--- name: illo description: >- Creates original editorial illustrations where a recurring mascot character performs the idea — one caught scene by default, a hand-built explainer diagram (a flow, fan-out, timeline, loop, or stack) when the structure itself is the point, or a transparent character cutout (pose-only compositing asset, no scene or text) — in one of seventeen bundled looks (sixteen print, plus a photoreal toy-brick set). Also handles "surprise me" / "random" (optionally scoped to a focus or character): rolls provenance, builds three saying candidates, picks via interactive choice or auto-pick-best (`--autopick`), and renders one image. Triggers only when the skill is directly invoked or "illo" is requested; never on generic illustrate / draw / make-an-image requests. # x-release-please-start-version version: 0.34.4 # x-release-please-end argument-hint: "[idea or article URL] | build a character | install <character> | surprise me [focus] [--autopick] [using character]" author: Trevin Chow license: MIT metadata: hermes: tags: [illustration, riso, image-generation, editorial, mascot, codex, grok, openrouter] category: creative requires_toolsets: [terminal] openclaw: emoji: "🎨" homepage: https://illo-skill.com os: [macos, linux] requires: bins: [python3] ---

# Illo

Make original, distinctive editorial illustrations for written content. One image explains one idea: a key judgment, a flow, a before/after, a trap, a loop. A **recurring mascot** is the one performing the idea in every scene — the subject, never decoration. When one idea advances through stages, it can be a **mini-comic**: 2–4 panels inside a single image. And when the idea is itself a traceable structure — a pipeline, a fan-out, a timeline, a loop — it can be an **explainer**: the same mascot and look drawing the structure as a hand-built sketch-diagram with arrows and callouts (`references/composition.md`, "Two registers"; editorial scene is always the default). Or a **character cutout**: the mascot alone on a transparent PNG for downstream overlay — pose and contact continuity only, no idea, no text, no environment (`references/cutout.md`).

This is a configurable house style, not a generic image generator. The **methodology is the constant**; the **character pack and palette are the parameters** — and a character pack carries its **style** with it: one look per pack, chosen from the bundled look library (riso — grainy halftone, ink-layer offset, paper grain, one bold softly-rounded outline — plus blueprint, woodcut, pixel, clay, manila, chalk, phosphor, enamel, gouache, felt, diorama, sketchbook, bricks, fizz, bloom, and snes) or a custom style file. The default mascot is **Blot**, a deadpan ink-drop in riso. Palettes come from presets, the user's own palette file, or one derived color. Whatever the parameters, it is intentionally not a photo — with one deliberate exception, the `bricks` look, a toy-brick photography style — not a logo, not a corporate infographic, not a formal flowchart, not a UI mockup.

## Use cases — route the request

| The user wants | The path | |---|---| | **Illustrate an article / post / newsletter / URL** | Steps 0–7: route the source first (thesis → coverage: hero / hero+set / set / mini-comic — `references/composition.md`, "Source routing"), then shot list (hero row + anchors), one image per anchor, interleave by placement. | | **One image for a single concept** | Step 1 concept branch (up to ~3 quick questions if the idea is thin), then a single image. | | **Surprise / random** — "surprise me", "random", "surprise me with art quote using bray", "surprise me --autopick" | Read `references/surprise.md` in full: Step 0 first, then character + provenance (ignore `defaultCharacter`; `* quote` forces a cited quote; else ~1/3 roll), build **three** safe candidates, interactive picker or auto-pick-best (`--autopick` preferred for schedulers), then register from the locked saying, then Steps 3–7 as one image. Deliver saying + image. Poster titles default off; mini-comics still get per-panel labels. | | **A sequence — process, before→after, fail→fix** | One **mini-comic** when the progression sits in one place (shape routing in `references/composition.md` — the idea picks the shape, the destination never does). | | **A traceable structure** — "show the flow", "diagram the pipeline", "map the steps", "as an explainer" | The **explainer register** (`references/composition.md`, "The explainer register"): a hand-built flow / fan-out / timeline / loop / stack / system slice in the active look, the mascot a working part of it. Also reachable without the phrases when a unit's thesis IS the structure (the register gate). | | **Social-ready art for X posts / article body images** | 16:9 (or 1:1 when square is explicitly useful), bold `ink-punch`, watermark with the `x` handle if configured or asked. | | **X Article banner / hero image** | Use the unique banner format: **1536 × 640 px** when the user asks for an X Article hero/banner. Prompt and render through the normal `illo.py generate` image pipeline, with normal, undistorted character/object proportions and crop-safe breathing room. Do not satisfy this by manually compositing or rebuilding crops from another image unless the user explicitly asks for post-processing. | | **Blog / brand / site-matched art** | A named or custom palette, or derive the palette from one dominant color (`references/palettes.md`). | | **Their own mascot** — "make me a character", "use our mascot", "replace Blot" | The character builder: read `references/character-builder.md` in full and follow it end to end. | | **Community characters** — "what characters are available", "install blip", "install all characters", "update mole", "publish my character" | `references/pack-sharing.md` — engine `packs list/show/install/update`, including `packs install --all`; publish via a GitHub PR. | | **A different look** — "in blueprint", "woodcut style", "pixel version of blip" | Styles travel with character packs: build a **style variant pack** via `references/character-builder.md`, "Style variants". | | **Options to pick from, or "which model is best"** | Step 5b: `--count` variations or a model loop → `gallery` with a recommendation. | | **Fix an existing image** (stray title, recolor, mascot too decorative) | Edit prompts in `references/prompt-recipe.md`, passing the image back as `--ref`. | | **Character cutout / transparent PNG / overlay sticker** — "just the mascot", "no background", "paste on something else" | The **cutout register** (`references/cutout.md`): read in full, prompt from `references/prompt-recipe.md` "Cutout variant", generate with `--cutout` and `--aspect 1:1`. OpenRouter cutouts default to GPT Image 2 (not Grok). Not for explaining an idea — reroute to editorial if the ask needs a scene. | | **Animated idle / bot avatar / looping GIF of the mascot** | The **cutout register** plus `references/cutout.md`, "Idle loop / bot avatar": one transparent 1:1 cutout with `--cutout` and the character sheet as `--ref`, then programmatic motion on that PNG. |

## Prerequisites

The engine (`scripts/illo.py`, stdlib Python, no installs) renders through one of **three engine backends**; `python3` and network access are the only hard requirements. **Grok Bot** (Cursor's Grok Bot / the Grok desktop assistant) is a fourth, agent-side transport: use its built-in Grok image tool directly, not `illo.py generate`, when no user config explicitly selects an engine backend.

**Running the engine — set `$SKILL_DIR` inline in each block.** Every engine command below is `python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/illo.py" …`. Set `SKILL_DIR` to the absolute path of the directory this `SKILL.md` was loaded from (it contains `scripts/illo.py` and `assets/`) **in the same command block that uses it** — shell state does not persist between separate command runs, so a value set in an earlier block is gone by the next. If the harness does not expose that path, find the installed `scripts/illo.py` and use its parent; if neither resolves, stop rather than guessing the working directory. The engine self-locates its own bundled assets, so `$SKILL_DIR` only has to be right enough to launch `illo.py` and to point `--ref` at the bundled character sheet.

Write the block **flatten-safe** — some hosts (Codex observed) collapse a fenced block to one line, turning a newline into a space. Terminate the assignment with `;` (`SKILL_DIR="…";` — without it, a flattened `SKILL_DIR="…" python3 "$SKILL_DIR/…"` becomes an env-prefix whose `$SKILL_DIR` expands to empty **before** the assignment applies, so the path collapses to `/scripts/illo.py`). Put **no comment on an assignment or command line** (a flattened `#` comments out the rest of the line and the command silently vanishes), and keep each invocation on **one line** (a flattened `\` continuation injects stray arguments). A wrong or unset value makes `doctor` (Workflow step 0) fail loudly (`can't open file …/scripts/illo.py`) — the signal to fix the path, not a skill fault.

- **Codex backend (free for Codex subscribers).** When the host has a usable **Codex CLI** — installed, `codex login`-ed, with the `image_generation` feature — illo can generate through the user's Codex subscription at no per-image charge (it draws on their Codex quota). No API key, no token: illo only shells out to the user's own CLI. Detected, not assumed; gpt-image-2 is automatic; unsupported on Windows/WSL. - **Grok CLI backend (free for Grok/xAI subscribers).** When the host has a usable **Grok CLI** — installed and `grok login`-ed — illo can generate through the user's Grok subscription via `grok -p` (headless), drawing on their Grok quota. Same env-free, token-free subprocess design as Codex. **Grok returns JPEG with no alpha, so it cannot make transparent cutouts** — those auto-fall back to a cutout-capable backend. The image tool exposes no model selector. - **Grok Bot native transport (agent-side, free for Grok Bot users).** When **you are Grok Bot** — specifically Cursor's Grok Bot / the Grok desktop assistant with the built-in Grok image tool — build the illo prompt and call that tool with the active character's model sheet as a reference image. Do not require the Grok CLI, Codex CLI, or an OpenRouter key; do not treat a missing engine backend as a reason to run `init`. This is not a generic "host image API" rule and not an `illo.py --backend` value. - **OpenRouter backend (paid, direct or explicit fallback).** Needs an **OpenRouter API key** in the user's config file — the **single credential channel** — written once by the user-run `init` (mode 600). The engine never reads secrets from the environment and never accepts them as command-line arguments. A host without a subscription CLI can select this engine path directly. A failed Codex/Grok CLI render does **not** spend money automatically: paid fallback requires `--allow-paid-fallback`. It is **model-selectable** (`--model`).

Capsule of the backend/transport model (resolution and precedence, the CLI requirements, the Grok Bot native path, the built-in image tool being automatic, quota vs. charge, cutout limits, Windows/WSL, fallback): **read `references/backends.md` in full before choosing or explaining a backend** — the mechanics live there, once.

### Setup is the user's job (never enter the key yourself)

Entering an API key is something the **user** does. Do not type, paste, print, or store the user's key — direct them to bootstrap it:

- **Bootstrap (user runs it):** `python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/illo.py" init` — prompts for the key at a hidden prompt (never echoed) and writes the YAML config `${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/illo/config.yaml` (mode 600). It can also store non-secret defaults: `--model`, `--palette`, `--aspect`, `--character`, `--watermark`. Use `--no-key` to update preferences without to