Image Playground

How to use

Always change into the skill directory first and run scripts as ./scripts/....

macOS 26+ default flow:

cd /path/to/image-playground
./scripts/run_image_playground_shortcut.sh --prompt "a cozy orange cat in a sunlit window" --style "ChatGPT" --output-path output/cat.png --output-type public.png

macOS 15 backup flow:

cd /path/to/image-playground
./scripts/run_image_gen_shortcut.sh --prompt "a cozy orange cat in a sunlit window" --output-path output/cat.png

If the Image gen shortcut already ran and you only need to pull the latest cached image:

cd /path/to/image-playground
./scripts/extract_latest_chatgpt_cache_image.sh --output-path output/latest-cache-image.png

Shortcut install links

• Image Playground Skill: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/b1370f8002e3410491331b80383af5c6
• Image gen: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/53b4fdcffbbc4b0d9482710055b471aa

macOS 26+ default flow

Use ./scripts/run_image_playground_shortcut.sh.

Requirements:

• Apple Intelligence enabled
• Image Playground available on the Mac
• ChatGPT extension enabled inside Image Playground
• ChatGPT extension logged into a ChatGPT account
• Image Playground Skill shortcut installed

Available styles:

• ChatGPT
• Oil Painting (ChatGPT)
• Watercolor (ChatGPT)
• Vector (ChatGPT)
• Anime (ChatGPT)
• Print (ChatGPT)

Image-to-image:

• Use --image-path /absolute/path/to/source.png
• Only use --image-path with run_image_playground_shortcut.sh

Example:

cd /path/to/image-playground
./scripts/run_image_playground_shortcut.sh --prompt "turn this into a watercolor illustration" --style "Watercolor (ChatGPT)" --image-path /absolute/path/to/source.png --output-path output/result.png --output-type public.png

macOS 15 backup flow

Use ./scripts/run_image_gen_shortcut.sh when the macOS 26+ path is unavailable or when you are on macOS 15.

Requirements:

• ChatGPT macOS app installed
• ChatGPT macOS app open
• ChatGPT macOS app logged in
• Image gen shortcut installed
• ChatGPT app image cache available under ~/Library/Caches/com.openai.chat/...

Important notes

• Use the wrapper scripts only. Do not call shortcuts run ... directly for this skill.
• Image generation can take a while. Do not kill a running generation just because it is slow.
• Never start a second generation while one is already running.
• Do not use absolute paths to the skill scripts. Run them from the skill directory as ./scripts/....
• The Image gen flow may only output status text like Image; the wrapper handles pulling the image from the ChatGPT app cache after that.

Common failures

• The shortcut is slow: this is normal. Wait longer.
• The ChatGPT app is not logged in: open the app and log in.
• The shortcut is missing: install it from the links above.
• There was a problem running the shortcut.: open ChatGPT, confirm login, and run the shortcut manually once if needed.
• no new cached ChatGPT image created after shortcut start time ...: the shortcut finished but the app did not write a fresh cache image that the wrapper could use.
• The cache flow grabbed the wrong image: the relevant chat may not have been opened in the app, or cache ordering may not reflect the image you wanted.
• Image Playground fallback fails: Apple Intelligence, Image Playground, or the ChatGPT extension may not be available or ready.