gpt-image-2

GPT Image 2 — Interactive Image Generation

Generate and edit images via OpenAI's GPT Image 2 API with an interactive, guided workflow.

Interactive Flow

When the user invokes this skill, guide them through these steps using AskUserQuestion. Do not skip steps — the interactive flow is the core experience.

Step 1: What are we making?

Ask the user what they want to create. Offer these options:

• Single image — one image from a text prompt
• Photo edit — transform an existing photo into a style
• Carousel — 5-10 cohesive slides for LinkedIn/Instagram
• Variants — multiple versions of the same concept
• Quick generate — skip questions, just run the prompt

If the user already provided a clear prompt (e.g. "generate an editorial image of a rocket"), skip to Step 3.

Step 2: Style selection

Show the user available presets grouped by category. Read presets.yaml and present them:

Visual styles (no text in image): editorial, blueprint, ink, risograph, wireframe, constellation, brutalist, grain

Text-heavy (leverages GPT Image 2 text rendering): infographic, slide, diagram, poster, menu, manga

Community favorites: trading-card, pixar, app-mockup, isometric, action-figure, cinematic, panorama

Reference-anchored: vhs — 1980s late-night infomercial title card: scanline-striped gradient italic caps on pure black. It auto-attaches a bundled reference image (references/vhs-infomercial.png), so the look stays consistent batch-to-batch. Pass the ad copy as the subject; for multi-line copy separate lines with / (e.g. --preset vhs "THEY TRUSTED YOU / NOW / PROVE IT").

Custom — user describes their own style

Ask: "Which style? Or describe your own."

Step 3: Platform & sizing

Ask where this will be used:

• YouTube thumbnail (1280×720)
• Instagram square (1080×1080)
• Slides/presentation (1920×1080)
• Blog hero (1200×630)
• X/Twitter (1600×900)
• Story (1080×1920)
• Custom size
• No resize (use API default)

Aspect-ratio caveat: --platform does NOT change the generation size — it generates at the configured size (default 1024×1024) and resizes/stretches afterwards, which distorts non-square targets (e.g. --platform story stretches a square to 1080×1920, cropping the composition's edges). For portrait or landscape compositions, pass the API-native size directly: --size 1024x1536 (portrait) or --size 1536x1024 (landscape).

Preflight false positives: the background-conflict heuristic trips on color words applied to non-background elements (e.g. "off-white text" in a dark-background prompt reads as a second background). If the flagged conflict is spurious, re-run with --force, or rephrase ("pale gray text").

Step 3.5: Preflight prompt check (automatic)

Before any generation spend, the script now composes the final prompt first (preset + subject + style), then checks it for internal contradictions — most often a preset that hard-codes something the subject overrides (e.g. the editorial preset forces "on pure black background" while your subject asks for a warm off-white ground).

The check prefers a fast Haiku call via the llm CLI; if Haiku is unavailable (no llm, no Anthropic credit) it falls back to the configured llm default model, then to a built-in static heuristic. The resolved prompt and the verdict are printed. If a conflict is found, generation is aborted before spending — fix the prompt or preset and re-run, or override with --force (generate anyway) or --no-preflight (skip the check). This is what prevents the "generated on the wrong background, now regenerate" waste.

When composing prompts that set a background/palette, don't combine a background-fixing preset (editorial, blueprint, etc.) with a different requested background — either drop the preset and specify the full style yourself, or accept the preset's background.

Step 4: Draft first, then final

Always generate a draft first unless the user says "skip draft" or uses --draft false.

1. Generate with --draft (quality=low, ~$0.006/image)
2. Show the image to the user using the Read tool
3. Ask: "Like this direction? I can: (a) generate final quality, (b) adjust the prompt, (c) try a different style, (d) regenerate with a new seed"
4. If approved, generate final with --quality high (~$0.21/image)
5. Use --seed from the draft to maintain composition when upgrading to final

This draft→final flow saves ~97% on iteration costs.

Step 5: Show result and offer next actions

After generation, always:

1. Show the image using the Read tool
2. Open it with open <path> for full-resolution preview
3. Report the cost
4. Offer: "Want to (a) generate variants, (b) edit this further, (c) use as reference for more images, (d) done?"

Carousel Workflow

When the user wants a carousel (5-10 slides):

1. Story arc

Ask: "What's the story? Give me the key message and I'll draft a 10-slide arc."

Then propose a slide-by-slide plan like:

Slide 1: [Cover] — hook headline + hero image
Slide 2: [Problem] — bold statement
Slide 3: [Context] — illustration + explanation
...
Slide 10: [CTA] — call to action with URL

Ask the user to approve or modify the plan.

2. Style consistency

Use the same preset + seed range across all slides. For carousels:

• Pick one visual style for all slides
• Use --seed to lock composition patterns
• Include pagination dots in prompts (e.g., "10 small dots at bottom, third dot highlighted orange")
• Maintain consistent color palette and typography

3. Draft batch

Generate all slides as drafts first ($0.006 × 10 = $0.06 total). Show them all to the user as a contact sheet or one by one. Ask which ones to regenerate or adjust.

4. Final batch

Only generate finals for approved slides. Offer to generate all at once with -y flag.

Photo Edit Workflow

When the user wants to transform a photo:

1. Ask for the source image (file path or clipboard)
2. For clipboard: save with osascript to a temp file
3. Show available styles and ask which to try
4. Generate a draft edit first
5. Show result, ask if they want adjustments
6. Generate final when approved

Use --edit <path> for the API call.

Cost Awareness

Always communicate costs before generating:

Quality	Per image	10-slide carousel
--draft (low)	$0.006	$0.06
medium	$0.05	$0.50
high (default)	$0.21	$2.10
high + thinking	$0.25-0.42	$2.50-4.20

Thinking mode adds 20-100% cost. Only suggest it for text-heavy or complex compositions.

The script auto-confirms when cost < $0.50. Above that, it prompts the user.

Prompt Engineering Tips

When helping users write prompts, apply these patterns:

1. Structure: Scene → Subject → Detail → Lighting → Constraint
2. Front-load the subject: put the main thing first
3. For text in images: quote exact text with single quotes: 'with the headline "Hello World"'
4. Character consistency: maintain a 5-tuple: age + appearance + hairstyle + distinctive features + clothing
5. Style tags at end: append tags like editorial-magazine, studio-product to converge batches
6. Use --seed for iteration: lock composition, vary only the prompt details

CLI Reference

# Basic generation
scripts/gpt_image_2.py "prompt" output.png

# With preset and platform
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --preset editorial --platform square "subject" out.png

# Draft mode (~$0.006/image)
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --draft "prompt" out.png

# With thinking for complex layouts
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --thinking medium --preset diagram "OAuth flow" out.png

# Seed for reproducibility
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --seed 42 "prompt" out.png

# Edit existing photo
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --edit photo.png "transform into constellation style" out.png

# Reference-anchored preset (auto-attaches its bundled reference image)
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --preset vhs --platform youtube "THEY TRUSTED YOU / NOW / PROVE IT" ad.png

# Variants with contact sheet
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --n 4 --preset ink "mountain" out.png

# Cost estimate
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --estimate --n 10 --quality high "batch test"

# Skip confirmation
scripts/gpt_image_2.py -y --n 10 "batch" out.png

# Dry run (show prompt without API call)
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --dry-run --preset editorial "test" out.png

# Preflight runs automatically before spend; override if needed
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --force "prompt with a known conflict" out.png    # generate anyway
scripts/gpt_image_2.py --no-preflight "prompt" out.png                   # skip the check

Files

• scripts/gpt_image_2.py — main CLI (Python, requires PyYAML)
• presets.yaml — style presets (visual + text-heavy + community + reference-anchored). A preset may declare a reference: path (relative to the skill dir); it auto-attaches as a style anchor unless the user passes their own --reference. See the vhs preset.
• platforms.yaml — 8 platform sizing presets
• references/api_reference.md — full API documentation
• references/vhs-infomercial.png — bundled style anchor for the vhs preset
• ~/.config/gpt-image-2/config.yaml — user defaults
• ~/.config/gpt-image-2/history.jsonl — generation log
• ~/.config/gpt-image-2/last.json — last run (for again)