---
title: "Recommended setup - GeneratePerf"
description: "The few steps that give the best results right after installing GeneratePerf."
url: "https://generateperf.com/docs/recommended-setup/"
lang: "en-US"
published: "2026-09-24T11:48:51+02:00"
modified: "2026-10-01T09:05:07+02:00"
---

[Docs](https://generateperf.com/docs/) / Getting started

# Recommended setup

The few steps that give the best results right after installing GeneratePerf.

## 1. Install the GeneratePerf child theme

Download the **GeneratePerf Child Theme** from the **Downloads** tab of [your account](https://generateperf.com/account/?view=downloads), then in WordPress go to **Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme** and activate it (GeneratePress must be installed).

It is where your customisations live: your styles in `style.css`, your PHP in `inc/functions-custom.php` (every GeneratePerf hook is listed there with an example, see [Hooks](https://generateperf.com/docs/hooks/)), your SVG icons in `images/icons/`, your HTML shortcodes in `shortcodes/` and the files of [CSS overrides](https://generateperf.com/docs/settings-design/#overrides) in `css/`. Once installed, the child theme is yours: GeneratePerf updates never overwrite it. **Site Health** checks that a child theme is active.

## 2. Define the site colors

GeneratePerf’s components use seven GeneratePress global colors, by slug: `primary`, `secondary`, `lightest`, `light`, `medium`, `dark` and `darkest`. Their names are free.

When you activate the GeneratePerf child theme, the colors missing from your palette are **added automatically**, and the existing ones are never changed. A missing color takes the value of its GeneratePress equivalent when there is one (`accent` for `primary`, `contrast` for `darkest`, `contrast-2` for `dark`, `contrast-3` for `medium`, `base` for `light`, `base-3` for `lightest`); otherwise its default value:

| Slug | Default |
| --- | --- |
| `primary` | `#1E73BE` |
| `secondary` | `#BE691E` |
| `lightest` | `#ffffff` |
| `light` | `#e9e9e9` |
| `medium` | `#919191` |
| `dark` | `#757575` |
| `darkest` | `#222222` |

Adjust them in **Appearance → Customize → Colors**. If a color goes missing later, **Site Health** reports it and its **Add the missing colors** link restores it the same way.

## 3. Let the configurator set up your other plugins

If you use WP Rocket, Perfmatters, Imagify, Cache Enabler or ShortPixel, open [1 Clic Configurator](https://generateperf.com/docs/settings-performance/#configurator) and apply the recommended configuration: it sets their options for a GeneratePress site in one click.

## 4. Turn on the performance options for your content

In [Web performance](https://generateperf.com/docs/settings-performance/#performance), enable for your posts and pages:

- **Prioritize featured images** (`fetchpriority="high"`) and **Early-load featured images** (no lazy-loading);
- **Early-load first content images** on content without a featured image;
- **Preload featured images** where the featured image is the largest element of the page.

## 5. Choose self-hosted fonts

Pick your fonts in **Appearance → Customize → Typography**: GeneratePerf’s fonts are served from your own site, with fallbacks that avoid layout shifts. See [Fonts](https://generateperf.com/docs/fonts/).

## 6. Choose which AI crawlers to block

In [SEO](https://generateperf.com/docs/settings-seo/#seo), **AI crawlers** sets what robots.txt asks of AI crawlers:

- **None**, for a company or expertise site that gains from being known and quoted by AI tools;
- **Training only** (default on new installs), for a media site whose content is the product: crawlers that collect pages to train models (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended…) are blocked, those that quote the site in an answer or fetch a page for a user stay allowed;
- **Training and inference**, to keep the site out of AI tools altogether.

Sites installed before GeneratePerf 3.1.4 keep **None**. Developers can adjust the lists with the robots.txt filters in [Hooks](https://generateperf.com/docs/hooks/).

## 7. Check Site Health

Open **Settings → GeneratePerf → Site Health** and fix what it reports: search engine visibility, plugin version, colors, child theme, editor and the size of autoloaded options.