---
title: AI Gateway Image Generation Quickstart
product: vercel
url: /docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/image
canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/image"
last_updated: 2026-09-08
type: tutorial
prerequisites:
  - /docs/ai-gateway/getting-started
  - /docs/ai-gateway
related:
  - /docs/ai-gateway/pricing
  - /docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation
  - /docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation/ai-sdk
  - /docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation/openai
summary: Generate an image from a text prompt using AI Gateway.
install_vercel_plugin: npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin
---

# AI Gateway Image Generation Quickstart

Generate an image through AI Gateway and save it to a file.


<!-- docsgraph:related -->
## Related pages

> **For AI agents:** Follow these links to understand how this page connects to the rest of the Vercel ecosystem. For the full cross-link map (inbound, outbound, prerequisites, and semantic neighbors), see the .graph.md link below.

- [Generate videos with AI SDK](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/ai-sdk-video-generation?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Use experimental_generateVideo in the AI SDK to generate videos from a text prompt or an image, set aspect ratio, resolu
- [Video Generation Quickstart](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/video?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Generate a video from a text prompt using AI Gateway.
- [AI Gateway Text Generation Quickstart](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/text?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Generate and stream text responses using AI Gateway.
- [AI Gateway Speech Quickstart: Transcription and TTS](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/speech?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Generate speech and transcribe it using AI Gateway.
- [AI Gateway Chat Completions Image Generation Reference](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/sdks-and-apis/openai-chat-completions/image-generation?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Generate images using AI models that support multimodal output through the Chat Completions API through AI Gateway.
- [OpenAI Responses Images and PDFs with AI Gateway](https://vercel.com/docs/ai-gateway/sdks-and-apis/responses/images?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=related) — Send images and PDF documents for analysis using the OpenAI Responses API through AI Gateway.

Full cross-link map for this page: [/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/image.graph.md](/docs/ai-gateway/getting-started/image.graph.md?from=related&source_path=%2Fdocs%2Fai-gateway%2Fgetting-started%2Fimage&source_site=vercel-docs&relationship=graph)
<!-- /docsgraph:related -->

## Generate your first image

### Use a coding agent

Paste this prompt into a coding agent with terminal access:

**Agent prompt**

```text
Add image generation through AI Gateway in the current environment. Use the AI Gateway skill for this task. If it is unavailable, run npx skills add vercel/vercel-plugin --skill ai-gateway, then find and read its SKILL.md before continuing. Reuse the environment's language, framework, package manager, and AI client when possible, choose an AI Gateway SDK or API that supports image generation, and add only required dependencies. Read AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY from the environment. If it is missing, run npx vercel@latest whoami and pause for login if needed. Determine the team, then run npx vercel@latest --scope <team-slug> ai-gateway api-keys create --name <descriptive-name>. Capture stdout directly into AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY for the request or existing ignored secret storage, and never expose the value. Use openai/gpt-image-2, save the first image to a file, run the result, and report the output.
```

### Run the Node.js example

Use [Node.js 22.18 or later](https://nodejs.org/) and a team with available [AI Gateway Credits](/docs/ai-gateway/pricing). Export `AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY` in your current shell. If you need a key, open the [Create API Key dialog](https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai-gateway%2Fapi-keys%3FshowCreateKeyModal%3Dtrue\&title=AI+Gateway+API+Keys).

```bash filename="Terminal"
export AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY="your_ai_gateway_api_key"
```

Install the AI SDK:

```bash filename="Terminal"
pnpm add ai@latest
```

Create `index.mts`:

```typescript filename="index.mts"
import { generateImage } from 'ai';
import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const { images } = await generateImage({
  model: 'openai/gpt-image-2',
  prompt: 'A turquoise hummingbird resting on a dew-covered branch at sunrise.',
});

await writeFile('output.png', images[0].uint8Array);
console.log('Saved output.png');
```

Run the script:

```bash filename="Terminal"
node index.mts
```

## Next steps

- Browse [image generation models](/ai-gateway/models?type=image) and learn when to use image-only or multimodal models in the [image generation guide](/docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation)

* Learn how the AI SDK [returns generated images](/docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation/ai-sdk)
* Edit images with [OpenAI image models](/docs/ai-gateway/modalities/image-generation/openai#editing-images)


---

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