Generate an illustration (NovelAI-compatible)

curl --request POST \
  --url https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "input": "1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece",
  "action": "generate",
  "parameters": {
    "negative_prompt": "lowres, bad anatomy",
    "width": 832,
    "height": 1216,
    "steps": 28,
    "seed": 1234567890,
    "scale": 5
  }
}
'

import requests

url = "https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image"

payload = {
    "input": "1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece",
    "action": "generate",
    "parameters": {
        "negative_prompt": "lowres, bad anatomy",
        "width": 832,
        "height": 1216,
        "steps": 28,
        "seed": 1234567890,
        "scale": 5
    }
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    input: '1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece',
    action: 'generate',
    parameters: {
      negative_prompt: 'lowres, bad anatomy',
      width: 832,
      height: 1216,
      steps: 28,
      seed: 1234567890,
      scale: 5
    }
  })
};

fetch('https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'input' => '1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece',
    'action' => 'generate',
    'parameters' => [
        'negative_prompt' => 'lowres, bad anatomy',
        'width' => 832,
        'height' => 1216,
        'steps' => 28,
        'seed' => 1234567890,
        'scale' => 5
    ]
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"input\": \"1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece\",\n  \"action\": \"generate\",\n  \"parameters\": {\n    \"negative_prompt\": \"lowres, bad anatomy\",\n    \"width\": 832,\n    \"height\": 1216,\n    \"steps\": 28,\n    \"seed\": 1234567890,\n    \"scale\": 5\n  }\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"input\": \"1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece\",\n  \"action\": \"generate\",\n  \"parameters\": {\n    \"negative_prompt\": \"lowres, bad anatomy\",\n    \"width\": 832,\n    \"height\": 1216,\n    \"steps\": 28,\n    \"seed\": 1234567890,\n    \"scale\": 5\n  }\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"input\": \"1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece\",\n  \"action\": \"generate\",\n  \"parameters\": {\n    \"negative_prompt\": \"lowres, bad anatomy\",\n    \"width\": 832,\n    \"height\": 1216,\n    \"steps\": 28,\n    \"seed\": 1234567890,\n    \"scale\": 5\n  }\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

"<string>"

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

Illustration

Generate an illustration (NovelAI-compatible)

A synchronous, NovelAI-protocol image endpoint — point any client that speaks NovelAI’s /ai/generate-image (e.g. RisuAI’s Lightboard) at this path with your Square1 key as the Bearer token.

Checkpoint, LoRAs, sampler, and quality settings come from your active illustration preset (dashboard → Images → ILLUSTRATION), not from the request — the NAI model field is accepted and ignored. See the Illustration API guide for the full parameter-precedence rules.

The response is a ZIP archive containing one PNG (exactly what a NovelAI client expects). Errors use NovelAI’s {statusCode, message} shape, not the OpenAI envelope used by the rest of this API. Generated images are private — they never enter the public gallery.

Members-only: requires an active account (and a registered email when email enforcement is on). Image generation draws from the image queue capacity, not from your LLM token quota.

POST

images

nai

generate-image

Generate an illustration (NovelAI-compatible)

curl --request POST \
  --url https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "input": "1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece",
  "action": "generate",
  "parameters": {
    "negative_prompt": "lowres, bad anatomy",
    "width": 832,
    "height": 1216,
    "steps": 28,
    "seed": 1234567890,
    "scale": 5
  }
}
'

import requests

url = "https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image"

payload = {
    "input": "1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece",
    "action": "generate",
    "parameters": {
        "negative_prompt": "lowres, bad anatomy",
        "width": 832,
        "height": 1216,
        "steps": 28,
        "seed": 1234567890,
        "scale": 5
    }
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    input: '1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece',
    action: 'generate',
    parameters: {
      negative_prompt: 'lowres, bad anatomy',
      width: 832,
      height: 1216,
      steps: 28,
      seed: 1234567890,
      scale: 5
    }
  })
};

fetch('https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'input' => '1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece',
    'action' => 'generate',
    'parameters' => [
        'negative_prompt' => 'lowres, bad anatomy',
        'width' => 832,
        'height' => 1216,
        'steps' => 28,
        'seed' => 1234567890,
        'scale' => 5
    ]
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"input\": \"1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece\",\n  \"action\": \"generate\",\n  \"parameters\": {\n    \"negative_prompt\": \"lowres, bad anatomy\",\n    \"width\": 832,\n    \"height\": 1216,\n    \"steps\": 28,\n    \"seed\": 1234567890,\n    \"scale\": 5\n  }\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"input\": \"1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece\",\n  \"action\": \"generate\",\n  \"parameters\": {\n    \"negative_prompt\": \"lowres, bad anatomy\",\n    \"width\": 832,\n    \"height\": 1216,\n    \"steps\": 28,\n    \"seed\": 1234567890,\n    \"scale\": 5\n  }\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://inference.square1.dev/v1/images/nai/generate-image")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"input\": \"1girl, silver hair, looking at viewer, masterpiece\",\n  \"action\": \"generate\",\n  \"parameters\": {\n    \"negative_prompt\": \"lowres, bad anatomy\",\n    \"width\": 832,\n    \"height\": 1216,\n    \"steps\": 28,\n    \"seed\": 1234567890,\n    \"scale\": 5\n  }\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

"<string>"

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

{
  "statusCode": 123,
  "message": "<string>"
}

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

A Square1 API key: Authorization: Bearer sq-arca-... (legacy ws-... keys remain valid). Create and rotate keys from the dashboard.

Body

application/json

input

string

required

The prompt, in NovelAI syntax (converted server-side).

Maximum string length: 8000

model

string

Accepted for protocol compatibility and ignored — the checkpoint comes from your active illustration preset.

Maximum string length: 128

action

string

If present, must be generate.

parameters

object

Show child attributes

Response

A ZIP archive containing the generated PNG.

The response is of type file.

Chat

Embeddings

Models

Illustration

Account

Generate an illustration (NovelAI-compatible)

Authorizations

Body

Response