Lightroom Classic Plugin

Analyse photos directly from your Lightroom Classic library.

How It Works

When you trigger the plugin, Lightroom exports a temporary JPEG of your selected photo and sends it to the Artsplainer Companion App. The companion app then lets you choose an analysis depth and sends the image for AI critique.

Your original file is never modified. The temporary export is cleaned up automatically.

Using the Plugin

Select a photo in your Lightroom Classic library (Library or Develop module).
Go to File > Plug-in Extras > Analyse with Artsplainer.
Lightroom exports a temporary JPEG. The Artsplainer Companion App opens (or comes to the front if already running).
Choose your analysis depth — Quick Review, In-Depth Critique, Detailed Analysis, or Competition Judge (if enabled).
Optionally enter or edit the title. The plugin pre-fills this from the photo’s title metadata.
Click Analyse Artwork and wait a few seconds for the AI critique.

Lightroom Classic — File > Plug-in Extras > Analyse with Artsplainer

Tips

Title from metadata: The plugin uses your photo's Title field (from the Metadata panel in Library). If no title is set, it uses the filename. You can edit the title in the companion app before analysing.
Any file type works: The plugin exports a JPEG regardless of your source format (RAW, DNG, TIFF, PSD). Your develop settings are applied to the export.
Export size: Images are exported at up to 2048px on the long edge at 85% JPEG quality. This keeps file sizes small while preserving enough detail for analysis.
Keyboard shortcut: You can assign a keyboard shortcut to the plugin from within Lightroom. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (or Lightroom Classic > Keyboard Shortcuts on Mac) and search for "Artsplainer" under Plug-in Extras.

Tip: If you analyse the same photo at different stages of editing, give each version a descriptive title (e.g. "Morning Mist — before colour grade" vs "Morning Mist — final"). This helps the AI give more relevant feedback.

Installing the Plugin

If you haven't installed the plugin yet, you can do it from the companion app:

Open the companion app and click the gear icon in the toolbar.
Click Install Plugin next to "Lightroom Classic".
The correct folder is pre-selected. Click Select Folder.

The plugin installs to Lightroom's Modules folder and appears immediately — no restart needed.

Troubleshooting

Plugin doesn't appear in Plug-in Extras

Check that the plugin was installed to the correct location. On Windows, the Modules folder is typically at:

%APPDATA%\Adobe\Lightroom\Modules

You should see a folder called ArtsplainerCritique.lrplugin inside it.

"Please select a photo first"

Make sure you have a single photo selected in the Library or Develop module before triggering the plugin.

Companion app shows an error toast

If you see an error like "Cannot read file", the temporary export may have failed. Try again — if the problem persists, check that Lightroom has write access to your system's temp folder.

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