agent-skills/baoyu-skills/skills/baoyu-image-gen/references/codex-oauth-vs-openai-api-key.md

Codex OAuth vs OpenAI API key for baoyu-image-gen

baoyu-image-gen --provider openai uses the standard OpenAI Images API and requires OPENAI_API_KEY. It calls OpenAI-compatible image endpoints such as /images/generations and /images/edits.

Codex / ChatGPT login is different. Codex image generation is driven by Codex OAuth and the Codex runtime's image_gen capability, not by the public OpenAI Images API key path. A Codex OAuth token is not a drop-in replacement for OPENAI_API_KEY, and setting OPENAI_BASE_URL to a Codex backend will not make baoyu-image-gen's existing openai provider work because the auth, route, and payload shape differ.

What to use instead

• If running inside Codex and the native imagegen skill/tool is available, use it directly.
• If running outside Codex but the codex CLI is installed and logged in, call baoyu-image-gen --provider codex-cli (preferred). It spawns the bundled scripts/codex-imagegen/main.ts and surfaces its retry/cache/log machinery through baoyu-image-gen's standard CLI + batch flow. Standalone callers outside this skill can run the same code at packages/baoyu-codex-imagegen/src/main.ts. Both invoke codex exec and the Codex image_gen tool; no OPENAI_API_KEY is required.
• If running inside Hermes and a native image_generate tool is available, use that as a runtime-native fallback. Be explicit about whether reference images are passed directly or only reconstructed from extracted traits.
• baoyu-image-gen already exposes a distinct codex-cli provider (wraps the bundled scripts/codex-imagegen/); do not modify the existing openai provider to add Codex OAuth.

Reference-image prompting note

When using actual reference images for identity preservation, avoid long generic descriptions of the subject. Long descriptions can cause the model to synthesize a new similar-looking person/object. Prefer direct wording:

Use the person/object in the reference image(s) as the same identity. Do not redesign it or create a similar-looking new subject. Only change scene, clothing, pose, lighting, rendering style, and composition.