Image Compose

Image Compose

Read this skill after route lock for COMPOSE, or later in HYBRID, GENERATE, or EDIT only when deterministic copy, layout, diagram, framing, crop, mask, or overlay work is required. Do not preload it during routing. Keep the artifact in one stable directory containing image-manifest.json, index.html, and local assets.

Safe project bootstrap

Create or repair image-manifest.json and index.html with write_file / edit_file. Do not assemble either file through bash, PowerShell, shell redirection, or an inline script: quoting damage can leave a partially written project and shell safety checks can block recovery.

This production skill is the earliest point at which a COMPOSE manifest may be created. Initialize it from the Canonical image-manifest v1 block in image-router; that block is the single structural source, so do not redefine or reconstruct the manifest shape here. Replace every example value with the current brief and planning output. Keep its nesting and value types exactly: brief.purpose and every art_direction field are required by native inspection, and any region coordinates belong under visual_plan.regions[].bounds.

For HYBRID, GENERATE, or EDIT, set the locked lowercase route and the approved nonzero generation budget, then add the route-specific reference and request fields required by image-router / image-generate. After the first write, read the manifest back once and repair it with edit_file if needed before calling project.inspect.

Authoring contract

• Start from the canvas and art direction in the manifest. Make the first render meaningful without network access or user interaction.
• Keep decorative rules, strokes, and signature geometry outside every required-text bounding box. After any headline revision, recheck the full phrase at thumbnail size and repair any line or shape that crosses, crowds, masks, or visually splits a glyph or line of copy.
• Fit every multi-glyph required headline as a complete phrase before snapshot. Automatic wrapping must never leave a line with only one glyph: widen the text box, reduce the type size, or author an intentional balanced <br> before capture. Do not approve a source merely because the DOM contains the exact string; line-by-line rendered legibility is the gate.
• For a multi-image set, reuse the first passing image's concrete CSS/SVG design decisions—palette variables, type roles, spacing/grid, radii, strokes, icon treatment, material effects, and signature device—in every later member. Change the content and the layout details needed by that content; do not redesign the visual system per image.
• Use semantic HTML for text and SVG for geometry, diagrams, strokes, charts, patterns, and masks. Use CSS for layout, texture, lighting, and controlled effects.
• Preserve every required-copy string exactly in visible DOM text. Keep important text out of raster assets.
• Preserve natural English casing: use sentence case or natural title case for titles and sentence case for body, captions, labels, and CTAs. Keep all caps only when that exact casing is explicit in required user copy or an external brand/source, and then only for one short metadata label, acronym, or code. Never apply text-transform: uppercase through a broad selector or use multiple all-caps text roles; create hierarchy with family, width, weight, scale, color, or spacing.
• Use only local relative assets inside the project directory. Do not use scripts, CDNs, remote fonts, remote images, iframes, embedded pages, autoplay media, or a local server.
• In HYBRID, use the generated raster as one deliberate layer and let HTML/SVG own copy, logo placement, framing, and layout.
• Map every visual_plan.regions[].id to an HTML/SVG element with data-image-region. Treat supplied reference images as local assets: they remain usable in HTML through <img>, CSS backgrounds, SVG <image>, masks, crops, and overlays without a generation call.
• Declare the fixed canvas on the index.html root with data-preview-layout="fixed-canvas", data-preview-width="<canvas.width>", and data-preview-height="<canvas.height>". The two dimensions must exactly match image-manifest.json; this is the shared HTML viewer contract, not ImageStudio-specific presentation logic.
• Size for the declared canvas. Avoid hidden overflow, tiny copy, edge collisions, and low-contrast focal content.

Skill-owned zero-call helpers

Do not add native image_studio operations for authoring libraries. Run these private skill scripts through the generic skill runner; they can ship independently from the application security kernel:

"$ORKAS_NODE" "$ORKAS_PC_DIR/bin/run-skill.cjs" image-compose structured_visual -- --project project/image --input chart.json --output assets/chart.svg
"$ORKAS_NODE" "$ORKAS_PC_DIR/bin/run-skill.cjs" image-compose image_asset -- --project project/image --request asset-request.json

Use structured_visual for deterministic diagram, bar, line, and donut SVGs. Read structured-visuals.md before writing its JSON input. The output is static local SVG with no script, CDN, browser library, or model call. Use it for Mermaid/ECharts-class needs when a structured chart or graph is enough; author custom SVG when the visual idea needs an irregular editorial composition.

Use image_asset with a project-local request JSON:

• capabilities: report Sharp, optional rembg, and optional host-configured Real-ESRGAN.
• process: Sharp-backed orientation, resize, crop, extend, rotate, blur/sharpen, flatten/trim, format conversion, and compositing.
• remove_background: use host-managed rembg only when capability evidence says available.
• upscale: use host-managed ORKAS_REALESRGAN_BIN only when capability evidence says available. This is local enhancement and does not consume the paid image-generation budget.

Never install packages, download weights, or start a service. Keep input, request, and output paths inside the project. Prefer a new output path; set overwrite:true only for an explicitly replaceable intermediate.

HTML cannot semantically reinterpret a reference. It can faithfully place, crop, mask, recolor, annotate, and composite a supplied image. If the requested result needs a new viewpoint, changed identity, relighting, or content-aware reconstruction, lock HYBRID or EDIT instead.

No-runtime production contract

If the required authoring, snapshot, or export tools are unavailable, do not claim a finished image. Return a compact production contract that is still executable later: canvas and export format, exact copy, layout and reading order, one distinctive signature device tied to the subject, local asset/reference roles, typography and palette, and the locked route. The signature device must name its geometry/material and placement; a list of ordinary subject objects is not enough. Include an explicit pre-export checklist for copy/date/time/place accuracy, contrast, safe margins, clipping/overflow, thumbnail legibility, output dimensions/color mode, and reference rights or provenance when relevant. Every item needs a concrete pass criterion, not only a pending label: exact copy match, all required bounds inside the declared safe area, readable required text at feed-thumbnail size, no clipping/overflow, sufficient text contrast, exact export dimensions/format/color mode, and recorded rights/provenance. Mark the unexecuted result pending.

Native workflow

1. Call image_studio with project.inspect after the manifest and entry exist. Repair all structural blockers before creating visual evidence. A failed structural inspection carries no model image. The native tool is a stable capture/evidence/export security kernel, not an authoring library registry.
2. Only after inspection passes, call image_studio with project.snapshot and an output path. The passing snapshot attaches the exact full-color candidate as model-visible evidence. Inspect that attachment directly; do not reopen the same path through generic read_files, which is not the design-evidence transport.
3. Apply one coherent repair batch if required, then repeat inspect and snapshot. Do not make serial cosmetic tweaks without new evidence.
4. Inspect the current evidence and submit a structured verdict with project.submit_design_review.
5. Call project.export only after a passing review of the exact current signature.

project.export is the delivery gate. A changed manifest, HTML file, or local resource invalidates the prior review and requires a new snapshot.

The first project.export call must use an explicit workspace-relative output_path ending in .png. After success, answer with the image instead of handing a completed direct request back to Commander.

In the final delivery, briefly name the concrete checks that passed, not only the overall review score: exact copy/content, hierarchy or thumbnail legibility, contrast, safe margins and clipping/overflow, and export dimensions/format. Put those facts before the first preview. Show only exported final deliverables unless the user asks for review evidence, and write nothing after the last preview; the host may add its own produced-file footer.

On a recoverable inspection, snapshot, review, or export result, use project.status.current_candidate and recovery_context to resume from the current files. Repair structural or visual findings and continue the native chain without asking the user for a technical confirmation. If no automatic repair remains, show the current candidate image and findings before asking for the smallest real creative or delivery decision.