Theme sections let you extend your Shopify theme with custom-designed blocks. Unlike full pages, sections are reusable pieces you place wherever your theme allows — on templates, or in header and footer areas — from the Shopify theme editor.

When you publish a section from Instant, it becomes available in your Shopify theme editor. You (or your team) can then place the section on any compatible template in Shopify without returning to Instant for every placement. A single section can be reused with different content across unlimited pages and templates.

Sections are ideal for reusable promotional banners, featured collections, testimonial blocks, newsletter sign-ups, and any content block you want across multiple templates.

In the Layouts & layers panel, click + and choose Section — or open the Add layout menu. Instant asks how you'd like to start: build with Instant AI (describe what you want and the Agent generates it), pick a design from the Template Library under the Sections tab, or start from a blank canvas.

Build your section using the Insert panel and layers tree, the same way you would a page. Sections render inside your theme's layout, so design for the width of your target placement.

Open Section settings with the gear icon next to the layout name in the top header. On the General tab, Use in Shopify determines where the section can be used:

Toggle only the placements you need.

Headers and footers are navigation sections. You create them like sections, but Instant groups them separately in Layouts & layers under Headers and Footers. After publishing, set one header as your main header and one footer as your main footer in layout settings. Publishing headers and footers requires the Starter plan or higher.

Section content — text, images, links, and settings — is managed in the Shopify theme editor after you publish. When you edit a published section in Instant and publish again, your Instant content does not automatically replace what was configured in Shopify. To push Instant content back, use Overwrite Shopify content on the Advanced tab of section settings. See Manage content in Shopify.

You can open the theme editor quickly from Open Shopify theme editor on the Advanced tab of section settings.

You can build and preview unlimited sections on any plan — only publishing counts toward your plan's limit. Your plan's reusable sections limit is:

On the Free plan, sections have a publish limit — check Settings → Plans for your account's limits.