Installation and Setup

The Promptless theme is installed from a ZIP file and set up in Appearance → Customize. When you install the whole stack, the theme comes first; see Installing the Stack.

Requirements

	Version
WordPress	6.6 or newer (tested up to 7.1)
PHP	7.4 or newer
Promptless WP	Optional; 1.3.0 or newer when installed
WooCommerce	Optional; any version

How to install

1. Download promptless-v<version>.zip from the assets of the latest release on the theme’s GitHub releases page. Do not use GitHub’s “Source code” download: it unpacks to a differently named folder, so WordPress installs it as a second theme.
2. In WordPress admin, go to Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme, choose the ZIP and select Install Now.
3. Select Activate. The theme appears as Promptless.
4. Install and activate Promptless WP, if the site uses it. Until it is active, WordPress admin shows a warning that it is not active.

To update, upload the newer ZIP the same way. WordPress offers to replace the installed version; your Customizer settings are kept.

How to set up a new site

Work in this order. Each step uses what the one before it set up.

1. Colours and fonts. Set them in Promptless WP’s Global Settings. The theme has no colour or font settings of its own.
2. Logo. In Appearance → Customize → Site Identity, set the Logo. If the header or footer will be dark, also set Logo — dark backgrounds. See Header.
3. Menus. In Appearance → Menus, create menus and assign them to the theme’s locations: Primary Menu first, then the footer columns. See Menus.
4. Header. In Appearance → Customize → Header, choose the layout, Light or Dark, sticky behaviour and buttons.
5. Footer. In Appearance → Customize → Footer, write the brand description and add headings to the menu columns. See Footer.
6. Optional parts, all off until you turn them on: Top bar, Announcement bar, Breadcrumbs and Search in the header.
7. Content. In Appearance → Customize → Content, decide whether post cards show the date and author, and whether page content is Light or Dark. See Posts and pages.

Select Publish in the Customizer to make changes live. Until then only you see them in the preview.

An AI assistant connected to Promptless WP can do steps 3 to 5 and the top and announcement bars for you. See Connector Tools.

Limits and common problems

• The theme installed as a second copy. The ZIP was not the release file. Delete the extra theme and upload the ZIP attached to the release.
• A warning says Promptless WP is not active, or is older than the theme requires. Activate or update Promptless WP. The warning appears on every admin screen and cannot be dismissed while the plugin is missing.
• Nothing shows where a menu should be. No menu is assigned to that location. The theme shows no placeholder menu.

Related pages

• What the Promptless Theme Is — What the Promptless theme draws around your content, how it takes its styling from Promptless WP, what changes without the plugin, and which page templates it provides.
• Header — Choose a header layout including the floating pill, float it over the first section, set Light or Dark, sticky and border, add light and dark logos, and set where the menu collapses.
• Menus — The seven menu locations the Promptless theme provides, how many levels each shows, and how to turn a top-level item into a mega menu with icons and descriptions.
• Footer Layout and Content — What each part of the Promptless theme's footer shows, which menus and widgets fill it, and how to set its brand text, column headings, logo and Light or Dark theme.
• Customizer Settings — Every setting the Promptless theme adds to Appearance → Customize, with its choices, its default, its stored key, and whether the Promptless WP connector can change it.
• Installing the Stack — The order to install the Promptless products, their WordPress and PHP requirements, where each one is downloaded and how it is updated.