eikon-create

name	eikon-create
description	Interactively generate source images (and optionally short videos) for a herm eikon avatar, iterate on them with the user, and land them under ~/.hermes/eikons/<name>/source/ so the Eikon Studio tab can tune and bake them. This is the agent-driven counterpart to Studio's one-shot Generate dialog.
tags	["eikon","avatar","image-gen","herm"]
related_skills	["eikon"]

/eikon-create — generate eikon source files interactively

You are producing source files, not the packed .eikon. Studio owns crop, tone (contrast/invert/flip), rasterizer choice, and baking. Your deliverable is one or more images/videos under

~/.hermes/eikons/<name>/source/

named so Studio resolves them: base.* for the default pose, <state>.* for per-state overrides (idle listening thinking speaking working error). Extensions: png jpg jpeg webp gif bmp mp4 webm mov mkv.

What survives rasterization

Output is 48×24, one theme color, braille/block glyphs. The one-line brief (say once, don't repeat):

48×24, one color. Best results: light subject on black background, high contrast, strong silhouette.

Outline carries everything — facial detail, fine texture, and tonal gradients mostly vanish.

What Studio fixes for you (don't regenerate for these)

Studio adjusts these live on any source without a new generation:

• Aspect / framing — Studio crops to a square window; zoom + pan pick which square. A 16:9 or portrait source is fine.
• Contrast — slider, mean-centered. Flat or over-bright sources are usually salvageable.
• Invert — light↔dark swap. A dark-subject-on-light source works with invert off.
• Flip — horizontal/vertical mirror.

So: regenerate for subject, pose, silhouette, background clutter. Don't regenerate for crop, exposure, polarity, orientation.

Flow

0. Name

If the user passed an argument (/eikon-create <name>), slug it (lowercase, [^a-z0-9-] → -, collapse runs, trim). Otherwise ask once. Make the folder immediately so Studio's Open picker lists it:

n="<slug>"; mkdir -p "${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/eikons/$n/source"

1. Subject

Ask what the eikon is. One line is enough. If they drop an image instead of describing one, skip to §3 adopt-only.

2. Generate base

Call image_generate with the subject on line 1 and the fixed suffix on line 2 — same suffix Studio seeds:

<subject>, close-up portrait emphasizing the face/head, looking slightly left, stark black and white, bold silhouette, simple uncluttered shape
high contrast, light subject on dark, black background

Keep this general: replace face/head with the subject's most readable feature if it is not a character or creature. Prefer square if the tool takes aspect_ratio; if it doesn't, don't worry — Studio crops. Show the result inline with ![base](<path>) and a 48-wide terminal preview:

chafa --size=48x24 --symbols=braille --colors=none --format=symbols --stretch "<path>" 2>/dev/null || true

Ask: keep, regenerate, or adjust? On adjust, fold their note into the subject line (leave the suffix alone). Loop. Always overwrite the same <state>.<ext> in source/ on every iteration — Studio reads that path live, so a new candidate that lives only in cache is invisible to the user. If two rounds fail on background clutter, silently append , isolated on pure black, no floor, no environment and try again.

3. Adopt

src="<path-or-downloaded-tmp>"
dst="${HERMES_HOME:-$HOME/.hermes}/eikons/$n/source/base.${src##*.}"
cp "$src" "$dst" && ls -l "$dst"

URL return → curl -fsSL -o /tmp/<n>-base.png "<url>" first. Ambiguous extension → .png.

4. Per-state sources (optional)

Base covers all six states by default. If the user wants distinct ones, repeat §2–3 per state, saving as <state>.<ext>. Nudge the subject line with pose intent:

state	pose nudge
listening	head turned slightly toward viewer
thinking	head tilted back, contemplative
speaking	mouth open mid-word
working	head bowed forward
error	recoiling, startled

5. Video (optional, only if asked)

Use video_generate if available. What matters for an eikon source:

• Duration — 2–4 s is the useful range. Longer just inflates the bake. If the provider picks duration itself, accept whatever lands.
• Aspect — prefer 1:1 if the provider exposes it; otherwise any, Studio crops.
• Resolution — low is fine; the target is 48×24. Don't ask for HD if the provider lets you pick.
• Start/end frame — if the provider accepts a start (and/or end) image, pass base.* so the clip anchors on the still pose and loops cleanly. If it only takes text, that's fine — Studio plays whatever frames it gets.
• Loop — nice-to-have, not required. If the provider has a loop or seamless flag, set it; if not, don't chase it with prompting.

Providers vary in which of these knobs exist. Pass what the tool accepts, skip what it doesn't, and don't apologize for the gaps. None of them block a usable eikon.

Adopt as <state>.mp4 (or base.mp4 for an animated idle).

6. Hand off

Once source files are in place:

Open the Eikon tab → eikon row → . Tune zoom / contrast / invert / symbols there, then Ctrl+S to bake.

Stop there. Studio writes <name>.eikon and studio.json.

Don'ts

• Don't write .eikon or studio.json.
• Don't pick contrast, invert, zoom, or rasterizer values — name the knob, the user turns it in Studio.
• Don't regenerate for things Studio can fix (see table above).
• Don't enumerate provider capabilities to the user; just use what's there.
• Don't repeat the 48×24 brief.