This guide covers everything you need to know to install, configure and run MetaMagic on Adobe Lightroom Classic. If you've never used a Lightroom plugin before, no worries — the process is simpler than you'd think. If you're already comfortable with plugins, skip ahead to the configuration section for the settings that actually matter.

Step 1 — Download and install the plugin

MetaMagic is distributed as a .lrplugin folder, which is the standard Lightroom Classic plugin format. The installation is the same on Mac and Windows.

  1. Go to the download page and click the download button. You'll get a ZIP file.
  2. Unzip the file. Inside, you'll find a folder named MetaMagic.lrplugin. Don't open it — it contains the plugin files but Lightroom needs the folder as a whole.
  3. Move MetaMagic.lrplugin to a permanent location on your computer. Common choices: your Documents folder, or a dedicated "Lightroom Plugins" folder.
  4. Open Lightroom Classic. Go to File → Plug-in Manager.
  5. Click Add in the bottom-left of the Plug-in Manager window.
  6. Navigate to MetaMagic.lrplugin, select it (don't open it), and click Add Plug-in.
Common mistake

Don't select the .lua files inside the .lrplugin folder. Lightroom needs to load the whole folder. On Windows, the folder may look like a regular folder — that's fine, just select it.

You should now see MetaMagic in the plugin list on the left, with status "Installed and running". The installation is complete.

Step 2 — Get your customer code

MetaMagic uses a credit system instead of subscriptions. To use the plugin, you need a customer code that links your usage to your account and credit balance.

  1. Go to the registration page and sign up with your email.
  2. You'll receive a customer code that looks like cus_xxxxxxxxxxx.
  3. In Lightroom, open the Plug-in Manager again and click on MetaMagic in the list.
  4. In the MetaMagic Plugin Settings section, paste your customer code into the Customer Code field.
  5. Click Done.

You now have 20 free generations on your account. Your credits work both for the Lightroom plugin and the web app — one account, shared balance.

Step 3 — Configure the settings that matter

Most defaults are fine, but a few settings dramatically affect the quality and format of your output. Here's what each option does and what I recommend:

Number of keywords (default: 50)

Sets how many keywords the AI will generate per photo. For stock photography, keep this at 50 to maximize search visibility. For personal archives or editorial work where keyword inflation hurts, drop to 20–25.

Title length (default: 5 words)

How many words the title should contain. 5 words is the sweet spot for both Shutterstock and Adobe Stock. Don't push beyond 8 — buyers skim titles, and longer ones get truncated in search results.

Description max words (default: 20)

Caption length. 20 words gives you a complete sentence describing the scene. Editorial submissions often need longer captions with location and date — toggle Editorial mode if you need that format.

Microstock Editorial mode

Enable this if you submit to Getty Editorial, Alamy News, or other editorial outlets. The plugin will format captions as LOCATION – DATE: factual description. Requires GPS data on the photo for the location to be accurate.

Include GPS Information (default: on)

When enabled, MetaMagic reads GPS data from your photos and uses it to enrich keywords and captions with location context. Also writes city, state and country into the IPTC Location fields automatically. Keep this on unless you have a specific reason to hide location.

Overwrite Keywords (default: off)

If off, MetaMagic adds new AI keywords alongside any existing keywords. If on, it replaces all keywords with the AI-generated set. Recommendation: keep this off so you don't lose any manual keywording you've already done.

Group AI keywords under parent (default: off)

Creates a parent keyword called "MetaMagic" (or whatever you configure) and nests all AI keywords under it. Useful if you want to keep AI keywords visually separate from your own. The IPTC export still includes both.

Color labels (new in v1.4)

Marks processed photos with a color label after the batch — green for success, red for failure. Filter Lightroom by color label after a batch to quickly find photos that failed and re-run them. Off by default; enable in plugin settings.

Step 4 — Run your first generation

Time to actually use the plugin. Here's the simplest workflow for a single photo:

  1. In Lightroom Library or Develop module, select one photo.
  2. Go to File → Plug-in Extras → Generate Metadata with MetaMagic.
  3. Confirm the batch (the plugin shows how many credits will be used).
  4. Wait a few seconds. A bezel notification confirms when it's done.
  5. Check the Library module — title, caption and keywords should now be filled in.

For a batch of multiple photos, the workflow is identical — just select multiple photos before running the plugin. There's no hard limit on batch size, but I recommend keeping batches under 500 photos for the cleanest progress visibility.

Step 5 — Master batch processing

This is where MetaMagic really shines. A typical workflow for a stock photographer processing a 200-photo travel shoot:

  1. Import photos to Lightroom as usual.
  2. Cull and edit the best images.
  3. Select all the keepers (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A in the Library Grid).
  4. Run MetaMagic. Confirm the batch.
  5. Walk away — MetaMagic processes in the background with a progress bar you can monitor.
  6. When done, filter by color label (if enabled) to spot any failures.
  7. Review and tweak the generated metadata in the Library Metadata panel.
Pro tip

If your shoot has GPS data, run MetaMagic before doing any manual location tagging. The plugin uses GPS to populate IPTC Location fields automatically — saving you the lookup time.

Step 6 — Export with metadata embedded

MetaMagic writes IPTC metadata directly into the Lightroom catalog. When you export the photos, Lightroom embeds that metadata into the JPG/TIFF file automatically.

  1. Select your processed photos.
  2. File → Export.
  3. In the export dialog, make sure Metadata → Include is set to All Metadata (or at least keep IPTC and Caption enabled).
  4. Export — your files now contain the AI-generated keywords, title, caption and location info, ready to be uploaded to any stock agency.

Troubleshooting common issues

"Customer code missing" error

You haven't entered your customer code in plugin settings, or it's mistyped. Open Plug-in Manager → MetaMagic and verify the code is correct.

"No credits available"

Your account is out of credits. Buy more credits (no subscription, pay-as-you-go). Credits never expire.

Generation seems slow

Each photo takes ~3 seconds on average. A batch of 100 photos takes ~5 minutes. If it's significantly slower, check your internet connection — MetaMagic uses OpenAI's API which needs a stable connection.

Some keywords were skipped

Lightroom has some restrictions on keyword characters and length. Skipped keywords are listed in MetaMagicLog.txt (in your Documents folder if logging is enabled). Usually fewer than 1% of keywords get skipped on a typical batch.

That's it

You should now be set up to use MetaMagic effectively in your daily workflow. For more advanced topics — per-agency keyword optimization, IPTC standards, GPS metadata strategies — check the other articles on the blog.

Questions or issues? The contact form goes straight to me. I read every message and reply personally.

— David Mallic, MetaMagic