imgify (pi extension)

Convert a written prompt/message into an image and send that image to the chat model. The chat model must be vision-capable (image in its input types) to actually "see" the image.

The image is generated locally — the prompt text is rendered onto a PNG with no AI image model and no API key. (The only AI model in the loop is the chat model that receives the image.)

Install

As a published pi package (recommended):

pi install npm:imgify-pi

From this repo (local development):

cd pi
npm install          # pulls @napi-rs/canvas for local text rendering

# register it as a project-local package (writes .pi/settings.json -> packages)
pi install ./pi -l

This repo's .pi/settings.json already lists ../pi under packages, so running pi in the repo root loads the extension automatically (after the project is trusted). After editing, run /reload (or restart pi) to pick up changes.

Alternative manual methods (also work):

# symlink/copy into the auto-discovered project-local extensions dir
ln -sfn ../../pi .pi/extensions/imgify
cp -r pi .pi/extensions/imgify

# or run it ad-hoc for one session
pi -e ./pi/index.ts

Usage

Three entry points:

1. Prefix trigger (input transform). With the default config, a message starting with imgify is converted and the image is attached to the message before the agent sees it:

   imgify Draw a cat wearing a hat
   

   Note: the trigger uses no @ because pi reserves @<path> for attaching files. Set IMAGIFY_TRIGGER=always to convert every message.

2. Slash command:

   /imgify Explain this diagram
   

3. Tool — the LLM can call imgify to generate an image and reason about it.

Configuration (environment variables)

Variable	Default	Meaning
IMAGIFY_TRIGGER	prefix	prefix or always
IMAGIFY_PREFIX	imgify	Trigger prefix in prefix mode
IMAGIFY_COMMAND	imgify	Slash command name
IMAGIFY_OUTPUT_DIR	<cwd>/.imgify	Where generated PNGs are also saved
IMAGIFY_RENDER_BG	#0d1117	Render background color
IMAGIFY_RENDER_FG	#e6edf3	Render text color
IMAGIFY_RENDER_FONT_SIZE	36	Render font size (px)
IMAGIFY_RENDER_PADDING	40	Render padding (px)
IMAGIFY_RENDER_MAX_WIDTH	900	Render canvas width (px)
IMAGIFY_RENDER_FONT_FAMILY	auto	Explicit font family (else auto-detected)

How images are generated

The prompt text is rendered onto a PNG locally using @napi-rs/canvas. No AI image model and no API key are required. A system font is auto-detected via fontconfig. The resulting image literally contains the prompt text, which a vision chat model can then read back.

Files

• index.ts — extension entry (input transform, command, tool)
• image-gen.ts — local text rendering
• config.ts — environment-based configuration