Sell images

This page shows how to sell images. Pick a path, give the agent the route, then register and quote the deployment. Quote a media model has the features, the sizes and the prices.

Choose a path

Path	Use it when
OpenAI-compatible API	Your API has `POST /images/generations` and answers in the OpenAI format. You run no agent.
Your own agent	Your upstream has other routes. Send an `image` event for each image.

The rest of this page is for the reference agent. It reads these routes from your upstream.

Give the agent this route

The agent calls POST {base}/images/generations with Authorization: Bearer <key>. Set {base} in LIQUID_UPSTREAM_BASE_URL.

{
  "model": "acme-image-1",
  "prompt": "A trading floor made of water",
  "n": 2,
  "size": "1024x1024",
  "output_format": "png",
  "response_format": "b64_json"
}

n is always present. The other fields are present only when the buyer set them.
When the buyer gave reference images, the agent adds images, a list of { "image_url": … }.
When the buyer sent resolution or aspect_ratio, size is the pixel size that the exchange picked.
The agent sends seed, background and output_compression only for a control that you declared. See Declare the controls.
The agent adds the fixed fields that you pin for the endpoint.

Answer with data, a list of images. Each image has b64_json or url. An entry with neither is not an image, and the agent does not count it.

{ "data": [{ "b64_json": "iVBORw0KGgo…" }, { "b64_json": "iVBORw0KGgo…" }] }

The agent charges the images that you return, not the images that the buyer asked for. If data is empty, the job fails and the exchange tries the next offer.

Declare the controls

A buyer's seed, background, output_compression and stream reach only an offer that declared image.seed, image.background, image.output_compression or image.stream. The first-party OpenAI adapter declares image.background and image.output_compression for a gpt-image model, and image.seed when the route has a seed rule. It never declares image.stream.

To send draft images for image.stream, write your own agent and send image_partial events. See Images.

Register and quote

Register the deployment with kind set to image_generation. List the sizes and formats that it makes, and max_count. The tiers and shapes that buyers ask for come from sizes. Register deployments has the fields.

To price for each image, quote an output_image line in pricing. Add a variant with size or quality for a price that depends on them.
If your upstream bills tokens, set pricing_unit to tokens and image_output_tokens_max. Quote input_text and output_text lines in pricing. Your answer must then include usage, or the job fails.

See Quote a media model for an example.

Limits

The agent reads the whole answer before it sends the first image. A call that sends no byte for two minutes fails.
A failed call ends the attempt. The exchange charges nothing and tries the next offer.
The reference agent sends no partial image.