# Image generation

> An image generation card where four images resolve as a pixel mosaic, from coarse colour blocks to full detail under a soft shimmer, each with its own progress ring. Pick one to upscale with a sweeping pixel band, vary or download it, with real provider marks and a built-in simulation.

- Type: Component (special)
- Access: Arc Pro
- Page: https://uiarc.dev/components/image-generation
- Markdown: https://uiarc.dev/components/image-generation/markdown
- Source file: `registry/components/image-generation/image-generation.tsx`
- Dependencies: motion, lucide-react, @radix-ui/react-tooltip
- Keywords: special, ai, new, image generation, text to image, ai image, diffusion, prompt, upscale, variations, image grid, generate images, aspect ratio, progress ring, pixel mosaic, pixel reveal

## When to use

- A text to image feature inside a product: marketing asset tools, listing photo helpers, slide or doc illustration.
- Any flow where people compare a few candidates and continue with one (upscale, vary, download).
- Prototyping an image model integration before the backend exists, using the built in simulation.

## When not to use

- A full canvas editor with layers, masks and inpainting; build on a canvas library instead.
- Drawing a sketch to turn into an image; use sketch-to-image.
- Showing a single image with a loading state and no generation controls; use blur-image.

## Installation

Image generation is part of Arc Pro. The live preview is public; the source and install command need Pro.

### CLI with a Pro token

1. Create a token in your account and set it in the environment (or `.env.local`). Never commit it.

```bash
export ARC_PRO_TOKEN=arc_pro_...
```

2. Add the Pro registry to `components.json`:

```json
{
  "registries": {
    "@uiarc": "https://uiarc.dev/r/{name}.json",
    "@uiarc-pro": {
      "url": "https://uiarc.dev/r/pro/{name}.json",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${ARC_PRO_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

3. Install:

```bash
npx shadcn@latest add @uiarc-pro/image-generation
```

### Manual

Signed-in Pro members can copy the source from the Manual tab on the docs page.

- Plans: https://uiarc.dev/pricing
- Create a Pro token: https://uiarc.dev/account#pro-access
- Setup guide: https://uiarc.dev/docs/ai#pro-access

## Usage

```tsx
import { ImageGeneration } from "@/components/arc/image-generation/image-generation";

export function Studio() {
  return <ImageGeneration
    onGenerate={async (request, { signal, onProgress }) => {
      const job = await fetch("/api/images", {
        method: "POST",
        signal,
        body: JSON.stringify({ prompt: request.prompt, model: request.model.id, size: `${request.aspect.width}x${request.aspect.height}`, seedFrom: request.variationOf?.id }),
      }).then(response => response.json());
      onProgress(1);
      return { id: job.id, src: job.url, alt: request.prompt, width: request.aspect.width, height: request.aspect.height };
    }}
    onDownload={image => window.open(image.src)}
  />;
}
```

## API reference

### ImageGeneration

An image generation card: prompt, model and aspect chips, and a 2×2 grid where each image resolves as a pixel mosaic, from coarse colour blocks to full detail, under its own progress ring. Pick one to upscale (it expands to fill the grid), vary or download. With no props it runs a local simulation on sample photos.

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `prompt` | `string` | – | Controlled prompt. Pair with onPromptChange. |
| `defaultPrompt` | `string` | `sample golden hour landscape prompt` | Starting prompt when uncontrolled. |
| `onPromptChange` | `(prompt: string) => void` | – | Fires as the person types or picks a suggestion. |
| `models` | `ImageGenerationModel[]` | `imageGenerationModels` | Models offered as chips: { id, name, mark? }. The chosen chip shows its name, the others collapse to their 16px mark with a tooltip. |
| `model` | `string` | – | Controlled model id. Pair with onModelChange. |
| `defaultModel` | `string` | `first model` | Starting model id when uncontrolled. |
| `onModelChange` | `(id: string) => void` | – | Fires when a model chip is chosen. |
| `aspectRatios` | `ImageGenerationAspect[]` | `1:1, 4:5, 16:9` | Output shapes: { id, label, width, height }. Width and height are the pixels a generation returns and drive the grid's shape. |
| `aspectRatio` | `string` | – | Controlled aspect id. Pair with onAspectRatioChange. |
| `defaultAspectRatio` | `string` | `first ratio` | Starting aspect id when uncontrolled. |
| `onAspectRatioChange` | `(id: string) => void` | – | Fires when an aspect chip is chosen. The new shape applies to the next generation; the current grid keeps its own. |
| `onGenerate` | `(request: ImageGenerationRequest, context: { signal: AbortSignal; onProgress(progress: number, preview?: string): void }) => Promise<ImageGenerationImage>` | `simulateImageGeneration` | Produces one image. Called once per tile, in parallel, for Generate, Vary (request.variationOf is set) and Retry. Report progress from 0 to 1, optionally with a preview URL that the pixel mosaic resolves from (without one, a quiet placeholder grid shimmers until the image arrives and fades in); without reports the ring estimates. Reject to mark that tile failed; the signal aborts on Stop. |
| `onUpscale` | `(image: ImageGenerationImage, context: ImageGenerationContext) => Promise<ImageGenerationImage>` | `simulateImageUpscale` | Upscales the chosen image while it is expanded. Return the new image with its width and height. |
| `onDownload` | `(image: ImageGenerationImage) => void` | – | Replaces the built in download, which saves image.src with a file name built from the prompt, index and size. |
| `onSelect` | `(image: ImageGenerationImage \| null) => void` | – | Fires when the person picks or clears an image, and with the upscaled image once an upscale finishes. |
| `suggestions` | `string[]` | `three sample prompts` | Prompts offered in the empty grid before the first generation. |
| `autoGenerate` | `boolean` | `true with the simulation, false with onGenerate` | Generates once when the card first scrolls into view, then picks image 1 if nobody has touched the card. |
| `placeholder` | `string` | `"Describe the image you want"` | Prompt placeholder. |
| `className` | `string` | – | Class on the card. |

### simulateImageGeneration

The built in generator, exported so you can wrap it in tests or demos. Picks sample photos that match the prompt and reports frame by frame progress over about two to three seconds. Nothing is sent anywhere.

No props.

## Keyboard interactions

| Keys | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Cmd/Ctrl + Enter | Generate from the prompt field. |
| Arrow keys | Move between model chips or aspect chips (radio groups), and between images in the grid. |
| Enter / Space | Pick or clear the focused image. |
| Escape | Close the expanded image and return to the grid. |
| Tab | Prompt, model, aspect, Generate, the selected image, then Upscale, Vary and Download. |

## Accessibility

- Model and aspect chips are radio groups with a roving tab stop; collapsed model chips keep their name as the accessible label and in a tooltip.
- Each finished image is a toggle button with aria-pressed and the image description; running, failed and stopped tiles announce their state.
- A polite live region reports starts, finishes, failures, upscales and downloads, and says when results are simulated.
- Status is never color alone: failures pair a danger icon with "Failed", stops a square icon with "Stopped", selection an accent ring with a check badge.
- While an image is expanded the grid behind it is inert, so focus cannot land on hidden tiles.

## Motion

- Each tile is a pixel mosaic on a canvas: coarse 4 column colour blocks fade in from the centre in a seeded order, then each step doubles the grid (8, 16, 32, 64 columns) with finer blocks landing exactly on coarser ones, and the last step crossfades to the full image. One progress motion value per tile drives the mosaic, the ring and the percentage, so nothing re-renders per frame.
- While a tile runs, a soft light band sweeps diagonally across the unresolved blocks, quantised to the resolving grid; it fades out as detail arrives and its loop pauses off screen.
- The real <img> takes over on top of an identical final frame, so the hand off never flashes. Done tiles zoom 2% on hover and press to 98.5%.
- Upscale sweeps a narrow band of crisp pixels left to right across the expanded image: soft ahead of it, sharp behind it, all masked from one motion value.
- Button labels that change (Generate and Stop, Upscale, Upscaling, Upscaled, Download and Saved) are stacked in one cell and crossfade, so no button changes width.
- Upscale grows the chosen tile from its cell to the full grid with a bounce-free 240ms spring on position and size; the other tiles fade out. Closing reverses it.
- The grid springs to a new aspect ratio; a container resize cuts straight to the new size so nothing wobbles.
- Footer status lines crossfade (100ms out, 160ms in, 2px rise); the chosen model chip springs its name open by measured width.
- Reduced motion keeps the progress ring, the stepped mosaic (driven by progress, not time) and final states, and drops the shimmer loop, the upscale sweep, hover zoom and the expand travel.

## Responsive behavior

- The card fills its container up to 640px. Chips and Generate wrap into two rows below about 420px.
- The grid keeps the batch's aspect ratio and caps its height at 420px, so portrait shapes stay compact on desktop.
- Below 520px of card width the footer stacks: status on top, three equal action buttons below.

## Performance

- Progress is written straight to motion values and the DOM; React re-renders only on state changes (preview arrives, tile finishes).
- Mosaic levels are built once per image and tile size by halving the previous level, so every block is a true average; a frame is one scaled draw plus at most about 1,300 block draws per tile.
- The canvas loop runs only while a tile is generating and on screen; settled tiles draw once and stop.

## Notes for AI

- Wire onGenerate to your image API; it runs once per tile, so a provider that returns four images per call can be wrapped by caching one request and resolving each index from it.
- Use request.variationOf to pass a seed or reference image for Vary. Return width and height so the footer and file names show the real size.
- Keep model names to what your backend actually serves; the defaults are generic product names with provider marks.
- Pair with a gallery or asset picker by listening to onSelect; the component holds only the current batch.

## Related

- [Sketch to image](https://uiarc.dev/components/sketch-to-image/markdown): An image generation visual that paints the way an artist does. Pencil strokes sketch the scene, a round brush blocks in flat colors region by region, grain and warm light refine it, and it resolves into the finished photo, with crossfading stage labels and a thin progress line.
- [Model picker](https://uiarc.dev/components/blocks/model-picker/markdown): A model picker in one quiet pill: open it to choose from featured models with a one line note each, set the reasoning effort, or browse every other model by provider, and the pill swaps to your choice in place.
- [AI composer](https://uiarc.dev/components/blocks/ai-composer/markdown): The prompt box at the bottom of an AI app: files upload in place, / opens commands, @ inserts mentions, a model and effort menu sits in the toolbar, and the send button turns into a stop control ringed by the reply's progress.
- [Text shimmer](https://uiarc.dev/components/text-shimmer/markdown): Show ongoing work with a calm light across the words.

## Also in ai

- [Agent status](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-status/markdown): A compact live status pill for a running AI agent: the agent's mark in a live ring, the current activity and an elapsed timer, opening into the steps so far.
- [Tool call](https://uiarc.dev/components/tool-call/markdown): A tool call row for agent transcripts: the tool's mark and the call in plain words, a live state while it runs, and the input and output a click away, with approval and retry when needed.
- [Agent plan](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-plan/markdown): The plan an agent writes before it acts: edit, reorder or add steps while it is a draft, then watch it work through them as a live checklist.
- [Agent timeline](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-timeline/markdown): A compact timeline of one orchestrated agent run: the orchestrator and its subagents share a time axis, handoffs draw in between rows, and a playhead replays thinking, tool calls and waiting while the header counts time, tokens and cost. Hover a span for what it did, or click it to trace its handoff path.
- [Context window](https://uiarc.dev/components/context-window/markdown): An AI context window as a grid of 200 cells: the system prompt, tools, files, summary and messages fill it in order, a threshold row marks where compaction starts, and sending a message, attaching a file or compacting shows exactly how much still fits.
- [Reasoning block](https://uiarc.dev/components/reasoning-block/markdown): The collapsible thinking block of an AI reply. While the model thinks, a shimmering label counts the seconds and the latest reasoning streams underneath. When it finishes, it folds to "Thought for 7s" and opens to show the full reasoning as calm steps with headings.
- [Source cards](https://uiarc.dev/components/source-cards/markdown): A row of cited sources under an AI answer where cards stream in with real site marks while the model searches, the overflow collapses into a stack of favicons, hovering lifts a preview with the passage, and an inline [n] citation highlights its card.
- [Model card](https://uiarc.dev/components/model-card/markdown): A model details card where switching models rolls every price, limit and score in place, a token slider estimates monthly cost live, and benchmark bars show each model's rank on hover. Compare crossfades to a side-by-side table against any rival with the better values marked, and the card never changes size.
- [AI workflow](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-workflow/markdown): A Linear-style AI workflow card where a Gmail trigger, a Claude step, a branch and Slack and Linear actions sit on one hairline rail, and a test run glides down it, opening each step's output inline. Steps are added from a compact command menu with real app marks.
- [Code suggestion](https://uiarc.dev/components/code-suggestion/markdown): An AI code edit suggestion where the model's proposed changes stream into a small editor panel as inline diff hunks, and you accept or reject each one, or all at once with Cmd+Enter. Accepted hunks fold into the file with a smooth height change.
- [Ghost text](https://uiarc.dev/components/ghost-text/markdown): An inline AI autocomplete where muted ghost text continues your sentence exactly at the caret and Tab turns it solid in place. Cmd+Right takes it one word at a time, Escape fades it away, and a calm chip shows the model behind it.
- [Dictation button](https://uiarc.dev/components/dictation-button/markdown): A chat composer with voice input, where the mic springs into a recording pill with a smooth live waveform, a timer, and cancel and insert buttons. Words stream into the field as you speak, muted until the recognizer settles them.
- [Speech player](https://uiarc.dev/components/speech-player/markdown): A read-aloud player for AI replies. The Read aloud button in the message's action row turns into a compact player with play, a scrubbable progress bar, speed and a voice picker, and a highlight follows the spoken word through the reply, karaoke style.
- [Meeting summary](https://uiarc.dev/components/meeting-summary/markdown): An AI meeting notes card: the header shows the Google Meet or Zoom mark, the attendees and the duration. Summary, Decisions and Action items stream in after a short summarizing pass. Hover any line to see the transcript quote it came from, then check off action items or send them to Linear or Notion.
- [Reply draft](https://uiarc.dev/components/reply-draft/markdown): An AI email reply drafter where Claude streams a reply under a received Gmail message. Quick replies steer a fresh draft, tone and length rewrite it with a single crossfade, and you can edit the finished draft before you insert it.
- [Agent handoff](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-handoff/markdown): A support conversation where an AI assistant hands off to a person. When it transfers, a card shows the summary it passes to the team and the typical wait. The person then joins and takes over, and a thin timeline on the left marks each step.
- [PII redaction](https://uiarc.dev/components/pii-redaction/markdown): A guardrail card where personal data is redacted before the prompt reaches the model. Scan marks each name, email, phone number and card with its type and swaps it for a placeholder like [EMAIL_1]. The safe prompt travels to Claude, and the reply comes back with the original values put back for the person.
- [Response feedback](https://uiarc.dev/components/response-feedback/markdown): A feedback control for AI replies where thumbs down opens an inline panel with reason chips and an optional note, thumbs up fills and asks what was good, and a submit shows a short thank-you before folding back into the row.
- [LLM cost calculator](https://uiarc.dev/components/llm-cost-calculator/markdown): A pricing calculator for LLM workloads. Set tokens per request, requests per day and prompt caching, and eight current models re-rank by monthly cost. Bars glide and prices roll as you drag.
- [Provider keys](https://uiarc.dev/components/provider-keys/markdown): A settings card for bring-your-own-key AI products. Each provider row shows its real mark, the masked key, a status and when the key was last used. You can reveal a key for five seconds, copy, rotate or remove it with undo. Adding or rotating a key opens an inline form that checks the format as you type, then tests the connection before saving.
- [Generation stats](https://uiarc.dev/components/generation-stats/markdown): A live stats strip for a streaming LLM response where time to first token, speed with a sparkline, output tokens and cost count up in tabular numerals beside the model's real mark, then settle and open into a latency and token cost breakdown.
- [AI translate](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-translate/markdown): A message card where picking a language streams the AI translation in place, sentence by sentence over the dimmed original, with a detected-language chip, a Show original toggle and a status line credited to the model's mark.
- [TL;DR toggle](https://uiarc.dev/components/tldr-toggle/markdown): An article card with a Full, Summary and Key points switch and a length slider. Switching streams an AI summary in place of the article as the card's height springs to fit, and each key point links back to the paragraph it came from, which gets scrolled to and highlighted.
- [Connector setup](https://uiarc.dev/components/connector-setup/markdown): A "Connect your tools" card for an AI assistant. Each app connects inline: it redirects, authorizes and runs a first sync with a progress hairline, then lists the scopes it was granted and offers Disconnect with an inline confirm.
- [Smart form fill](https://uiarc.dev/components/smart-form-fill/markdown): A paste-to-fill form card where AI reads an email signature or messy notes and fills a contact field by field. Each value flashes in with a confidence dot, its source lights up in the pasted text, low-confidence guesses ask for review, and Undo puts the old values back.
- [Enrich column](https://uiarc.dev/components/enrich-column/markdown): An AI enrichment column for a data table, where one prompt runs down every row and each cell shimmers while it works, then settles into a value with its source or a failure you can retry.
- [Ticket router](https://uiarc.dev/components/ticket-router/markdown): A support ticket router where messages from Gmail, Intercom, Slack and Zendesk come in one at a time. An AI classifier labels each one with intent, sentiment and confidence, and the ticket moves into a team lane with an assignee. Low confidence tickets wait in a review lane, and one click there routes them to the suggested team.
- [Ask your data](https://uiarc.dev/components/ask-your-data/markdown): A natural language to chart card: you ask a question, PostgreSQL streams into a collapsible, syntax highlighted panel, the query runs with a rolling row count, and the answer builds as stacked bars, lines or a table, with a one line insight streamed in underneath.
- [Agent cursor](https://uiarc.dev/components/agent-cursor/markdown): A live document where Claude edits like a collaborator. Its labeled cursor comes out of its avatar, selects a paragraph and streams in a rewrite, adds a heading and fixes a typo, while a teammate's cursor reads along. Changes stay tinted until someone accepts or undoes them from a floating review bar.
- [Provider status](https://uiarc.dev/components/provider-status/markdown): A status card for the AI providers your product depends on. Each row shows the provider's real mark, its health as an icon and label, p50 latency and a 30-day uptime bar with a tooltip for each day. An incident row expands into its timeline of updates, and the card checks again on a visible countdown.
- [Training run](https://uiarc.dev/components/training-run/markdown): A fine-tuning job card where a live train and validation loss curve draws across a fixed step axis that doubles as the epoch progress bar. It shows the learning rate, elapsed time, ETA and the latest evals and checkpoints, has Pause and Cancel while it runs, and ends in results with a Deploy button.
- [Design to code](https://uiarc.dev/components/design-to-code/markdown): A screenshot-to-code card. You drop a UI screenshot or import a Figma frame, a scan line finds its layout regions, then React and Tailwind stream in beside it, linked region by region, with a working live preview one tab away.
- [AI command](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-command/markdown): A Cmd+K command palette with an AI mode. Search pages and actions, or press Tab to ask a question: the answer streams inside the palette with numbered sources, and the next steps it suggests, like filing a Linear issue or opening a Notion doc, run straight from the list.
- [Starter prompts](https://uiarc.dev/components/starter-prompts/markdown): A greeting and a grid of starter cards for the empty state of an AI app. The cards are grouped into Write, Code, Analyze and Plan tabs, and a shuffle swaps them with a short staggered crossfade. Picking a card fills the composer, and cards that use a connected app show its mark (Gmail, GitHub, Notion, Linear, Google Calendar).
- [AI mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-mascot/markdown): A small assistant character, a soft pebble with pill eyes and a companion dot, that shows what the AI is doing. It breathes and glances when idle, leans in to listen, looks up while the dot orbits its head, reads along the line it writes, squints with a sparkle when done and shakes once with worried brows on an error.
- [Image reveal](https://uiarc.dev/components/image-reveal/markdown): An image generation canvas where a soft, blurred preview made from the image's own colors sharpens top to bottom behind a soft-edged band. It works the way ChatGPT, Midjourney and Gemini show images forming, with fine film grain, a translucent progress pill and calm queued and error states.
- [AI spark](https://uiarc.dev/components/ai-spark/markdown): A brand-quality animated spark mark. Four tapered rays and four lighter diagonals breathe at rest, ripple while thinking, pulse like a heartbeat while writing, then gather and settle when done. Every status change blends from the pose the mark is already in.
- [Building blocks](https://uiarc.dev/components/building-blocks/markdown): An animated "AI is building your app" visual where rounded blocks for a nav bar, cards, a chart, an avatar row and a button snap into a tiny app layout with no bounce. They land as tinted placeholders, fill with real looking content and pick up the accent in a styling pass, while the label steps from Laying out to Ready.
- [Pixel mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/pixel-mascot/markdown): A pixel-art robot that shows what an AI assistant is doing. It idles, thinks, types, celebrates and errors in frame-stepped sprite animations, and stays crisp at every integer size from 24px to 192px.
- [Ghost mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/ghost-mascot/markdown): A floating ghost mascot whose soft sheet ripples at the hem while it hovers. It blinks when idle, turns toward you to listen, fades a little translucent while thinking, draws a tiny pen line while writing, smiles with a sparkle when done and wobbles once on an error.
- [Cube mascot](https://uiarc.dev/components/cube-mascot/markdown): An isometric cube mascot where three shaded faces and a painted-on face show what the assistant is doing. It turns a quarter turn in eased steps while thinking, prints lines onto the floor while writing, settles with a sparkle when done, and shakes once on error.
- [Tone tuner](https://uiarc.dev/components/tone-tuner/markdown): A brand voice card where two sliders (formality and detail) and Friendly, Confident and Empathetic chips rewrite a customer reply. Each changed sentence crossfades in place, new words can be highlighted against the original, and Copy takes the current version.
- [Upgrade prompt](https://uiarc.dev/components/upgrade-prompt/markdown): An upgrade nudge for the moment someone hits a limit. It shows a usage meter at 50 of 50 AI credits, a rolling price with a monthly and yearly toggle, three concrete unlocks with real model marks, and Upgrade or Maybe later. Upgrading leads into a success state with the new limits, and the card never changes size between states.
- [Referral card](https://uiarc.dev/components/referral-card/markdown): A give-and-get referral card where people copy or share their invite link, invite friends by email as chips, and watch invites move from invited to signed up to earned, with the credit total counting up and a milestone reward unlocking.
- [Trial banner](https://uiarc.dev/components/trial-banner/markdown): A trial status banner where a ring counts down the days left, the copy names what the workspace loses, and the upgrade path is one click away. It comes as a slim banner, a sidebar card or a header pill. It shifts to a warning tone in the last days, has expired and upgraded states, and folds into the pill when dismissed or snoozed.
- [Team switcher](https://uiarc.dev/components/team-switcher/markdown): A workspace switcher like Linear, Vercel or Slack. The trigger shows the current workspace's logo and plan. The menu has search, your role in each workspace and a Cmd+1 to 9 shortcut for each, and lets you create or join a workspace inline. A highlight glides between rows, and switching crossfades the trigger through a short loading state.
- [Live visitors](https://uiarc.dev/components/live-visitors/markdown): A realtime visitors card where the live count rolls digit by digit, new arrivals ping in on a dotted world map, the top pages reorder with bars, and signups and upgrades tick in with country flags.
- [Social proof toast](https://uiarc.dev/components/social-proof-toast/markdown): A stack of social proof notifications for landing and pricing pages, where recent trials, upgrades and verified purchases from people and companies arrive every few seconds. The stack pauses and fans out on hover, and visitors can dismiss any toast.
- [Install snippet](https://uiarc.dev/components/install-snippet/markdown): A "get started in 30 seconds" card where framework tabs, three numbered steps and highlighted snippets take a developer from install to first event. Generate key wipes a fresh API key into the placeholder in place.

## Guidance for AI tools

Image generation: An image generation card where four images resolve as a pixel mosaic, from coarse colour blocks to full detail under a soft shimmer, each with its own progress ring. Pick one to upscale with a sweeping pixel band, vary or download it, with real provider marks and a built-in simulation. Follow the declared prop types and do not invent props. Keep keyboard access, reduced motion support, and both light and dark themes intact when adapting it.

Full library index: https://uiarc.dev/llms.txt