Setup Guide
Getting Your Google Cloud Vision API Key
PhotoCheckWP uses Google’s image index to check your uploads. This guide walks you through getting your API key — no technical background required. It takes about ten minutes.
Google requires a credit card to create a Cloud account, even for free usage. The first 1,000 image checks every month are free, and a typical newsroom uploading 200 images a month will not come close to that limit. If you ever do go over, Google charges $3.50 per additional 1,000 checks — and you will see that in your Google Cloud billing dashboard before it becomes a surprise.
Go to console.cloud.google.com and sign in with your Google account. If you do not have one, create a free Google account first. You will be prompted to set up a billing account — enter your credit card information. Normal usage stays within the free tier.
At the top of the console, click the project dropdown — it may say “Select a project” or show an existing project name. Click New Project, give it any name you like (something like “PhotoCheckWP” works fine), and click Create. Google uses projects to organize everything. You only need one.
Click the hamburger menu in the top left corner (three horizontal lines). Go to APIs & Services, then Library. In the search bar, type Cloud Vision. Select Cloud Vision API from the results and click the blue Enable button. This activates the API for your project. It takes a few seconds.
Go back to the hamburger menu, click APIs & Services, then Credentials. At the top of the page, click Create Credentials and choose API key. Google will generate a key immediately and show it in a popup. Copy it — you will need it in Step 6.
In the same popup, click Edit API key. Under API restrictions, select Restrict key, then choose Cloud Vision API from the dropdown. Click Save. This limits the key to only the service PhotoCheckWP uses, which protects your account from unauthorized use if the key were ever exposed.
In your WordPress admin, go to Settings > PhotoCheckWP. Paste your API key into the Google Vision API Key field and click Save Changes. That is it. PhotoCheckWP will begin checking every image your team uploads automatically.
If you get lost in the Google Cloud Console or run into an error, email us and we will walk you through it.
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