# Getting Started

> Install Flex Bundles and get your first bundle live on your Shopify store.

Flex Bundles adds bundles to the cart natively, so they flow through checkout and
fulfillment as broken-out line items with accurate pricing and inventory. This page gets
you from install to a live bundle.

## Install

1. Install Flex Bundles from the [Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/flex-bundles).
2. Grant the requested permissions.
3. Open the app. You land on the dashboard, which shows a four-step setup guide.

The guide's checkboxes are manual: tick each step off as you complete it, and the guide
hides itself once all four are checked. You can also dismiss it at any time and bring it
back with the **Show setup guide** button on the dashboard.

## The four setup steps

### 1. Create a fixed bundle

This is the fastest path to something live, and it needs no theme changes. A fixed bundle
attaches a set of components to a parent variant, so adding the parent to the cart
automatically includes the components.

From the dashboard, choose **Create bundle**, then **Fixed Bundle**. Pick the parent
product and variant, add the component variants and their quantities, and save. The bundle
is active on your store right away (the parent product itself must be published or unlisted
in Shopify). To see it work, add the parent variant to your cart.

### 2. Create a flex bundle

Flex bundles are customer-built: build-your-own, mix-and-match, and similar. Configuration
lives on the product. Pricing is Parent Price or Component Sum, and the mode is decided by
the payload your storefront sends: include a `price` on every component to sum them, or
omit prices to use the parent variant's price.

Flex bundles are added to the cart from your storefront with a `_components` payload, so
this step involves theme work. See [Cart API Integration](https://flexbundles.com/docs/cart-api-integration) for
the contract, and [Bundle Types](https://flexbundles.com/docs/bundle-types) for how the pricing modes behave.

### 3. Add bundles to your store

Open the theme editor and place your bundle experience where you want it. For fixed
bundles there is nothing to add beyond the parent product itself. For flex bundles this is
where your builder UI goes.

### 4. Get your first bundle order

Once bundle orders start landing, the dashboard shows an AOV comparison: the AOV impact
(the difference, with a percentage badge), your average order value with bundles, and
without. When bundles are lifting AOV, it also estimates the additional revenue they have
generated. The block only appears once you have bundle order data.

## Where to go next

- [Bundle Types](https://flexbundles.com/docs/bundle-types) for fixed, flex, and free/GWP in detail
- [Cart API Integration](https://flexbundles.com/docs/cart-api-integration) for the storefront contract
- [Customization](https://flexbundles.com/docs/customization) for styling the bundle experience
- [Admin API](https://flexbundles.com/docs/admin-api) for managing bundles programmatically

## Need a hand?

If you would rather see it working before you build, book a demo with the founder from the
link at the bottom of the setup guide in the app.