Lightroom PicPeak Plugin

The Lightroom PicPeak Plugin connects Adobe Lightroom Classic to self-hosted PicPeak client galleries. You upload proofs and your client marks favourites. The plugin brings those selections back onto the matching RAW files and sends the finished edits to the same gallery.

I wrote the initial implementation. The project has since moved to the PicPeak organisation. Its current documentation covers the full round-trip workflow.

Round-trip workflow

1. Upload camera JPEGs to a PicPeak event.
2. Your client sets colour labels and star ratings while proofing.
3. In Lightroom, open Library → Plug-in Extras → PicPeak Importer. Select the event and the folder containing your RAW files.
4. Import all matching files or only the marked selections. The plugin adds them to the catalog, applies the chosen ratings and labels and puts them in a collection.
5. Edit the RAW files and export them to the same event. The plugin uses the stored photo IDs to replace the proofs with the finished renders. Ratings, labels, comments and gallery position are kept, even if the files were renamed.

Colour labels must be enabled in the event’s feedback settings. Importing selections also requires a PicPeak server that provides the endpoint GET /api/v1/events/:id/photos. Older servers may support export and publishing, but not the importer.

Existing ratings and file matching

The importer has conflict policies for photos that already have ratings or labels. The default is Fill empty only. You can also prefer PicPeak, prefer the existing Lightroom values or use the highest-priority value. Check this setting before you apply a client’s selections to a catalog you have already sorted.

For multi-camera shoots, make sure the filenames can be told apart before uploading. Ambiguous matches are skipped and reported. The matching guide explains camera prefixes and the optional fallback that matches the number at the end of the filename.

Install and connect

The plugin runs from source; there is no separate installer. Download or clone PicPeak/plugin-lightroom, then go to File → Plug-in Manager → Add and select the picpeak-plugin.lrplugin folder.

Open Library → Plug-in Extras → PicPeak Overview, choose Config, enter your server URL and select Sign in…. Your account must be allowed to create API tokens. The plugin exchanges your password once for an API token and stores the token in the operating system keychain. It does not keep your password.

If the server uses SSO or reCAPTCHA, you need a manually created API token. Paste it under Advanced. The current connection instructions cover permissions and token management.

Export, publish and troubleshooting

Use an export for a one-off delivery and a publish service for a Lightroom collection you keep updating. Exporting imported photos back to the same event replaces their proofs. Exporting to a different event creates new photos there.

If matching or publishing fails, enable logging under Plug-in Manager → PicPeak → Logging, reproduce the problem and click Show log file. Report issues in the current repository.

The earlier Lightroom-to-PicPeak guide is still available and includes notes on the current connection workflow.