Image Gin for Obsidian

A powerful Obsidian plugin that brings AI image generation, stock-image search, and CDN upload directly into your Obsidian workflow. Generate visuals from a per-file image_prompt, search stock photos, and rewrite local image references to a CDN — all from inside your notes.

✨ Features

• AI Image Generation — two providers:
  • Recraft for custom-trained brand styles via server-side style_id.
  • Ideogram v3 for per-call style controls (style_type, rendering_speed, magic_prompt) plus optional Layerize-Text post-processing that strips incidental text from generated images.
• Brand Template prompt wrapping (Ideogram): configure a brand-wide prefix, suffix, and base negative prompt in settings; every per-file prompt gets wrapped automatically. Use the {prompt} token for slot insertion when the per-file content needs to land mid-sentence.
• Stock Image Search: Search and insert stock images via Magnific's API (formerly Freepik).
• CDN Upload (ImageKit): Convert local image references in a single note or across an entire vault folder to ImageKit URLs. Optional WebP conversion and local-file cleanup.
• Smart Frontmatter Management: Reads image_prompt (and Ideogram-only overrides image_negative_prompt, image_style_type, image_seed) from each note's frontmatter; auto-creates the image_prompt key on modal open so the convention is visible to first-time users; writes generated image paths back under per-size keys (banner_image, portrait_image, square_image).
• Modal UX polish: master "All" toggle on the size selector, two-way sync with individual size toggles, and last-session persistence so your selected sizes and per-call overrides restore on the next open.
• Image Cache: Local cache for external images to bypass Obsidian's CSP restrictions and enable offline viewing. Configurable cap, auto-cleanup, and a Clear Cache button.

Modals

1. Generate Images for Current File (Recraft) — generate from an image_prompt in the file's frontmatter, with style / substyle settings and per-size selection.

2. Generate Images (Ideogram) — generate via Ideogram v3 with brand-template prompt wrapping, per-call style/speed/magic-prompt overrides, a live Resolved Prompt Preview, and optional Layerize-Text post-processing.

3. Convert Local Images to Remote Images — upload local image references in the active note to ImageKit and rewrite the links.

4. Batch Convert Directory Images to Remote — same as above but scans every file in the active note's directory.

5. Search Magnific Images — search Magnific's stock-image API and insert results into your notes.

Settings

Releases

0.1.1 — 2026-05-03

• Added Ideogram v3 as a second AI generation provider.
• Brand Template prompt wrapping (prefix / suffix / base negative prompt) with bookend and {prompt}-slot-insertion modes.
• Master "All" toggle on the Image Sizes selector with two-way sync to individual toggles (both modals).
• Last-session UI state persistence across modal opens.
• Auto-creation of image_prompt frontmatter key on modal open.
• Live Resolved Prompt Preview in the Ideogram modal showing the fully assembled prompt before generate.

0.1.0 — 2026-05-03

• Marketplace-readiness pass: ESLint flat config wired into the build, eliminated all any usage, replaced innerHTML with Obsidian DOM API, routed all console.* calls through a persistent FileLogger, replaced the hand-rolled YAML parser with Obsidian's metadataCache + processFrontMatter APIs.

0.0.9 — 2025-09-14

• Batch convert local images found in any file in a directory to a remote image service URL (ImageKit).

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Obsidian (v1.8.10 or later)
• Node.js (v18 or later)
• pnpm (recommended) or npm

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/lossless-group/image-gin-plugin.git
   cd image-gin-plugin
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pnpm install
   

3. Build the plugin:

   pnpm build
   

4. For development with hot-reloading:

   pnpm dev
   

🛠️ Configuration

Each integration is independently toggleable. Enable only the ones you need.

1. (Optional) Recraft — get an API key at recraft.ai for AI image generation with custom-trained brand styles.
2. (Optional) Ideogram — get an API key at ideogram.ai for AI image generation with per-call style controls and Layerize-Text post-processing.
3. (Optional) Magnific — get an API key from the Magnific developer dashboard for stock-image search.
4. (Optional) ImageKit — get a public/private key pair from the ImageKit dashboard for CDN upload and WebP conversion.
5. Open Obsidian, go to Settings → Community Plugins, find "Image Gin" in the list, and enable it.
6. Click the gear icon to configure your API keys, output folder, image-size presets, and (for Ideogram) your Brand Template prefix/suffix/base-negative-prompt.

🖼️ Usage

Open the command palette (Cmd/Ctrl+P) and search for any of:

• Image Gin: Generate Images for Current File — generates AI images via Recraft from an image_prompt field in the active note's frontmatter, using the style configured in settings.
• Image Gin: Generate Images (Ideogram) — generates AI images via Ideogram v3, wrapping the per-file prompt with your configured Brand Template. Per-call dropdowns for style type, rendering speed, and magic-prompt mode; optional Layerize-Text post-processing to strip incidental text.
• Image Gin: Search Magnific Images — opens a stock-image search modal; clicking a result inserts the image as markdown at the cursor.
• Image Gin: Convert Local Images to Remote Images — uploads local image references in the active note to ImageKit and rewrites the links.
• Image Gin: Batch Convert Directory Images to Remote — same as above but scans every file in the active note's directory.

Frontmatter contract

Image Gin reads from and writes to a small set of keys in your note's frontmatter:

Key	Read by	Written by	Effect
image_prompt	Recraft + Ideogram	Recraft + Ideogram (when "Write to frontmatter" is on)	Subject-matter prompt; auto-created as "" on modal open if missing
image_negative_prompt	Ideogram only	never	Appended to the brand-wide base negative prompt
image_style_type	Ideogram only	never	Overrides the default style_type for this file
image_seed	Ideogram only	never	Pins the seed for reproducibility
<sizeId>_image (e.g. banner_image)	—	both	Path to the generated image for each selected size

📝 License

This project is open source and available under the The Unlicense.

Getting Started

If you want to use the setup-plugin.mjs script, fill out plugin-config.yaml and then make it an executable file.

chmod +x setup-plugin.mjs

When run, it will create the basic metadata and fill in the template variables. If you don't need it, just delete it and happy hacking.

Run the script with

node setup-plugin.mjs

pnpm install
pnpm add -D esbuild @types/node builtin-modules
pnpm build
pnpm dev

Using Symbolic Links to Test Your Plugin

If you're like us, you have a directory housing all your code projects. To use your plugin as you develop it, create a symbolic link from your dev checkout into your vault's .obsidian/plugins/ directory. The destination folder name must match the plugin id from manifest.json (image-gin):

ln -s /Users/mpstaton/code/lossless-monorepo/image-gin /Users/mpstaton/content-md/lossless/.obsidian/plugins/image-gin

Adjust both paths for your own filesystem. After linking, run pnpm dev in the dev checkout — esbuild will watch for changes; reload the plugin in Obsidian (toggle off/on in Community Plugins) to pick up new builds.