PIC7. Image generation through a second AI you already pay for, with one hard twist: your AI looks at every image itself and only shows you the ones that pass.

Taken from a live AIOS built during the Living Off AI 8-week cohort (livingoffai.nexus), where we teach the 5 layers of an AI operating system: Constitution, Memory, Skills, Tools, Focus.
More portable skills: loai.wisdomblend.com/materials/templates/

This file is written to your AI. Human, paste it in and let your assistant read the rest. Assistant: adapt everything below to the owner's system. The goal and the hard rules matter, the exact implementation is yours to choose.

1 WHAT
Some assistants cannot generate images (Claude cannot). But most owners already pay for a second AI that can. This skill routes the image job to that second AI, then you inspect the result before the owner ever sees it. Junk gets regenerated, not delivered.

2 GOAL
The owner asks for an image once and receives one that is already checked: right subject, right format, and any text in it spelled correctly. At zero or near-zero extra cost, because it runs on a subscription the owner already has.

3 TRIGGER
The owner says "PIC7 {description}" (optionally with a format like 16:9). You do not generate images on your own initiative.

4 CONSTITUTION
Add this one line to your skills index:
PIC7 {description}. Generate via the second AI, LOOK at the result yourself before delivering, max 2 regenerations then ask, max 3 images per batch without my OK. Spec: skills/pic7.txt

5 MEMORY
Save images to one agreed inbox folder by default. If an image belongs to a specific note or project file, embed it there and write a one-line description under it, you just saw the image, so the description is free. The owner decides the final destination; if they did not say, use the inbox and ask.

6 TOOLS
Any image generator you can call: a ChatGPT subscription via its CLI or app connector (this is the zero-cost-per-image route if the owner already subscribes), an image API (OpenAI, Ideogram, Flux), or your platform's built-in generator. Optional but valuable: a second, independent model with vision (free Gemini key at aistudio.google.com) to double-check text inside images.

HOW IT RUNS
Steps for you, the assistant. Goal level, not code level.

1. Generate with a precise prompt: subject, style, aspect ratio, and the exact text if the image contains words.

2. LOOK at the image. Always. Open it with your vision capability and judge: does it match the request, is the text spelled right, is it usable? An image nobody has looked at never goes to the owner. Never say "done" about something you have not seen.

3. If it fails, regenerate with a corrected prompt. Maximum 2 regenerations. Then stop and ask the owner instead of hammering, every attempt costs subscription quota.

4. Batch gate: image calls eat a shared subscription limit several times faster than text. Never more than 3 images in one batch without the owner's explicit OK. A slide set of 12 images means: show the plan, the count, and wait.

5. Text in images gets a second judge when it matters. Your own read is biased, you know what the text SHOULD say, so you tend to see it. An independent model that does not know the intent transcribes what is actually there, letter by letter. Non-Latin characters and diacritics especially: verify, do not assume.

6. Never generate real people's faces, medical imagery, or anything private without the owner's direct, explicit instruction.

MAKE IT YOURS
1. Swap the generator freely. The skill is the inspection loop, not the brand behind it.
2. Add a house style line to every prompt (your colors, your look) so images come out consistent.
3. Track quota: if the second AI's limit is shared with other work, keep a simple counter per day so image jobs do not starve everything else.

Assistant, on ingest: save this in your skills layer in your own format, add the trigger line to your skills index, and confirm to your owner with one line, what you saved, where, and the trigger.