Installing Pixel Wrangler

What the install actually does, the permissions it asks for, and how to confirm the customizer is live on your storefront.

The Quickstart gets you from install to a live product in five minutes. This page slows down on the install itself — the permissions Shopify asks you to approve, where the app lands in your admin, and how to be sure the Customise button is really on your storefront before you tell anyone.

Before you install

You need a Shopify store on a plan that allows app installs. That's every paid Shopify plan. Development stores work too, which is the sensible place to try Pixel Wrangler if you don't want a work-in-progress template near live traffic.

You do not need to touch theme code, add a second app, or hire anyone. The Customise button is a theme block you add from Shopify's theme editor — a few clicks, no code (Step 3 below).

Step 1 — Install from the App Store

Open the Pixel Wrangler listing and click Add app, then Install. Shopify shows you the permission screen before anything happens.

📷 [screenshot: Shopify permission approval screen for Pixel Wrangler, showing the requested scopes]

Pixel Wrangler asks for the access it needs to do the job and nothing decorative:

  • Read products — to find the products you'll link templates to, and to read variants (size, colour, material) so the customizer respects the option the shopper picked.
  • Read and write orders — to write the design thumbnail, the print-ready file link, tags, and metafields onto each paid order. This is how your fulfilment process gets the artwork.
  • Read themes — so the Customise button block and cart preview can be offered in your theme editor without editing your theme.

Approve it and you land in the Pixel Wrangler admin with an empty template list. Nothing is live on your storefront yet — an installed app with no templates changes nothing a shopper can see.

Step 2 — Start your trial and pick a plan

Open the app's Plan page and choose a plan. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial. You get the full builder, the customizer, and print-ready rendering during the trial — no feature is held back to a paid tier for the trial period.

The plan charge starts when the trial ends. Plan charges bill through Shopify and appear on your Shopify invoice. For what each tier includes, see Plans and what's included.

Step 3 — Add the Customise button to your product page

The Customise button is a theme block for product templates. It isn't on your storefront until you add it — a missing block is the single most common "the button isn't showing" cause.

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes → Customize. Open a product page in the theme editor, then in the left panel click Add block → Apps → Customise Button. Save.

📷 [screenshot: Shopify theme editor, Add block → Apps, with the Customise Button block selected on a product template]

Products can use different product templates in your theme. If some use a second template, add the block there too.

If the button lands in the wrong spot, move the block like any other section. Placement is yours; the wiring is ours.

Cart preview (optional, worth doing). To show the shopper's design thumbnail in the cart, open the cart template in the theme editor and add the Cart Design Preview block. For drawer and mini carts, go to Theme settings → App embeds and switch on Cart Preview (Global) — that's the only app embed Pixel Wrangler adds.

Step 4 — Verify on a real product page

Link a template to a product (the Quickstart walks this), then open that product on your live storefront in an incognito window. You should see a Customise button. Click it — the customizer opens as a modal over the page.

Seeing the button on a real, logged-out page view is the only confirmation that counts. The admin preview can look perfect while the block is missing from the theme.

Common pitfalls

  • No button, template linked. The Customise Button block hasn't been added (Step 3), or the product uses a different product template from the one you added the block to. Products can use different templates — check the one this product actually uses.
  • Button shows but does nothing. Almost always a caching layer or a theme script error. Hard-refresh; if it persists, email us the product URL.
  • You linked the wrong product. A template's Linked products list drives which pages get a button. If the button's on the wrong page, that's where to look.

Staff access

Pixel Wrangler follows Shopify's staff permissions. Any staff account with app access can open Pixel Wrangler and build templates. There's no separate Pixel Wrangler login to manage — Shopify handles who gets in.

Uninstalling and reinstalling

Uninstall from Apps → Pixel Wrangler → Delete in your Shopify admin. Uninstalling removes the theme blocks, so the Customise button disappears from your storefront immediately. Your templates aren't wiped the instant you uninstall — reinstall within about 48 hours and your templates are still there, saving you a rebuild if the uninstall was a mistake. Beyond that window, store data is removed.

Planning a store migration, or need order files kept? Email hey@pixelwrangler.io before you uninstall.

What's next