Embedded Image Studio — Skill

Drop the <EmbeddedImageStudio> component into any form that needs an image. The user drops a file → cropper opens → all caller-requested sizes generate → variants upload as public to Cloud Files → host receives permanent Cloudflare CDN URLs.

This is the only approved pattern for image inputs going forward. It is forbidden to:

• Save base64 data: URLs in any record (chat clipboard, DB column, redux slice).
• Use <input type="url"> to capture an image URL when an embedded studio could capture it from a real file upload.
• Upload images with visibility: "private" for fields meant to be embedded in HTML, OG meta tags, emails, or anywhere else a paste might appear.
• Generate variants client-side with canvas.toDataURL() and ship them as URLs.
• Hand-roll a "drop → resize → upload" pipeline. There is one pipeline; use it.

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Three intake paths — all built in

The user has three ways to give us an image. The component surfaces them up-front so we never push the user out of our system to find what they already have.

Path	When to use	What happens
Drop / Browse	Brand-new image	Crop dialog → Sharp generates every preset → uploads as PUBLIC → CDN URLs returned
Paste URL	The user already has a public URL elsewhere	The URL is used as-is. No re-upload, no resize. onSaved fires immediately with that URL as primary.
From library	The user already saved this image to Cloud Files	Opens useFilePicker → user picks a file → its permanent CDN publicUrl (or a 1h signed URL for private files) is used as-is. onSaved fires immediately.

Drop is the "I want all the sizes" path. The other two are "I already have what I need" paths — they emit result.primary.publicUrl straight away so the host form gets populated with one click. Never push a user out of the system to find an image they already have.

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The pattern at a glance

import { EmbeddedImageStudio } from "@/features/image-studio/components/EmbeddedImageStudio";

<EmbeddedImageStudio
  // Which preset sizes to auto-generate. From features/image-studio/presets.ts.
  presetIds={["og-image", "fb-post", "tw-card-large", "ig-square"]}
  // Which one's URL the host actually cares about — the result's `primary` URL.
  primaryPresetId="og-image"
  // Folder segment under Images/Generated/. One per host feature.
  rootFolderSegment="html-pages"
  // Recommended: pass a meaningful default (page title, app name, person's name).
  defaultFilenameBase={page.title || "page-social-image"}
  // Show the existing public URL with a Replace CTA when the field is already set.
  initialUrl={page.ogImage || null}
  disabled={!user}
  label="Social Share Image"
  onSaved={(result) => {
    // result.primary.publicUrl is a permanent Cloudflare CDN URL.
    if (result.primary?.publicUrl) {
      setOgImage(result.primary.publicUrl);
    }
    // result.byPreset has every preset's CDN URL — store them too if useful.
  }}
  onCleared={() => setOgImage("")}
/>

What the user sees

1. Drop zone (or "Replace" button if initialUrl was set).
2. InitialCropWindow opens automatically (a floating WindowPanel) with aspect-ratio chips, panning, and resize handles.
3. Source preview + filename input — the user can rename the slug; the slug becomes the per-source subfolder AND every variant's filename.
4. "Generate & save" button — one click runs Sharp + cloud upload.
5. Variant grid — every requested preset shows preview, dimensions, file size, compression %, and a permanent CDN URL with a Copy button.
6. onSaved fires with result.primary.publicUrl ready to drop into the host's state.

Where the bytes go

Cloud Files
└── Images/
    └── Generated/
        └── <rootFolderSegment>/                 ← e.g. html-pages
            └── <filenameBase>/                  ← e.g. how-to-bake-bread
                ├── how-to-bake-bread-og-image.webp
                ├── how-to-bake-bread-fb-post.webp
                ├── how-to-bake-bread-tw-card-large.webp
                └── how-to-bake-bread-ig-square.webp

Every file is visibility: "public" → API returns public_url → the result is a https://cdn.aidream.com/.../...?v=<checksum> URL that:

• Never expires.
• Cache-busts automatically when content changes (the checksum suffix flips).
• Is served from Cloudflare's CDN, not a presigned S3 URL.

---

Picking the right presetIds

Read presets.ts for the full catalog (60+ across 10 categories). The right set depends on the host feature.

Host feature	Suggested presetIds	primaryPresetId
HTML pages / blog SEO	["og-image", "fb-post", "tw-card-large", "ig-square"]	"og-image"
Applet cover / preview	["applet-cover", "fb-post", "ig-square"]	"applet-cover"
Avatar / profile picture	["avatar-xl", "avatar-lg", "avatar-md", "avatar-sm", "avatar-xs"]	"avatar-md"
Org logo	["logo-xl", "logo-md", "logo-favicon"]	"logo-md"
Favicon set	["favicon-32", "favicon-192", "apple-touch-icon", "android-chrome-192", "android-chrome-512"]	"favicon-192"
Podcast cover art	["podcast-cover", "ig-square", "fb-post"]	"podcast-cover"
Single OG-only field	["og-image"]	"og-image"

If a preset you need doesn't exist, add it to PRESET_CATEGORIES in presets.ts — don't pass arbitrary dimensions inline.

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When the host has a richer surface

If the host feature wants different filenames per record (e.g. per-page title), pass defaultFilenameBase from that record. It's used as the per-source subfolder AND as the prefix for every variant filename.

// Bad — every page's variants land in /image-studio/social-image/
defaultFilenameBase="social-image"

// Good — every page gets its own folder, slugged from the title
defaultFilenameBase={page.title}

When the user later AI-describes the image (or types a new name), the variants are regenerated under the new slug.

---

Replacing existing image inputs

Step-by-step migration recipe

1. Identify the field. Search for <input type="url"> near the word "image", or useState<string> whose default is an image URL.
2. Identify the presets. Match the field's purpose to the table above.
3. Identify a meaningful filename source. Title, name, slug, agent name, etc.
4. Replace the input with <EmbeddedImageStudio> exactly as shown above.
5. Remove any dataUrl/base64 plumbing. The component never returns one.
6. Verify by uploading an image: the URL the host stores should start with https://cdn. and contain ?v=.

Anti-patterns to delete on sight

// ❌ Plain URL input
<input type="url" value={ogImage} onChange={(e) => setOgImage(e.target.value)} />

// ❌ Single-size uploader that returns a dataUrl
<ImageAssetUploader onComplete={(r) => setOgImage(r.dataUrl)} />

// ❌ Saving a data: URL into Redux/DB
dispatch(updateMetadata({ ogImage: canvas.toDataURL() }));

// ❌ Manual `uploadFile` + `getSignedUrl` chains for a public image
const f = await uploadFile(...); const s = await getSignedUrl(f.id);
setUrl(s); // ← signed URL expires, breaks shares

---

What the component handles for you

• Drop / paste / browse — multi-source intake (file picker, drag-drop, paste-from-clipboard).
• EXIF rotation — Sharp auto-rotates so portrait phone shots aren't sideways.
• Crop dialog — full freeform + aspect-ratio chips, with rule-of-thirds guides.
• Per-source subfolder — variants for one image stay grouped, never jumbled.
• Filename gate — auto-named files surface a banner before mass generation.
• Public-by-default — visibility: "public" so the API returns a CDN URL.
• Per-variant copy buttons — every result has a "Copy CDN" action. We never copy a data URL once the variant is saved.
• Replace flow — clicking Replace clears state and re-opens the drop zone.
• onSaved callback — host receives result.primary.publicUrl to fold back into its state.

---

Forbidden in callers

• Don't read variant.dataUrl for anything user-facing once savedAt is set.
• Don't bypass onSaved to manually fish URLs out of the cloud-files slice.
• Don't override visibility: "private" unless the field is genuinely never going to be embedded anywhere (rare — usually the answer is public).
• Don't render the <EmbeddedImageStudio> inside a tight grid cell. It needs ~400px of width.
• Don't reuse the same rootFolderSegment across unrelated features. Use the host feature's slug.

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Reference implementation

SavePageTab.tsx — the canonical example. Copy the pattern:

<EmbeddedImageStudio
  presetIds={["og-image", "fb-post", "tw-card-large", "ig-square"]}
  primaryPresetId="og-image"
  rootFolderSegment="html-pages"
  defaultFilenameBase={state.metadata.title?.trim() || "page-social-image"}
  initialUrl={state.metadata.ogImage || null}
  disabled={!user}
  label="Social Share Image"
  onSaved={(result) => {
    if (result.primary?.publicUrl) {
      actions.setMetadataField("ogImage", result.primary.publicUrl);
    }
  }}
  onCleared={() => actions.setMetadataField("ogImage", "")}
/>

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Files of record

• components/EmbeddedImageStudio.tsx — the component itself.
• hooks/useImageStudio.ts — the underlying state machine.
• presets.ts — the preset catalog (add new presets here, never inline).
• components/InitialCropWindow.tsx — the crop step (floating window; the older Dialog wrapper was removed in 2026-05).
• ../files/SKILL.md — the cloud-files contract this component honors.

Change log

• 2026-05-04 — Three-way intake (Drop / Paste URL / From library). URL paste and library pick emit onSaved immediately with the chosen URL as primary — no forced pipeline. Stops pushing users out of the system when they already have what they need. Also fixed a closure-staleness bug in saveAll where variants saved right after generate() had no publicUrl because the function read from a frozen files reference; now reads through filesRef.current.
• 2026-05-03 — Initial skill. Defines EmbeddedImageStudio as the canonical image-input component for every form. SavePageTab is the reference implementation.