CLI

The Depicta CLI lets you generate, edit, and process images from your terminal. Both the Python and Node.js CLIs have identical commands.

Install

Python

pip install depicta

Or run without installing: uvx depicta

Node.js

npm install -g depicta

Or run without installing: npx depicta

Authenticate

depicta uvx depicta npx depicta

depicta auth login

This prompts for your API key interactively. Alternatively, set the DEPICTA_API_KEY environment variable:

export DEPICTA_API_KEY=dpct_your_key_here

Your key is stored in ~/.config/depicta/config.json with 0600 permissions.

Generate your first image

depicta image "A sunset over Greek mountains, warm golden light"

The CLI downloads the image, shows the file path, cost, and remaining balance:

✓ Generated: image-20260406-143022.png
  Model: gemini-2.5-flash-image
  Cost: €0.048 · Balance: €9.74

More examples

# Generate a graphic (icon, logo, clipart)
depicta graphic "A minimal rocket icon, white on transparent, 256x256"

# Generate a diagram
depicta diagram "User authentication flow" --type flowchart

# Edit an existing image
depicta edit image photo.png "Make the sky more dramatic"

# Combine two images
depicta combine image hero.png overlay.png --prompt "Side by side comparison"

Output modes

The CLI auto-detects how you’re using it:

Mode	When	Output
Human	Terminal (TTY)	Formatted status + file path
JSON	--json flag	Full JSON to stdout
Pipe	Piped to another command	File path only to stdout

Piping

Chain commands together — output flows directly to the next operation:

depicta image "A product photo" | depicta process remove-bg - | depicta process resize - --width 512

Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success
1	General error
2	Authentication failure
3	Insufficient credits
4	Content rejected
5	Rate limited

Next steps

• Generate — content types, models, reference images
• Processing — 20 operations
• Models — available models and pricing