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:

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.
Slash command:
```
/imgify Explain this diagram
```
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

imgify-pi

Signals