---
title: "Install a plugin"
description: "Lesson 13.1 of Creator Terminal's lesson films (Plugins): Install a plugin from its .zip, then use its command to put a name and a role under a speaker."
canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/install-a-plugin/"
last_updated: 2026-11-06
---

# Install a plugin

> Lesson 13.1 of Creator Terminal's lesson films (Plugins): Install a plugin from its .zip, then use its command to put a name and a role under a speaker.

- The film (1:27): https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/fee2a49b5fa9/13.1-install-a-plugin.mp4
- Vertical cut: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/b35b7653ba05/13.1-install-a-plugin-vertical.mp4
- Captions: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/dcc7b21fa07d/13.1-install-a-plugin.vtt
- The page: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/install-a-plugin/
- The document the film opens: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/6ec2fc61acaf/speaker.json
- A file the film uses: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/714884907069/lower-thirds.zip

## Step by step

A plugin adds commands, animation presets and themes to Creator Terminal. In this tutorial you'll
install one, Lower thirds, and use it to put a speaker's name and role on a bar that wipes in,
holds and wipes out: the title you see under people in interviews, talks and product videos.
You'll learn where plugins live, how to see what one does before installing it, and how a
command's inputs work.

### Before you start

- Creator Terminal, installed and open ([Install Creator Terminal](/install/)).
- The Lower thirds plugin, `lower-thirds.zip`, and the film's document, `speaker.json`, from
  **Follow along** on this page. Put them in the same folder, such as Documents, and open the
  document.

### 1. Open Plugins

Press `:` to open the command palette, type `Plugins` and press `⏎` (Return). **Plugins…** is in
the **File** menu too. The Plugins page fills the window: the plugins you have, your drafts, and
two buttons, **New with the copilot** and **Install from a folder…**.

### 2. Install from a folder

Click **Install from a folder…**. A list of files opens on the folder you're working in, showing
the folders and `.zip` files you could install. Choose `lower-thirds.zip`. (A plugin's folder works
too: `tab` goes into a folder.)

![The file list over the Plugins page, with lower-thirds.zip in Documents.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/68ccdbaf4851/install-a-plugin-the-file-list-over-the-plugins-page-with.webp)

### 3. See what it does

Before it installs anything, the line at the foot of the page says what the plugin adds and the
tools its commands edit with. Lower thirds adds one command and a skill, and edits with **add**,
**animate**, **set** and **text**. A plugin's command can only edit the open document: it can't read or
write your files, use the network or start anything.

![The line at the foot of the page: install lower-thirds 1.0.0? adds 1 command, 1 skill, edits with add, animate, set, text.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/601ab021dba8/install-a-plugin-the-line-at-the-foot-of-the-page.webp)

### 4. Install it

Press `⏎` to install it. It's listed on the page, switched **On**. `space` turns a plugin off or
on (one that's off stays installed and adds nothing), and `⌫` removes it.

### 5. Find its command

Press `esc` to go back to the editor. The plugin's command, **Lower third**, is in the left panel
under **PLUGINS**, below **CREATE**. It's in the command palette too, by its name or the plugin's.

![The left panel, with Lower third under PLUGINS.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/affa2992b008/install-a-plugin-the-left-panel-with-lower-third-under-plugins.webp)

### 6. Run it

Click the ruler above the score (the timeline) at **1s**, where the speaker is introduced: the
lower third is whole at the playhead, having come in just before it. Then click **Lower third**.

Its inputs open on the right rail (the Properties panel, in other tools), and the command is tried
on the stage at once, with **Your name** and **Your role** in place. The try plays in a loop, so you
see it come and go.

![The Lower third panel on the rail, and its try on the stage: Your name, Your role.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/4b39cfd15aba/install-a-plugin-the-lower-third-panel-on-the-rail-and.webp)

### 7. Fill it in

Click the name and type the speaker's: `Maya Chen`. Click the role and type theirs: `Head of
design`. The stage follows as you type. Click the arrows beside **Colour** to change the bar's
colour; the words take the colour that reads on it. **Side** sets where it sits, and **Hold** how
many seconds it stays.

Press `⏎` to keep it. The whole run is one undo step. (`esc`, or **✕**, closes the panel and drops
the try.) Click the ruler at **1s** again to see it whole.

![The lower third kept: Maya Chen, Head of design, on a white bar under the speaker.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/13.1-install-a-plugin/8ee4150a623f/install-a-plugin-the-lower-third-kept-maya-chen-head-of.webp)

### 8. Play it

Press `0` to go to the first frame, then `space` to play. The bar wipes in, the name and role rise
in after it, and three seconds later it wipes away again. Press `space` to stop.

### What you learned

- **Plugins…**, in the command palette or the **File** menu, lists your plugins and installs new
  ones from a folder or a `.zip`.
- The line at the foot of the page says what a plugin adds and what its commands edit with, before
  you install it.
- A plugin's commands are in the left panel and the palette. Their inputs open on the rail and are
  tried on the stage, and `⏎` keeps the result as one undo step.

[Plugins](/docs/plugins/) in the manual has the keys for a command's panel, and how the copilot
and your AI apps use plugins too.

## In this lesson

### Open Plugins (0:07)

A plugin adds commands, presets and themes to Creator Terminal. Press colon, type Plugins, and press Return.

### Install from a folder (0:17)

This is the Plugins page. We've downloaded the Lower thirds plugin, as a zip. Click Install from a folder. It opens on Documents, where the zip is, so choose it.

### See what it does (0:29)

Before it installs, the line at the bottom says what it adds, and the tools its command edits with.

### Install it (0:36)

Press Return, and it's installed, and switched on.

### In the left panel (0:40)

Press escape to go back to the editor. Its command is waiting in the left panel, under Plugins.

### Run it (0:46)

Click the ruler at one second, where she's introduced. Then click Lower third. Its inputs open on the right, and it's tried on the stage, whole at the playhead.

### Fill it in (0:57)

Click the name, and type hers, Maya Chen. Then her role, head of design. The arrows change the colour, and white reads well here. Press Return to keep it, and click back at one second to see it whole.

### Play it (1:11)

Press zero, then space. The bar wipes in, her name and role rise in after it, and three seconds later, it wipes away again.