# Getting started

> Install Wisp Gallery, add your first filterable gallery with the “Add filterable gallery” command, assign categories and connect the filter. Step by step.

Source: https://wispgallery.com/docs/getting-started/

From a fresh install to a published, filterable gallery in about five minutes. You need WordPress 6.6 or newer and PHP 7.4 or newer – nothing else, no account and no API key.

## Install the plugin

1. Download `wisp-gallery.zip` from this site.
2. In WordPress, go to **Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin**, choose the zip and click **Install Now**.
3. Click **Activate**.

With WP-CLI it is one line:

```
wp plugin install wisp-gallery.zip --activate
```

Wisp Gallery works in block themes and in classic themes that use the block editor. There is no settings page: everything is a block setting.

## Requirements

| Needs | Version | For |
| --- | --- | --- |
| WordPress | 6.6+ | The blocks, filters, lightbox and everything on this page |
| WordPress | 6.7+ | The Gallery Category Archive template in block themes |
| WordPress | 6.9+ | The Abilities API for AI agents (skipped on older versions) |
| PHP | 7.4+ | Everything |

## Your first filterable gallery

A filterable gallery is two blocks that know each other: a **Gallery Filter** (the category buttons) and a **Filterable Gallery** (the photos). The quickest way to get both, already connected:

1. Open a page in the editor and press `Cmd`+`K` (`Ctrl`+`K` on Windows and Linux) to open the command palette.
2. Type *gallery* and choose **Add filterable gallery**. A filter and a gallery appear at the cursor, wired to each other.
3. In the empty gallery, click **Add images** and select photos from the Media Library (shift-click to select several).

You can also insert the two blocks from the inserter yourself. Then give the gallery a **Gallery ID** (Filtering panel) and pick the same gallery in the filter’s **Gallery** setting – or leave the filter set to “all galleries on the page”.

## Give the photos categories

The filter shows one button per **Gallery Category** used by the photos in the gallery. Categories are stored on the images themselves, in the Media Library, so they follow a photo into every gallery.

- **One image:** select it and use the **Gallery categories** panel in the sidebar.
- **Several images:** select one, shift-click the others, then click the tag button in the block toolbar. Tick categories or create new ones right there.
- **Many images at once:** use the bulk actions in the Media Library’s list view.

Click **Edit** in the gallery’s toolbar to see every photo with a badge of its categories. Photos without one get a yellow “No category” badge, so you see at a glance what still needs tagging.

## Try the filter

Switch the gallery back to **Preview** in its toolbar and click the filter buttons in the editor: the gallery filters right there, so you can check the categories before you publish. Nothing is saved by clicking.

Then publish and click a button on the front end. Photos move to their new places with an animated transition. Want a shareable link per category? With Wisp Gallery Pro, set a **URL parameter** in the filter’s settings, e.g. `category`, and `?category=food` opens the page already filtered.

## Where to go next

- Pick a [layout](https://wispgallery.com/docs/layouts/): masonry is the default; justified rows, grid, carousel and accordion are one click away.
- Turn on the **lightbox**: set *Click behavior* to *Lightbox* in the Items panel.
- Style the filter with your theme’s colors and type in the block settings, or with a preset and more styles in Wisp Gallery Pro – see [Gallery Filter](https://wispgallery.com/docs/blocks/#filter).
- Coming from another gallery plugin? [Import your galleries.](https://wispgallery.com/docs/switching/)

Further reading: [a filterable portfolio with posts and images in one gallery](https://wispgallery.com/blog/filterable-portfolio/), step by step, and [live demos](https://wispgallery.com/demos/) for portfolios, weddings, restaurants and more.