XLR-8 AI Image Generator

This project lets you generate creative images based on textual prompts using the power of OpenAI's API and Cloudinary for image storage.

Features

• Generate unique images from text descriptions.
• Leverage OpenAI's advanced image generation capabilities (requires a paid OpenAI API key).
• Store and manage generated images using Cloudinary (separate signup required).

Prerequisites

• Node.js and npm (or yarn): Ensure you have these installed for project dependencies. You can download them from the official Node.js website (https://nodejs.org/en/download).
• OpenAI API Key: Sign up for an OpenAI account (https://openai.com/) and obtain an API key. Important: This project requires a paid OpenAI plan to access image generation functionality.
• Cloudinary Account: Create a free or paid Cloudinary account (https://cloudinary.com/) for image storage. You'll need your API key, secret, and cloud name for configuration.

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/ai-image-generator.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd ai-image-generator

3. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   ``` (or `yarn install` if using yarn)
   

Configuration

1. Create a .env file in the project root directory (ignore this file in Git).

2. Add the following environment variables to the .env file, replacing placeholders with your actual values:

   OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key
   CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME=your_cloudinary_cloud_name
   CLOUDINARY_API_KEY=your_cloudinary_api_key
   CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET=your_cloudinary_api_secret
   

Usage

1. Start the development server:

   npm start
   ``` (or `yarn start`)
   

2. Open http://localhost:3000 (or the port specified in your code) in your browser.

3. Enter a text prompt describing the image you want to generate.

4. Click the "Generate Image" button.

Generated Images

• Images will be stored in Cloudinary using the configuration you provided.
• The application UI may display the generated image or provide a link to it in Cloudinary.

Running in Production

• For deployment to a production environment, you'll need suitable hosting for your Node.js application. Make sure your environment variables are properly set on your production server.
• Consider security best practices, such as using environment variables to store API keys and secrets.

Disclaimer

• Note that this project requires a paid OpenAI plan to access image generation functionality. Free plans may have limitations.