Install OptionWise
Getting OptionWise running takes a few minutes: install the app, then follow the short setup flow that opens. It walks you through choosing a theme, adding the OptionWise plugin to it, picking products, and reviewing your first options — by the end, your options are live.
Step 1 — Install from the Shopify App Store
Open the OptionWise listing
Open the OptionWise listing in the Shopify App Store and click Add app.
Approve the permissions
Shopify shows the permissions OptionWise needs to read your products and store the options data. Click Install to approve.
Land in the setup flow
After installing you’re taken to OptionWise inside your Shopify admin, which opens on “Welcome to OptionWise” — the guided setup below.
Step 2 — Follow the setup flow
The setup flow is self-guided; here’s what each step does so you know what to expect.
Choose your theme
Select the theme where you’d like to install OptionWise. This is usually your live theme, but you can pick an unpublished draft to try OptionWise there first. OptionWise checks the theme’s compatibility as you pick — see Theme compatibility below.
Add OptionWise to your theme
The Add OptionWise to your theme step opens Shopify’s theme editor in a new tab with the OptionWise plugin ready to add to your product page. Click Save in the theme editor, then return to the OptionWise tab — the step confirms “Plugin added successfully” on its own.
You add the plugin once per theme. After that, every option set you publish appears automatically — you don’t return to the theme editor for each one. Where to position the plugin is covered in Plugin placement.
Select products to add options to
Pick the products (or a collection) your first options should appear on — from your recent products, or via search. You can add more products later.
Review your product options
OptionWise looks at the products you picked and drafts starter options for them — the kinds of choices shops selling similar products offer. Keep, remove, or tweak them on the next screen: Preview your options shows your options on a live product-page preview, where you can edit everything. Click Continue to publish and finish setup.
If the drafted options don’t fit — or none come back — you can describe your products so OptionWise re-drafts, or choose Set up options manually and build them yourself. Nothing goes live until you click Continue at the end.
Theme compatibility
OptionWise needs an Online Store 2.0 theme — the modern format that supports product-page app blocks. Most themes qualify, including Dawn and the other free Shopify themes.
The check runs automatically when you choose your theme in setup. If a theme fails it, you’ll see “This theme isn’t compatible with OptionWise” — pick a different theme from the selector, or switch your store to a modern theme first. See Theme integration.
You’re set up
After setup, the OptionWise home page shows your dashboard: a Complete your setup checklist tracking the finishing touches (it warns you if the plugin is ever turned off in your theme), your option sets, and a Recommended for you list. Next: