codex-image — gpt-image-2 via Codex OAuth subscription

Overview

Images are generated by gpt-image-2 through the Codex/ChatGPT OAuth subscription (token from ~/.codex/auth.json, created by codex login). No API key, no per-image cost — quota is shared with the Codex subscription.

Common misconception (documented agent failure): "Codex is text-only, image generation needs OPENAI_API_KEY / DALL-E." Wrong. The Codex backend (chatgpt.com/backend-api/codex) serves the image_generation tool over the Responses API; host model gpt-5.5 invokes it, gpt-image-2 renders.

Note: the Codex Claude Code plugin (openai/codex-plugin-cc) does NOT generate images — its role is review/architecture. This skill's script bypasses the plugin and talks to the Codex backend directly using the same login.

Quick reference

# self-contained launcher — uses the skill's own venv, bootstraps it if missing
~/.claude/skills/codex-image/scripts/run.sh \
  "prompt in English" [quality] [aspect] [ref1.png ... ref5.png]