Needs the Codex CLI installed and signed in (codex --version). If it is missing, tell the user to install it with npm i -g @openai/codex and run codex once to sign in.
Install the bundled CLI at the target repo root (scripts/image_gen is in this skill's folder). If .codex/scripts/image_gen already exists, inspect it before replacing.
mkdir -p .codex/scripts
cp <this-skill-folder>/scripts/image_gen .codex/scripts/image_gen
chmod +x .codex/scripts/image_gen
Default output: .codex/scripts/output/<batch-name>-<timestamp>/ with NNN-clean-name.png, logs/job-NNN.log, and manifest.json (copied[]: path, promptIndex, prompt, name). Prefer { "name", "prompt" } objects for stable names.
.codex/scripts/image_gen --name hats --prompts '["prompt one", "prompt two"]'
.codex/scripts/image_gen --out .codex/scripts/output/tshirts --prompts '[{"name":"men-white-crew-tee","prompt":"..."}]'
.codex/scripts/image_gen --name catalog --prompts prompts.json --concurrency 3
.codex/scripts/image_gen --name cap-variants --prompt "..." --count 3
.codex/scripts/image_gen --prompts prompts.json --dry-run
--prompts accepts a JSON string array, a {name,prompt} array, a file of either, or newline prompts.
Reference images (thumbnails, a face, a product): keep the source images read-only and copy the ones you need locally first. One named prompt object per final image; never pack multiple concepts into one job or one --count. Every prompt must list absolute local paths and tell the nested Codex job to pass them to image_gen as referenced_image_paths. Dry-run, then run; manifest.json must have one successful copy per prompt.
Catalog prompts: inspect the app taxonomy/filters first. No person, mannequin, face, text, logo, or checkerboard unless asked. Closed shirts: full front, closed neckline, no open placket.
Keep upload/import in the target repo. After generation, verify prompt count == copied images, usable dimensions, and unique hashes. Stop after returning the output dir and manifest.json path.