| name | gpt-image-bridge |
| description | Use when the user asks for an image, mockup, logo, avatar, hero image, illustration, diagram, visual reference, or any generated picture, or when a design skill needs an image produced. Bridges to OpenAI's gpt-image-2 through the codex CLI using a ChatGPT subscription — no API key. |
gpt-image-bridge
Claude Code has no native image generation tool. This skill bridges that gap by shelling out to the codex CLI, which calls OpenAI's gpt-image-2 model under the hood. Codex is authenticated via the user's ChatGPT subscription, so no API key is required.
When to use
Invoke the wrapper any time the user wants an image produced. Examples:
- "Generate a hero image for..."
- "Make me a mockup of..."
- "I need an avatar / logo / illustration / diagram of..."
- "Show me what X would look like"
- A design-taste skill (e.g.
image-taste-frontend from Leonxlnx/taste-skill) is driving an image-first workflow and needs an image generated
Do not invoke it for:
- Small programmatic PNGs (1px dots, solid-color placeholders, charts) — write those directly with a few lines of Python.
- Editing an existing image pixel-by-pixel.
How to call it
~/.claude/skills/gpt-image-bridge/bin/gpt-image-2 "<prompt>" <absolute-output-path.png> [--size WxH]
- Prompt should be dense and art-directed: composition, lighting, camera/lens, mood, style reference. Terse prompts produce generic output.
- Output path must be absolute.
/tmp/ works for throwaways; a project-local design/ directory for kept assets.
- Size is optional — if omitted, the model chooses its own dimensions. Only pass
--size when the user specifies one or the layout requires a particular aspect ratio.
- Calls routinely take 4–6 minutes (codex reasons before calling the image tool; exact latency depends on the user's codex
reasoning_effort config). Set the Bash tool timeout to the maximum, 600000 ms, or run it in the background and poll.
- The wrapper prints the absolute output path to stdout on success, or a tail of the codex log to stderr on failure.
After the wrapper returns, Read the PNG back into context so you can analyze it before coding or responding.
Under the hood
The wrapper runs:
codex exec --skip-git-repo-check -s workspace-write -C <private-temp-dir> "<augmented prompt>"
with explicit instructions to use the image_generation tool (not fabricate a PNG in Python — codex will try that if you let it). Codex saves the PNG as out.png inside the private temp dir — the only place its sandbox is guaranteed to allow writes — and the wrapper copies it to the requested output path. Codex never handles the final path, so sandbox denials and Windows/POSIX path mismatches can't occur, and the previous output file is only overwritten once a new image actually exists.
Prerequisites (user-side)
codex CLI installed (brew install codex on macOS, npm install -g @openai/codex anywhere)codex login status reports "Logged in using ChatGPT" (ChatGPT Plus/Pro/Team subscription)image_generation feature enabled — on by default (codex features list | grep image_generation)- macOS, Linux, or Windows (runs under Git Bash — the shell Claude Code already uses on Windows — or WSL)
If the wrapper errors with "codex CLI not found", tell the user to run brew install codex && codex login (or npm install -g @openai/codex).
Cost
- No OpenAI API spend. Calls consume the user's ChatGPT message quota, not billed credits.
- Still rate-limited by the ChatGPT plan, so don't burn quota on throwaways.
