect. If you want shoppers answered inside a helpdesk or a chat widget on your store, Gorgias AI Agent and Klaviyo’s Customer Agent do that.
Can ChatGPT or Claude manage my Shopify store? Partly. Shopify’s official ChatGPT plugin and Claude connector create and edit products, manage inventory and discounts, and review orders from a chat. Shopify’s documentation says connected AI tools can’t issue refunds, cancel orders or process returns, and they change items one at a time. Carly handles the store work that starts in your inbox, the moment the email arrives.
How do I connect Shopify to Carly? In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps > Develop apps and click Build apps in Dev Dashboard. Create an app, give it the permissions you want Carly to have (orders, products, customers), release it and install it on your store. Then open Connect an API on Carly’s integrations page, paste the link to Shopify’s Admin API documentation (shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql), enter your store name when asked, and paste the app’s client ID and secret. Carly keeps the connection signed in from there. Add your Gmail or Outlook accounts on the same page, then email or text Carly what to handle. If you would rather not set it up yourself, book a call.
More: Claude + Shopify · ChatGPT + Shopify · Shopify MCP · Best AI automation tools for Shopify · Best AI assistant for ecommerce · Best AI assistants for Gmail · Best AI assistants for Outlook
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"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
