- Hermes Detective Agency: Open-ended mystery investigation game - Roles: Chief (human), Witness (Kimi), Detective (Hermes) - 5 difficulty levels, community cases, open-ended solving - Scoring: Alignment %, Evidence %, Time - Features: Retry, Journal, Observe mode - Tech: Kimi Vision + Hermes Agent + Pollinations Changelog: - Research phase: Kimi capabilities, Hermes agent, image APIs - Brainstorming: 14 ideas explored - Comparison matrix: Detective selected as winner - Concept finalized with all design decisions
73 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
73 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
# Research: Image Generation APIs
|
|
|
|
**Date:** 2026-04-19
|
|
**Purpose:** Find affordable/free image generation for hackathon project
|
|
|
|
## Pollinations AI (Recommended ✅)
|
|
|
|
**Why:** Free tier, OpenAI-compatible, multiple models, simple API
|
|
|
|
### Quick Start
|
|
```bash
|
|
# No auth needed for basic
|
|
curl "https://gen.pollinations.ai/image/a%20cat%20in%20space"
|
|
|
|
# With auth
|
|
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" ...
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
### Models Available
|
|
| Model | Type | Notes |
|
|
|-------|------|-------|
|
|
| `flux` | Default | Good quality |
|
|
| `zimage` | Default | Alternative |
|
|
| `wan-image` | Quality | Higher quality option |
|
|
| `qwen-image` | Quality | Alibaba model |
|
|
| `gptimage` | Quality | GPT-based |
|
|
| `seedream5` | Style | Special styles |
|
|
| `kontext` | Edit | Image editing |
|
|
|
|
### Pricing
|
|
- **Free tier:** Weekly pollen credits (tier-based)
|
|
- **Paid:** $1 ≈ 1 Pollen
|
|
- **Free API:** Limited but usable
|
|
- **Rate limits:** Anonymous = limited, Seed/Flower = more
|
|
|
|
### API Details
|
|
- **Base URL:** `https://gen.pollinations.ai`
|
|
- **Image endpoint:** `GET /image/{prompt}`
|
|
- **OpenAI-compatible:** `POST /v1/images/generations`
|
|
- **No setup:** Just curl it
|
|
|
|
### Strengths
|
|
- ✅ 100% Open Source
|
|
- ✅ Free tier available
|
|
- ✅ Multiple model options
|
|
- ✅ Simple API (no complex setup)
|
|
- ✅ OpenAI-compatible SDK
|
|
|
|
### Weaknesses
|
|
- ⚠️ Quality may not match DALL-E/Midjourney
|
|
- ⚠️ Free tier has rate limits
|
|
- ⚠️ Infrastructure may vary in reliability
|
|
|
|
## Other Options Considered
|
|
|
|
| Provider | Free Tier | Quality | Notes |
|
|
|----------|-----------|---------|-------|
|
|
| **Midjourney** | ❌ No | High | Expensive |
|
|
| **Stable Diffusion** | Local only | High | Needs GPU |
|
|
| **DALL-E 3** | ❌ No | High | OpenAI pricing |
|
|
| **Ideogram** | Limited | Good | API in beta |
|
|
| **Flux (Local)** | ✅ Free | High | Self-hosted, needs GPU |
|
|
|
|
## Recommendation
|
|
|
|
**Primary:** Pollinations AI (free tier + simplicity)
|
|
**Fallback:** Flux if we have GPU resources
|
|
|
|
## Sources
|
|
- https://gen.pollinations.ai
|
|
- https://docs.pollinations.ai/
|
|
- https://github.com/pollinations/pollinations
|