Your homepage has two large pictures: the hero banner at the top and the picture in the About section. If you have no photo that fits, AI can create one from a short description, made to match your design. AI images are on Growth and up; on every plan you can upload your own picture instead.
Describe the picture
Both pictures live on the Design tab of the Storefront Studio: the hero picture in the Header group, the About picture in the About section group. They work the same way. The store owner and store managers can create them, because both can design the storefront.
- In the sidebar, under Storefront, open Design.
- For the hero banner, open the Header group and go to Hero image. For the About picture, open the About section group and go to About image.
- In the box under the Upload and Generate with AI buttons, describe the picture you want. For example, Layal Boutique wrote “Two abayas under a white arch, soft light” for its hero.
- Select Generate with AI.
The description is optional. Left empty, the AI creates a picture for your store from its name and what it sells.
A good description names:
- The subject — what is in the picture: a type of product, a scene, people wearing your pieces.
- The setting and the light — “on a linen tablecloth”, “soft morning light”.
- The mood — calm, bright, warm, luxurious.
Do not ask for words, prices or your logo. The AI is told to leave all text, letters, logos and watermarks out of the picture, and your headline and buttons already sit beside or on top of the hero picture.
Confirm before a credit is spent
Nothing is created until you confirm, because each picture uses an AI credit.
- In the Generate a hero image? box, read the message, then select Generate with AI to go ahead or Cancel to stop.
The About picture asks the same question, in a box titled Generate an about image?
Each picture uses one credit from your monthly AI photo enhancement allowance, the same allowance that enhancing product photos uses: 100 a month on Growth and 500 on Business. Enterprise has no limit. The credit is taken when the picture starts, and given back if no picture arrives. You can see what is left on your Subscription page (opens in a new tab), in the Usage card. For trials and when allowances renew, see How AI credits work.
The new picture in its slot and the preview
While the AI works, the button reads Generating…, Upload is greyed out and a Working with AI… panel covers the console, with the line This can take a few minutes. Keep this tab open. A picture can take a few minutes. It has up to six minutes: if it is not ready by then, it is stopped and its credit is returned.
Keep the Studio open until the panel closes. If you reload or leave the page while the AI works, the picture is still made and its credit used. Open the Studio again in the same browser tab, and the picture lands in its slot and in the slot’s list of pictures, with Your AI picture finished while you were away. It is in place now.
When it is ready:
- The picture appears in the slot, with an × in its corner.
- The preview shows it in place on your homepage.
- It is added to the slot’s list of pictures, so you can come back to it later.
- The status under the Studio’s title changes to Unpublished changes.
The new picture is part of your draft. Customers keep seeing your published storefront until you publish — see Save a draft and publish your storefront.
Made to match your theme and colours
Along with your description, the Studio sends the AI what it needs to fit the picture to your store:
- Your accent colour, from the Colour group, so the picture’s colours sit well with it.
- Up to six of your top-level categories, so the scene suits what you sell.
- Your store’s name, only when you leave the description empty.
- For the hero, the shape of the banner. It follows your theme preset’s hero layout and your Hero height. When the headline sits on top of the picture, the AI keeps the middle of the picture calm so the words stay readable. When the headline sits beside it, the subject fills the frame.
The About picture is always a landscape picture, made for the image panel of the About section. Both come out looking like photographs.
Because the picture is made for your design as it is now, choose your theme preset, colours and hero height first, then generate. If you change them later, generate again so the picture still matches — the confirmation box reminds you of this. To choose which part of the hero picture stays in view when the banner crops it, use Hero image focus; see Set up your header and hero image.
Go back to the previous picture
A new picture does not delete the one before it. Each slot keeps a list of its pictures, newest first, up to 20.
- The list appears under the description box as Your hero images or Your about images once the slot has held two pictures or more.
- Select a thumbnail to put that picture back in the slot. The one in use has a dark outline.
- The × on a thumbnail takes it off the list. The file itself is kept, so a picture that is already live never breaks on your storefront.
- Clear empties the list. The picture in the slot stays.
- The × on the large picture empties the slot. The hero then shows your theme’s placeholder: an icon on most presets, and only the coloured backdrop on Onyx, Drop, Bloom and Juno. With no headline or subheading either, the hero does not appear at all. The About section shows a plain panel. The picture stays in the list, so you can pick it again.
When it could not be created
If the picture cannot be created, a red message appears in the corner of the screen. The picture you had stays in the slot and in the preview. When the AI service fails or the picture cannot be kept, the credit it took is given back.
| Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Could not generate the image. Try again. | The AI service did not return a picture. The credit came back. | Try again. If it keeps failing, write a shorter, simpler description. |
| Could not reach the AI image service. Try again. | The AI service could not be reached. The credit came back. | Try again in a few minutes. |
| Could not get the image from the AI image service. Try again. | The picture was made but could not be collected from the AI service. The credit came back. | Try again. |
| AI images are not available right now. Try again later. | AI images are switched off on our side. No credit is used. | Try later, or upload your own picture. |
| Could not finish in time, so it was stopped and your AI credit was returned. Try again. | The picture was still not ready after six minutes. | Try again. If it happens every time, open a support ticket. |
| Your store already has AI generations in progress. Wait for one to finish, then try again. | Your store already has two AI generations running: hero or About pictures, or storefronts, yours or a teammate’s. Nothing is charged. | Wait a few minutes, then try again. |
| You have used all your AI image credits for this month. | Your AI photo enhancement allowance, which hero and About pictures share with product photos, is used up. Nothing is charged. | Wait for it to renew on the 1st, upload your own picture, or ask us for more. Credits cannot be bought in the console. |
| This plan has reached its storage limit. Delete some files or upgrade to store more. | Your store’s storage is full. This is checked before the picture starts. If the new picture itself does not fit in the space left, it is not kept and the credit comes back. | Delete files you no longer need, or move to a plan with more storage. |
| AI images are not included in this plan. | Your plan does not include AI images, for example because it changed while the Studio was open. | See Plans without AI images. |
| We lost touch with the generation. Reopen the Studio in a minute to see it. | The Studio lost touch with the picture, for example because your connection was down for a minute or more. The picture is still being made, and uses its credit. | Check your connection, then open the Studio again in a minute, in the same browser tab: the picture lands in its slot with Your AI picture finished while you were away. It is in place now. Do not generate again, or you pay for a second picture. |
| You do not have permission to do this. | Your role does not include Edit storefront design. | Ask the store owner. |
| Could not generate a hero image. Try again. (or Could not generate an about image. Try again.) | The picture did not go through, and no other reason came back. | Try again. |
When this month’s allowance is used up, the message appears as soon as you confirm, and nothing is made:
Plans without AI images: Upload only
AI images are on Growth and up. On Free and Starter, the hero and About pictures offer only Upload: there is no description box and no Generate with AI button under the picture.
The padlocked Generate with AI in the Studio’s top bar is a different feature, AI storefront generation, which is also on Growth and up — see Generate your storefront with AI.
To use your own photo, select Upload and pick a JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF file of up to 10 MB. Uploaded pictures join the same list as generated ones. If an upload is refused, see Set up your header and hero image.
To get AI images, move to Growth or a higher plan; Plans and what each includes compares them.
Next, write the words that go with your pictures in Write your storefront text, or decide where the About section sits in Arrange your homepage sections.