| name | ai-image-editing |
| description | The AI image-editing router — inpainting/object removal, background removal, upscaling, outpainting, old-photo restoration, and retouch, routed task-first to the right engine. Use when someone wants to remove an object/person from a photo, cut out backgrounds, upscale an image, extend an image to new aspect ratios, restore an old photo, fix a generated image, or asks which editing tool to use. Uses the TOUCH framework. Reads brand-profile + design-and-templates first. The agent names the task, routes to the right engine, writes the spec, and can call APIs where connected; the HUMAN judges every result at 100%; WoopSocial publishes. Honesty spine: an edited real photo is an edited claim — creative upscalers hallucinate detail (never on products/documents), no defect concealment, body-retouch disclosure honored, no watermark/provenance stripping. Distinct from image-prompt/flux/nano-banana (generation), canva (the design workflow), and before-after-and-transformation (the claim rules). |
| version | 1.0.0 |
ai-image-editing
The edit router — name the task, route the engine, one change at a time, uphold the real, check the seams,
hand off with rights. The agent routes + specs; the human judges every result at 100%; WoopSocial
publishes. (Ships with tools/integrations/ai-image-editing.md.)
The POV: fix the 5%, keep the 95% — and remember an edited photo is an edited claim
Editing's promise is surgical: the 2026 engines removed the old excuses (background removal now handles hair and
glass; inpainting understands scene light; expand extends convincingly). The top-1% operator holds three lines
the tool marketing won't. (1) The upscaler split is an honesty split: faithful upscalers (Topaz-class)
preserve what's there; creative upscalers (Magnific-class) hallucinate convincing detail that wasn't in the
original — spectacular for art, a fake-product-photo generator for commerce (invented stitching on a bag = a
false claim, not sharpening). In-image text gets mangled — re-typeset it; no upscaler beats a reshoot.
(2) Editing real photos crosses into misrepresentation faster than generating: defect concealment fails the
FTC net-impression standard, undisclosed body retouching is label-required by law in several markets
(France, Norway including influencers, Israel), and chained face enhancement can drift a real person's identity
— the person who knew them judges likeness. (3) Route by task, not brand loyalty: raw complex-mask quality
lives in FLUX Kontext/Fill; indemnified client work lives in Firefly (the only major engine trained
exclusively on licensed content); quick fixes stay in Canva; product batches go to dedicated pipelines.
Read these first
- brand-profile + design-and-templates — the system the edited image must still fit.
- before-after-and-transformation — the claim rules for any results/comparison imagery.
The framework: TOUCH
(Depth: references/the-touch-framework.md.)
- T — Task first, tool second: name the job (remove/replace/erase-bg/extend/upscale/restore/restyle), then
route it — the task defines the tool, never the reverse.
- O — One change at a time: small precise masks; chained small edits; re-check coherence every few steps;
upscale low-res sources BEFORE inpainting; preserve the 95%.
- U — Uphold the real: faithful mode for products/documents; no defect concealment; retouch-disclosure laws;
conservative face work; consent; no watermark/provenance stripping; hallucination belongs to art.
- C — Check the seams: 100% zoom, always — edges/halos, light + shadow direction, perspective, faces,
in-image text, batch consistency, identity drift.
- H — Hand off with rights: source license + engine terms (Firefly indemnification vs FLUX
outputs-vs-service) + disclosure labels; master as PNG/TIFF → WoopSocial.
The reality (verify-quarterly)
2026 editing: background removal handles hair/glass (e-commerce dropped manual masking); FLUX Kontext/Fill
leads raw inpainting on complex masks (a selectable partner model in Photoshop Beta's Generative Fill); Firefly = licensed-training
- IP indemnification (the agency routing fact); Canva Magic tools for in-workflow fixes; Claid-class owns
product batches. Upscalers: Topaz-class faithful (local processing, face recovery) vs Magnific-class
creative ("hallucinates detail that wasn't visible in the original"; Freepik rebranded to Magnific, Apr
2026). Craft constants: quality tracks the source; small masks beat large; text through an upscaler becomes
gibberish (re-typeset); masters as PNG/TIFF; reshoot beats repair. Disclosure layer: FTC net-impression;
France/Norway/Israel retouch labels; EU AI Act; provenance intact. "The editing lane still rewards judgment
over blind automation." Attribute all; verify-quarterly. Full detail:
references/ai-image-editing-2026-reality.md; the task→engine router, chain, QA card, and worked examples:
references/task-router-and-templates.md.
Honest scope (never violate)
- The agent names the task, routes the engine, writes the spec (masks/prompts/settings/chain order), and
calls APIs where connected (exact human steps otherwise); the human judges every result at 100% (no
fabricated "the seams are clean"; the person who knew them judges a restored face); WoopSocial publishes
the finished images — it does not edit, upscale, or remove backgrounds.
- The honesty spine: an edited real photo is an edited claim — no defect concealment, faithful upscaling for
accuracy-critical images, retouch-disclosure laws honored (verify per market), conservative face work,
consent for others' images, no watermark removal or provenance stripping, AI-disclosure where required,
source licenses confirmed. Never fabricate engine capabilities, benchmarks, or terms — test on your own
images; counsel for high-stakes claims. (Full scope:
references/scope-and-connections.md.)
Distinct from its siblings (route correctly)
ai-image-editing (this) = editing images that exist (the router) · image-prompt / flux / nano-banana /
ideogram / nano-banana = generation (FLUX Kontext + nano-banana serve both lanes — this routes their editing
use; their skills own the tools) · canva = the design workflow (Magic tools = the quick-fix lane) ·
infographic-and-data-viz / quote-cards-and-text-graphics = graphics built from scratch ·
before-after-and-transformation = the FTC rules any edited "result" must meet · capcut / ai-video =
motion (video cleanup routes there).
Where this connects
Reads first: brand-profile + design-and-templates + before-after-and-transformation (results
imagery). Pulls sources from: real photography, flux/the generators (fixing generated images is half the
2026 workload), archives (restoration). Feeds: canva (edited assets into layouts), thumbnail-design /
carousel-writer / pinterest-pin-design, the platform publishing skills. Publishes via: master +
derivatives → scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial. Tool file: tools/integrations/ai-image-editing.md.
Measure with: human-judged fidelity + analytics-and-reporting — never fabricated.
Definition of done
An edit routed task-first (the job named precisely, the engine chosen for it — complex masks to Kontext/Fill,
indemnified client work to Firefly, quick fixes in-workflow, product batches to dedicated pipelines, faithful
upscaling for real photos and creative only for art), executed one change at a time from the best source
(upscale-before-inpaint on low-res; the canonical chain ordered repairs → edits → upscale → PNG/TIFF master →
derivatives), held to the honesty spine (no hallucinated product detail, no defect concealment, retouch labels
where law requires, conservative identity-safe face work, consent, watermarks and provenance intact,
AI-disclosure where required), seam-checked at 100% (edges, light, perspective, faces, text, batch consistency),
and handed off with rights confirmed; the human judging every result and WoopSocial publishing the finished
image; no fabricated capabilities or benchmarks; and correctly distinguished from the generation skills,
canva, and before-after-and-transformation.
