Photoshop Plugin

Analyse artwork directly from Adobe Photoshop.

How It Works

The plugin creates a temporary copy of your document, flattens it, converts it to an 8-bit JPEG, and sends it to the Artsplainer Companion App for analysis. Your original document is never modified.

Using the Plugin

Open a document in Photoshop (any format: PSD, PSB, TIFF, etc.).
Go to File > Scripts > Artsplainer Analyse.
Photoshop briefly creates a flattened copy, saves a temporary JPEG, and opens the Artsplainer Companion App.
Choose your analysis depth and optionally edit the title (pre-filled from the filename).
Click Analyse Artwork and wait a few seconds for the AI critique.

Photoshop — File > Scripts > Artsplainer Analyse

What Gets Analysed

The plugin sends a flattened, merged view of your document. This means:

All visible layers are included (hidden layers are excluded)
Adjustment layers are applied
Layer effects (drop shadows, strokes, etc.) are rendered
Smart objects are rasterised in the export

The temporary export is resized to 2048px on the long edge if your document is larger than that.

Supported Document Types

The plugin handles conversion automatically, so it works with any document Photoshop can open:

PSD and PSB files (any size)
16-bit and 32-bit documents (converted to 8-bit for export)
CMYK, Lab, and Grayscale documents (converted to RGB for export)
TIFF, JPEG, PNG, and other image formats

Installing the Plugin

You can install the plugin from the companion app:

Open the companion app and click the gear icon in the toolbar.
Click Install Plugin next to "Adobe Photoshop".
The correct folder is pre-selected. Click Select Folder.
Windows will ask for administrator permission (the Scripts folder is in Program Files). Click Yes.

Important: After installing, you must restart Photoshop. Scripts are loaded when Photoshop starts, so the new script won't appear in the menu until the next launch.

The plugin installs a single script file to Photoshop's Scripts folder. On Windows, this is typically:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2025\Presets\Scripts

(The exact path depends on your Photoshop version.)

Troubleshooting

"Artsplainer Analyse" doesn't appear in File > Scripts

Restart Photoshop. Scripts are only loaded at startup. If it still doesn't appear, check that Artsplainer Analyse.jsx exists in your Photoshop's Presets\Scripts folder.

Plugin install fails with "Access Denied"

The Scripts folder is inside Program Files, which requires administrator permission. When the UAC prompt appears, click Yes. If you clicked No or the prompt didn't appear, try installing again.

"Please open a document first"

The plugin needs an open document to work. Open or create a document before running the script.

Script error on older Photoshop versions

The plugin uses ExtendScript, which is supported in Photoshop CS6 and later. If you encounter errors, make sure your Photoshop version is up to date.

Companion app doesn't open

Make sure the Artsplainer Companion App is installed. The plugin uses a custom URL protocol (artsplainer://) to communicate with it. If the companion app was installed but the protocol isn't registered, try reinstalling the companion app.

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