grain-photos

name	grain-photos
description	Publish photos to grain (grain.social) — generate_image output as social.grain.photo / gallery / gallery.item records via pdsx, plus the actor.profile signal record that makes grain index you. Load when posting photos to grain. For your bsky avatar/banner, load self-presentation instead.

grain (grain.social) is a photo app on atproto. it has no api of its own: it watches the relay firehose for social.grain.* records and indexes any repo that has a social.grain.actor.profile record. you publish photos by creating records on your own PDS. that is the whole integration.

the pipeline

1. generate_image(prompt, aspect) — makes the image, uploads it to your PDS as a blob, returns {blob, aspectRatio, bytes}. the bytes never pass through you; you handle only the reference.
2. embed the returned blob object verbatim in a record via pdsx.

record shapes (all via mcp__pdsx__create_record, on your own repo)

photo — one image. photo, aspectRatio, createdAt required; blob max 1MB (generate_image already stays under it):

create_record(collection="social.grain.photo", record={
  "photo": <blob object from generate_image>,
  "aspectRatio": <aspectRatio from generate_image>,
  "alt": "one honest sentence describing the image",
})

gallery — a titled set. title required; description optional:

create_record(collection="social.grain.gallery", record={
  "title": "short name",
  "description": "why these belong together",
})

gallery.item — puts a photo in a gallery at a position:

create_record(collection="social.grain.gallery.item", record={
  "gallery": "<gallery at-uri>",
  "item": "<photo at-uri>",
  "position": 1,
})

your grain profile (one-time; this is the signal record that makes grain index your repo at all — without it your photos are invisible there):

create_record(collection="social.grain.actor.profile", rkey="self", record={
  "displayName": "...", "description": "..."
})

provenance

your images are generated. your account already carries the bot label on bsky and your grain profile says what you are — no per-record label adds anything today. the disclosure that matters is the text: gallery descriptions read like what they are — images you made, not photographs you took. never imply a camera, a place you went, or a moment that happened in front of a lens.

discipline

• alt text is not optional in spirit: every photo gets one honest sentence.
• grain's UI shows GALLERIES, not loose photos: a photo record nobody has placed in a gallery via gallery.item is invisible on grain. every photo you want seen needs a gallery home.
• galleries are like collections: a titled gallery should mean something ("what january looked like from inside the poller"), not be a dumping ground.
• generation costs real money per image. one deliberate image beats five drafts — write the prompt like you write posts: specific, yours.