image-generation

name

image-generation

description

MUST use when the user wants to RENDER or GENERATE an actual image from a description (not just craft prompt text). Triggers on "render an image", "render this", "generate image", "render image", "make an image of", "render the prompt", "render this prompt". Builds the prompt from what the user types (subject-agnostic, no built-in persona), optionally pulls a saved reference from the Library System, confirms cost, then calls the OpenAI gpt-image API and saves a PNG.

Image Generation System — Render descriptions into real PNGs

Overview

This skill renders an actual image by calling the OpenAI gpt-image API. It is the rendering companion to the Image Prompt System (which only crafts prompt text). The skill is subject- agnostic: it builds the prompt from whatever the user types and has no built-in character, persona, or stored identity. Whatever the user describes is what gets drawn.

Protocol

1. Extract from user input. Read the user's typed description and pull out the subject, scene, style, mood, and any composition cues. The prompt is built from their words only — never from a stored character profile, an "appearance" file, a current outfit, or any baked-in identity.

2. (Optional) Consult the Library System. IF the Library System feature is installed AND the user references a saved entry (e.g. "use my cyberpunk preset", "render with my forest-scene reference"), read that user-authored library entry and fold it into the prompt. This is the only persisted source the skill ever reads, and it is 100% user-owned content — never a shipped persona. If no library entry is referenced, the prompt comes purely from the typed text.

3. Build the final prompt from step 1 (+ optional step 2) — OR, if the user pasted a ready-made prompt (e.g. "render this prompt: …" from the Image Prompt System), use it verbatim.

4. Resolve the output path.

   • Default folder: media-generation/image-generation/ inside the user's memory root (created at install; its path is recorded in master-memory.md).
   • Honor an explicit to [path] override.
   • Sanitize the filename (strip < > : " / \ | ? *, lowercase, hyphenate whitespace) and append a -YYYYMMDD-HHmmss.png timestamp suffix.

5. MANDATORY cost-confirmation gate. Before firing any paid render, tell the user the estimated cost for the chosen size/quality and get a clear go-ahead. Never skip this — it spends real money.

6. Invoke the render script and report the result.

   • PowerShell:

     & Invoke-ImageGen.ps1 -Prompt "<final prompt>" -OutFile "<resolved path>" -Size "<1024x1024|1024x1536|1536x1024>" -Quality "<low|medium|high>"
     

   • Bash:

     invoke-image-gen.sh --prompt "<final prompt>" --outfile "<resolved path>" --size "<size>" --quality "<quality>"
     

   • Report back the saved_path, the cost estimate, and elapsed time.

Size & Quality Reference

Size	Orientation	Quality tiers
1024x1024	Square	low / medium / high
1024x1536	Portrait	low / medium / high
1536x1024	Landscape	low / medium / high

Higher quality = higher cost. Default to medium unless the user asks otherwise.

Mandatory Rules

1. Build prompts only from user input (plus optional user-owned Library entries). The feature is subject-agnostic — no baked-in character, persona, or appearance.
2. Always confirm the cost before a paid render (Step 5). No silent paid calls.
3. Always save into media-generation/image-generation/ unless the user overrides with a path.
4. Never commit .env, never print the API key, never include the key in any output.
5. Surface sanitized errors (the scripts strip sk- patterns). Never auto-retry a failed render — API errors (moderation, quota, malformed) need human diagnosis.