Episode 56 - The RenAIssance Edition
Description
In this reaction episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast:
Hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page take a deep dive into the Shopify Winter Editions '26 "Renaissance" release. They explore the stunning (and Easter egg-filled) visuals of the new landing page, including hidden interactive elements like the "Party in Slack like it's 1499" emoji and a Da Vinci-priced beanie.
The duo breaks down the most impactful announcements for developers and merchants, including:
- The evolution of Sidekick into an agent that can generate apps and modify themes.
- The new SimGym tool for simulating shopper behavior.
- The introduction of Rollouts for native A/B testing.
They also discuss major updates like the Shopify Product Network (effectively "Collective on steroids"), global expansion for Collective, and new B2B capabilities like ACH payments and store credit.
On the technical side, they cover critical changes: the deprecation of Shopify Scripts in favor of Functions by June 2026 and the new security requirement for expiring access tokens.
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Sponsor
The Support Heroes - https://thesupportheroes.com
Chapters
(00:00 ) Intro: Hunting for Easter Eggs in the Editions Site
(01:51 ) Welcome & Winter Weather Chat
(05:09 ) Deep Dive: Winter Editions '26 "Renaissance" Site Visuals
(11:47 ) Sidekick Updates: App Generation, Pulse, & Automations
(21:24 ) Agentic Commerce: Rollouts & SimGym (Shopper Simulator)
(25:54 ) Shopify Product Network & Collective Global Expansion
(31:46 ) B2B Updates: ACH Payments & Store Credit
(33:39 ) The "Key" Easter Egg Struggle
(38:20 ) Major Update: Functions Replace Scripts (June 2026)
(38:59 ) Major Update: Enhanced Security with Expiring Tokens
(49:50 ) Web Vitals API by Region
(50:40 ) Picks of the Week
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Resources
Interesting Winter Editions X Links
Picks of the Week
United States
