Screenshot beautifier

A polish pipeline that takes a raw UI screenshot (localhost capture, production screen grab, mobile viewport) and turns it into a blog-ready, changelog-ready, doc-ready hero: device-framed, drop-shadowed, on a gradient backdrop, dark-mode matched.

When to Use

• Release notes / changelog entries that need a hero image per ship.
• Blog posts and docs that reference a product screen.
• PR descriptions where a raw screenshot looks amateurish.
• Twitter/LinkedIn launch posts where the screenshot is the creative.
• Dark-mode and light-mode site variants that each need their own polished hero.
• PM/eng team members who don't have a designer on call.

Not for: generating UI that doesn't exist (use Figma or a mockup tool), or replacing real content with fake text (prefer annotation/blurring).

Prerequisites

Before processing, ask (one message, 5 questions):

1. Raw screenshot path — PNG preferred over JPEG for clean edges.
2. Device frame: browser chrome (Chrome/Safari/Arc), iPhone bezel, Android, MacBook, iPad, or none (just soft shadow)?
3. Background vibe: soft studio gradient, brand palette, dark rim-lit surface, glassmorphic, matte neutral?
4. Output target + aspect: blog hero (16:9), Twitter card (1200×675), LinkedIn (1200×627), mobile story (9:16), doc inline (3:2)?
5. Dark mode variant needed? If yes, generate a paired dark version.

Skip if the user hands over a detailed brief.

How to Run

1. Estimate the background swap cost.

   gen-ai models info recraftv3-replace-bg
   gen-ai pricing recraftv3-replace-bg
   

2. Option A — Background swap only (UI stays pixel-exact, just drop on a new surface). Use this when the screenshot itself is final.

   gen-ai change-bg \
     -i ./raw.png \
     -p "soft studio gradient, magenta #FF006E to deep purple #0D0A1F, subtle rim light from top-left, very slight film grain" \
     --download ./out
   

3. Option B — Full edit (add device frame + shadow + reflection in one pass). Use when you want the model to re-composite.

   gen-ai generate -m flux-kontext-pro \
     -i ./raw.png \
     -p "product screenshot of the provided UI, placed inside a MacBook Pro 14 bezel, floating slightly tilted at 4° right, soft drop shadow below, glassy reflection underneath, matte charcoal background, centered composition, 16:9" \
     --aspect-ratio 16:9 \
     --download ./out
   

4. Option C — Background only, composite locally (maximum UI fidelity, optional). Use only when local compositing tools are available; otherwise use Option A or B. Generate a backdrop, then overlay the raw PNG with sharp, browser canvas/CSS, or ffmpeg if already installed.

   gen-ai generate -m flux-2-pro \
     -p "abstract studio backdrop, soft magenta-to-purple gradient, subtle light orb top-left, empty center composition, 1920×1080" \
     --aspect-ratio 16:9 \
     --download ./out/bg
   # Then locally: sharp, browser canvas/CSS, or optional ffmpeg composite with device frame + shadow
   

5. Dark-mode paired variant.

   gen-ai generate -m flux-kontext-pro \
     -i ./out/result.png \
     -p "same composition, re-lit for dark mode: deep #0D0A1F background, teal #00F0FF accent rim light, subtle glow behind the device, keep UI content identical" \
     --aspect-ratio 16:9 \
     --download ./out/dark
   

6. Verify. Open side by side with the raw. UI text must still be readable. No melted edges on the bezel. No duplicated chrome.

Quick Reference

Batch-beautify all screenshots for a release:

{
  "defaults": {
    "model": "flux-kontext-pro",
    "aspectRatio": "16:9"
  },
  "jobs": [
    { "id": "hero-dashboard",       "imageUrls": ["./raw/dashboard.png"],  "prompt": "MacBook Pro 14 bezel, soft drop shadow, magenta-to-purple studio gradient, slight 3° tilt right" },
    { "id": "hero-dashboard-dark",  "imageUrls": ["./raw/dashboard.png"],  "prompt": "MacBook Pro 14 bezel, deep #0D0A1F backdrop, teal rim light, subtle glow, identical UI content" },
    { "id": "hero-mobile-timer",    "imageUrls": ["./raw/timer.png"],      "prompt": "iPhone 16 Pro bezel, portrait, floating with soft shadow, gradient backdrop", "aspectRatio": "9:16" },
    { "id": "hero-settings",        "imageUrls": ["./raw/settings.png"],   "prompt": "Browser chrome (Arc-style), soft studio gradient, subtle reflection under window" }
  ]
}

Run with gen-ai batch run screenshots.json -c 3 -o ./out/beautified.

Quick Reference

Verify with gen-ai models --mode image.

Procedure

• Always input PNG, not JPEG. JPEG compression artifacts compound when the model recomposites.
• Preserve the UI, don't let the model redraw it. If text gets rewritten, you chose the wrong approach — switch from Option B (full edit) to Option C (local composite).
• Lock palette per project. Save brand.md with hex values; pass ` so backdrops don't drift between posts.
• Device frames should match reality. Use the actual device the user was on. Shipping an Android screenshot inside an iPhone bezel is a credibility tell.
• One tilt, not five. 3-5° of rotation reads premium; 15°+ reads stock-photo.
• Dark variant off the light variant, not off raw. Pass the already-beautified output as -i — shadows, tilt, and bezel stay identical, only lighting changes.
• Don't use --save-to-drive for sensitive screenshots (pre-launch UI, customer data). Keep local or use --no-save-to-drive.
• Blur before beautifying anything with real user data. The model will happily preserve a leaked email — do the blur pass first.

Pitfalls

Verification

Run gen-ai whoami to confirm authentication, then re-run the failed command with --debug.

Cost & time

See also

• gen-ai-use.md — full CLI reference, remove-bg, change-bg, enhance flags
• gen-ai-batch.md — batching multiple screenshots, gen-ai batch resume <output-dir> for partial runs
• gen-ai-workflows.md — Workflow 1 (blog-to-visuals) for the full post asset set
• dev-og-image-service — turn the beautified hero into a per-URL OG card
• dev-app-assets — App Store screenshot framing at scale