baoyu-infographic

# Infographic Generator

Two dimensions: **layout** (information structure) × **style** (visual aesthetics). Freely combine any layout with any style.

## User Input Tools

When this skill prompts the user, follow this tool-selection rule (priority order):

1. **Prefer built-in user-input tools** exposed by the current agent runtime — e.g., `AskUserQuestion`, `request_user_input`, `clarify`, `ask_user`, or any equivalent.
2. **Fallback**: if no such tool exists, emit a numbered plain-text message and ask the user to reply with the chosen number/answer for each question.
3. **Batching**: if the tool supports multiple questions per call, combine all applicable questions into a single call; if only single-question, ask them one at a time in priority order.

Concrete `AskUserQuestion` references below are examples — substitute the local equivalent in other runtimes.

## Image Generation Tools

When this skill needs to render an image, resolve the backend in this order:

1. **Current-request override** — if the user names a specific backend in the current message, use it.
2. **Saved preference** — if `EXTEND.md` sets `preferred_image_backend` to a backend available right now, use it.
3. **Auto-select** (when the preference is `auto`, unset, or the pinned backend isn't available):
   - **Codex (`imagegen`)** — first, inspect your available-skills / tool inventory. If a skill named `imagegen` is listed, you are running inside Codex and MUST use it: invoke via the `Skill` tool with `skill: "imagegen"`, passing the saved prompt file's content (plus output path and aspect ratio per Codex `imagegen`'s own args). Codex `imagegen` is the official raster backend in that runtime and outranks any non-native skill (e.g., `baoyu-image-gen`) unless the user has explicitly pinned a different `preferred_image_backend`.
   - **Codex via `codex exec` (`codex-imagegen`)** — if the current runtime exposes no native `imagegen` skill but the `codex` CLI is on `PATH` with an active `codex login`, route through `baoyu-image-gen --provider codex-cli` (preferred), or — if baoyu-image-gen is unavailable — invoke the bundled wrapper directly. Details, parameters, and the runtime-discovery procedure live in [references/codex-imagegen.md](references/codex-imagegen.md) — load that file only when this branch is selected.
   - **Other runtime-native tools** — if the runtime exposes a different native image tool (e.g., Hermes `image_generate`), use it the same way.
   - Otherwise, if exactly one non-native backend is installed (e.g., `baoyu-image-gen`), use it.
   - Otherwise (multiple non-native backends with no runtime-native tool), ask the user once — batch with any other initial questions.
4. **If none are available**, tell the user and ask how to proceed.

**⛔ Never substitute SVG, HTML, canvas, or other code-based rendering for raster image generation.** Codex `imagegen`'s own description says it should be used "when the output should be a bitmap asset rather than repo-native code or vector." If you cannot resolve a raster backend via step 3, fall through to step 4 and ask the user — do **not** silently emit SVG, write inline `<svg>` markup, or produce HTML/CSS art as a substitute. This applies even if the article/section seems "diagram-like": the consumer skill calling this rule has already decided that a raster image is what it needs.

**⛔ Never repair rendered text by painting over a generated bitmap.** Do not use ImageMagick, Pillow, Canvas, SVG, HTML/CSS, OCR scripts, or any other programmatic overlay to cover, rewrite, erase, stroke, or replace labels, headings, callouts, data values, or any other text inside an already generated infographic. If text is wrong or unclear, regenerate from a corrected prompt, switch to a layout with less on-image text, or ask the user which imperfect candidate to keep.

Setting `preferred_image_backend: ask` forces the step-3 prompt every run regardless of available backends. Users change the pinned backend via the `## Changing Preferences` section below.

**Prompt file requirement (hard)**: write each image's full, final prompt to a standalone file under `prompts/` (naming: `NN-{type}-[slug].md`) BEFORE invoking any backend. The backend receives the prompt file (or its content); the file is the reproducibility record and lets you switch backends without regenerating prompts.

Concrete tool names (`imagegen`, `image_generate`, `baoyu-image-gen`) above are examples — substitute the local equivalents under the same rule.

## Reference Images

Users may supply reference images to guide style, palette, composition, or subject.

**Intake**: Accept via `--ref <files...>` or when the user provides file paths / pastes images in conversation.
- File path(s) → copy to `refs/NN-ref-{slug}.{ext}` alongside the output
- Pasted image with no path → ask the user for the path (per the User Input Tools rule above), or extract style traits verbally as a text fallback
- No reference → skip this section

**Usage modes** (per reference):

| Usage | Effect |
|-------|--------|
| `direct` | Pass the file to the backend as a reference image |
| `style` | Extract style traits (line treatment, texture, mood) and append to the prompt body |
| `palette` | Extract hex colors from the image and append to the prompt body |

**Record in `prompts/infographic.md` frontmatter** when refs exist:

```yaml
references:
  - ref_id: 01
    filename: 01-ref-brand.png
    usage: direct
```

**At generation time**:
- Verify each referenced file exists on disk
- If `usage: direct` AND the chosen backend accepts reference images (e.g., `baoyu-image-gen` via `--ref`) → pass the file via the backend's ref parameter
- Otherwise → embed extracted `style`/`palette` traits in the prompt text

## Confirmation Policy

Default behavior: **confirm before generation**.

- Treat explicit skill invocation, a file path, a matched keyword shortcut, `EXTEND.md` defaults, and the documented default combination as **recommendation inputs only**.