Goal

On the day 1 of my garden transformation project, my goal was simple: write a one-file plain JavaScript script that sends a “before” garden photo to the OpenAI Image API, adds a prompt, and generates an “after” photo. I wanted to get this working first as a command-line script before turning it into a proper front-end and back-end app.

A Bump in the Road...

In reality, the first day was less about garden design and more about getting the API call to work at all. I kept running into errors: the wrong image model, input image format (need png), rate limits, and a requirement to verify my identity before using certain models. The documentation was not immediately clear to me about which models required verification, so I had to go through the identity verification process (need Driver's License, and to turn my head up and down and around in front of the laptop camera) and top up my account with $5 USD before I could continue testing.

How About Just a Hello World?

Because of that, I simplified the problem even further. Instead of trying to edit a garden photo straight away, I wrote the smallest possible script: just call the API and generate a brand-new image from a text prompt. No uploaded image. No garden transformation yet. Just prove that my local JavaScript setup, API key, model name, and response handling were working.

Finally, I got the simplest version working - just add a cat in the garden using the most basic image model "gpt-image-1.5".

It really just the simplest script

node test_garden.js

If you're curious, here's my source code on Github. Please note that OpenAPI API Key will be different for each person and I have mine in a private .env file.

Result

Before

After

Happy with the Progress

So Day 1 of the garden transformation script was really about reducing the problem until it became solvable. Before building the full app, I needed to confirm the smallest moving part: can JavaScript call the OpenAI Image API and return an image? Now that the answer is yes, the next step is to move from text-to-image generation to using a real “before” garden photo as input.

Another advantage of having this simple command line script is that experiments of the API calls is now easier - I can now play with different image models, prompts, and see which ones will return the best result in ths shortest amount of time.

Next

I will start drafting up a Next.js app to build a frontend so that the shape of the app will become clearer in my head:) I planned to write my own RESTful APIs to make calls to OpenAPI services!