SnapAI

Generate high-quality square app icon artwork from the terminal — built for React Native and Expo.

SnapAI is a developer-friendly CLI that talks directly to:

• OpenAI Images (gpt-1.5 → gpt-image-1.5, gpt-1 → gpt-image-1)
• Google Nano Banana (Gemini image models) — selected via --model banana

The workflow is intentionally square-only: always 1024x1024 (1:1) to match iOS/Android icon needs and avoid resizing headaches.

Features ✨

• Fast: generate icons in seconds. No UI. No accounts.
• Latest image models:
  • OpenAI:
    • gpt-1.5 (uses gpt-image-1.5 under the hood)
    • gpt-1 (uses gpt-image-1 under the hood)
  • Google Nano Banana (Gemini):
    • normal: gemini-2.5-flash-image
    • pro: gemini-3-pro-image-preview
• iOS + Android oriented: prompt enhancement tuned for app-icon style outputs.
• Quality controls:
  • OpenAI: --quality auto|high|medium|low (aliases: hd → high, standard → medium)
  • Nano Banana Pro: --quality 1k|2k|4k
• DX-friendly: just a CLI (great for CI/CD too).
• Privacy-first: no telemetry, no tracking. Uses your API keys and sends requests directly to the provider you choose.

Video tutorial 🎥

Watch on YouTube

Read: Introducing Code With Beto Skills

Install 📦

# Recommended (no install)
npx snapai --help

# Or install globally
npm install -g snapai

Important 🔑
You need at least one API key:

• OpenAI (for gpt-1.5 → gpt-image-1.5, gpt-1 → gpt-image-1)
• Google AI Studio (for Google Nano Banana / Gemini via --model banana)

SnapAI is CLI-only and sends requests directly to the provider you select.

Quickstart (first icon) ⚡

npx snapai icon --prompt "minimalist weather app with sun and cloud"

Output defaults to ./assets (timestamped filenames).

Note 📝
Models can still draw the subject with visual padding (an empty border). This is normal.
SnapAI avoids forcing the words "icon" / "logo" by default to reduce padding.
If you want more “icon-y” framing, opt in with --use-icon-words.

Providers & models (what “banana” means) 🧠

SnapAI exposes providers via --model:

Provider	SnapAI flag	Underlying model	Notes
OpenAI (latest)	--model gpt-1.5	gpt-image-1.5	Always 1:1 square 1024x1024, background/output controls
OpenAI (previous)	--model gpt-1	gpt-image-1	Same controls as above
Google Nano Banana (normal)	--model banana	gemini-2.5-flash-image	Always 1 image, square output
Google Nano Banana 2	--model banana-2	gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview	1 image, thinking config, 1K output
Google Nano Banana (pro)	--model banana --pro	gemini-3-pro-image-preview	Quality tiers via --quality 1k/2k/4k, multiple via -n

Tip 💡
If you want multiple variations quickly, use OpenAI (-n) or Banana Pro (--pro -n ...).

Setup 🔐

You can store keys locally (developer machine), or provide them at runtime (CI/CD).

Local config (writes to ~/.snapai/config.json)

snapai config --openai-api-key "sk-your-openai-api-key"
snapai config --google-api-key "your-google-ai-studio-key"

snapai config --show

CI/CD secrets (recommended)

Use environment variables so nothing is written to disk:

export SNAPAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
export SNAPAI_GOOGLE_API_KEY="..."

# Also supported:
# export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
# export GEMINI_API_KEY="..."

GitHub Actions example:

- name: Generate app icon
  run: npx snapai icon --prompt "minimalist weather app with sun and cloud" --output ./assets/icons
  env:
    SNAPAI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.SNAPAI_API_KEY }}

You can also pass keys per command (does not persist):

npx snapai icon --openai-api-key "sk-..." --prompt "modern app artwork"
npx snapai icon --model banana --google-api-key "..." --prompt "modern app artwork"

Usage 🚀

Common (recommended)

# Default (OpenAI)
npx snapai icon --prompt "modern fitness tracker with heart rate monitor"

# Output directory
npx snapai icon --prompt "professional banking app with secure lock" --output ./assets/icons

# Style hint (appended after enhancement)
npx snapai icon --prompt "calculator app" --style minimalism

# Preview the final generated prompt (no image generation)
npx snapai icon --prompt "calculator app" --raw-prompt --prompt-only
npx snapai icon --prompt "calculator app" --prompt-only
npx snapai icon --prompt "calculator app" --style minimalism --prompt-only

OpenAI (gpt-1.5 / gpt-1)

# Multiple variations
npx snapai icon --prompt "app icon concept" --model gpt-1.5 -n 3

# Higher quality
npx snapai icon --prompt "premium app icon" --quality high

# Transparent background + output format
npx snapai icon --prompt "logo mark" --background transparent --output-format png

Google Gemini (gemini-2.5-flash-image / gemini-3-pro-image-preview)

# Normal (1 image)
npx snapai icon --prompt "modern app artwork" --model banana

# Pro (multiple images + quality tiers)
npx snapai icon --prompt "modern app artwork" --model banana --pro --quality 2k -n 3

Nano Banana notes:

• Normal mode always generates 1 image (no -n, no --quality tiers).
• Pro mode supports multiple images (-n) and HD tiers (--quality 1k|2k|4k).
• Output is always square.

Prompt tips (small changes, big impact) 📝

• Describe the product first, then the style:
  • “a finance app, shield + checkmark, modern, clean gradients”
• If you see too much empty border:
  • remove the words "icon" / "logo" (default behavior), or keep them off and be explicit about “fill the frame”
• Use --style for rendering/material hints (examples: minimalism, material, pixel, kawaii, cute, glassy, neon)

Note 📝
If you pass --style, the style system is treated as a hard constraint and will take priority over other wording in your prompt.
Try to avoid prompts that conflict with the chosen style (e.g. --style minimalism + “neon glow”), or the model may produce inconsistent results.

Command reference 📚

snapai icon flags

Flag	Short	Default	Description
--prompt	-p	required	Description of the icon to generate
--output	-o	./assets	Output directory
--model	-m	gpt-1.5	gpt-1.5/gpt-1 (OpenAI) or banana (Google Nano Banana)
--quality	-q	auto	GPT: auto/high/medium/low (aliases: hd, standard). Banana Pro: 1k/2k/4k
--background	-b	auto	Background (transparent, opaque, auto) (OpenAI only)
--output-format	-f	png	Output format (png, jpeg, webp) (OpenAI only)
--n	-n	1	Number of images (max 10). For Banana normal, must be 1.
--moderation		auto	Content filtering (low, auto) (OpenAI only)
--prompt-only		false	Preview final prompt + config without generating images
--raw-prompt	-r	false	Send prompt as-is (no SnapAI enhancement/constraints). Style still applies if set
--style	-s		Rendering style hint appended after enhancement
--use-icon-words	-i	false	Include "icon" / "logo" in enhancement (may increase padding)
--pro	-P	false	Enable Nano Banana Pro (banana only)
--openai-api-key	-k		OpenAI API key override (does not persist)
--google-api-key	-g		Google API key override (does not persist)

Examples (real outputs) 🖼️

Prompt	Result	Command
minimalist weather app with sun and cloud		npx snapai icon --prompt "minimalist weather app with sun and cloud" --model gpt-1.5
premium banking app, shield + checkmark, clean gradients		npx snapai icon --prompt "premium banking app, shield + checkmark, clean gradients" --model gpt-1.5
calendar app, simple date grid, clean illustration		npx snapai icon --prompt "calendar app, simple date grid, clean illustration" --model gpt-1
notes app, pen + paper, minimal, friendly		npx snapai icon --prompt "notes app, pen + paper, minimal, friendly" --model gpt-1
music player app, abstract sound wave, clean shapes		npx snapai icon --prompt "music player app, abstract sound wave, clean shapes" --model banana
camera app, lens icon, simple concentric circles		npx snapai icon --prompt "camera app, lens icon, simple concentric circles" --model banana
finance app, secure lock, clean illustration, bold silhouette		npx snapai icon --prompt "finance app, secure lock, clean illustration, bold silhouette" --model banana --pro
photo editor app, magic wand + spark, simple shapes, modern gradients		npx snapai icon --prompt "photo editor app, magic wand + spark, simple shapes, modern gradients" --model banana --pro

Built by Code with Beto 👋

SnapAI is made by Beto — I build open-source tools and teach React Native. If you're learning React Native, I have a comprehensive course with real-world projects, lifetime access, and a private Discord community. Hundreds of developers are already in.

YouTube · Discord · Newsletter

Privacy & security 🔒

• SnapAI does not ship telemetry or analytics.
• SnapAI sends requests directly to OpenAI or Google (depending on --model).
• SnapAI does not run a backend and does not collect your prompts/images.
• API keys are stored locally only if you run snapai config ... (or provided at runtime via env vars/flags).

Warning ⚠️
Never commit API keys to git. Use environment variables in CI.

Development 🛠️

• Development Setup
• Publishing Guide

git clone https://github.com/betomoedano/snapai.git
cd snapai && pnpm install && pnpm run build
./bin/dev.js --help

Contributing 🤝

• Report bugs: GitHub Issues
• Suggest features: GitHub Issues
• Improve docs / code: see CONTRIBUTING.md

License 📄

MIT