GPT Image 2.6 Sunburst · API

Quick start

Three steps: submit a job, poll it, take the image link. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key and the commands below run as they are.

Step 1 · Submit (returns a job id at once, HTTP 202)

curl https://kovapi.com/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst", "prompt": "An oil painting of a harbour at dusk, visible brushstrokes, warm palette", "size": "16:9", "resolution": "2K"}'

Response (HTTP 202)

{
  "id": "img_7f3c9a1e2b4d6f8a0c1e3b5d",
  "object": "image.generation.job",
  "status": "queued",
  "created": 1791281400,
  "model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst"
}

Step 2 · Poll every 2–3 seconds until status is succeeded or failed

curl https://kovapi.com/v1/images/jobs/img_7f3c9a1e2b4d6f8a0c1e3b5d \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Response when it succeeds

{
  "id": "img_7f3c9a1e2b4d6f8a0c1e3b5d",
  "object": "image.generation.job",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "created": 1791281400,
  "model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst",
  "data": [
    {"url": "https://img.kovapi.com/i/2be8cd16d37f3a4b9c0e1f2a3b4c5d6e.png"}
  ],
  "usage": {"images": 1, "resolution": "2K", "model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst"}
}

Step 3 · data[0].url is the image (PNG). It is kept for 15 days; download it to your own storage to keep it longer.

Complete example (Python: submit, wait, save to disk)

import time
import requests

BASE = "https://kovapi.com/v1"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"}

# 1. submit
job = requests.post(f"{BASE}/images/generations", headers=HEADERS, json={
    "model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst",
    "prompt": "An oil painting of a harbour at dusk, visible brushstrokes, warm palette",
    "size": "16:9",
    "resolution": "2K",
}).json()
if "error" in job:
    raise SystemExit(job["error"]["message"])

# 2. poll every 3 seconds until it finishes
while job["status"] not in ("succeeded", "failed"):
    time.sleep(3)
    job = requests.get(f"{BASE}/images/jobs/{job['id']}", headers=HEADERS).json()

# 3. download the image
if job["status"] == "succeeded":
    url = job["data"][0]["url"]
    with open("gpt-image-2.6-sunburst.png", "wb") as f:
        f.write(requests.get(url).content)
    print("saved", url)
else:
    print("failed:", job["error"]["code"], job["error"]["message"])

Authentication

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

Create an API Key in the console to start.

Request parameters

The JSON body of POST /v1/images/generations:

background can be transparent (pair it with PNG or WebP output); output_format can be png (default), jpeg or webp, and the delivered file is in that format. n must be 1: for several images submit several jobs at once. Other parameters (response_format, style and the like) do not change the price and are not guaranteed to take effect; results come back as a url.

Price

Billed per image by tier only: aspect ratio, text-to-image or image-to-image make no difference. The tier price is held when you submit and refunded in full if the job fails. 1 credit = $0.005.

Aspect ratio, resolution and output size

Put the ratio in size and the tier in resolution. You get the original image as generated, neither cropped nor resized, at the sizes below: both sides are multiples of 16, and 4K stays within 3840 px a side and about 8.3 megapixels.

• Only the 7 ratios in the table are available; any other ratio is refused at submit with a 400 and nothing is charged. At 1K, 16:9 and 9:16 would fall below the minimum pixel count of the model, so they come out at 1088×608 and 608×1088.
• size can also be a pixel size (e.g. 1536x1024) in one of the 7 ratios: both sides are rounded down to multiples of 16, scaled down when over the tier limit, and scaled up to the minimum of the model (about 655,000 pixels) when too small. The tier comes from resolution; without it the longest side decides: up to 1536 is 1K, up to 2048 is 2K, larger is 4K. Longest side allowed: 512–1536 at 1K, 2048–2304 at 2K, 2049–4096 at 4K; anything else is refused at submit with a 400 and nothing is charged.

Quality and native resolution

• Without quality the image is drawn at medium. low, medium and high work at 1K, 2K and 4K, for text-to-image and image-to-image alike, and the price depends only on the resolution tier; auto counts as medium. xhigh and max are not available yet: they are refused at submit with a 400 and nothing is charged.
• If quality holds 1K, 2K or 4K and resolution is not given, it is read as the resolution tier (size and price follow that tier).
• Tiers that are drawn natively are always drawn natively: when capacity is busy the job waits in the queue, and if it still cannot be drawn it fails with a full refund — it is never replaced by an enlarged 1K image.

Image-to-image and reference images

• Send image (one picture) or images (several, up to 5) and the job runs image-to-image; say in the prompt what to change. More than 5 is refused at submit with a 400 and nothing is charged. POST /v1/images/edits takes the same parameters.
• Both endpoints take a JSON body only, not a multipart file upload, so the OpenAI SDK's images.edit() cannot be used as is: pass links or base64 as in the example below.
• Each reference can be a public image URL (http or https), a data: URI or plain base64, up to 16MB each, in PNG or JPEG; a reference in any other format makes the job fail with a full refund.
• A URL has to download the image itself: not a web page, and not behind a login or hotlink protection. A reference we cannot read is refused at submit with a 400 that says which one and why; no job is created and nothing is charged.
• The output ratio comes from size, not from the reference. To keep the original ratio, set size to it.
• We host the references for you and keep them for 7 days.

Image-to-image with two references

curl https://kovapi.com/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst", "prompt": "Keep the people, change the background to a beach at night with warm string lights", "images": ["https://example.com/people.jpg", "https://example.com/beach.jpg"], "size": "3:4", "resolution": "2K"}'

Job status and fields

GET /v1/images/jobs/{id} reports these statuses; every field is described in Async jobs. Poll every 2–3 seconds, or use a webhook.

One account runs up to 50 jobs at a time; further jobs wait in submission order, and a job that has not started after 15 minutes fails and is refunded in full. Job records are kept for 3 days and image links for 15 days.

How long it takes

Usually 20–60 seconds from submit to result; 4K, edits with several references and busy periods take longer, and an occasional job takes a minute or two.

Errors and refunds

An error at submit comes back at once as HTTP 4xx / 5xx: no job is created and nothing is charged. A failure after the job was accepted is reported by the job endpoint, and the hold is refunded in full. Every code is listed under Error codes.

Errors at submit

Failed jobs (status failed)

Webhooks instead of polling

Add callback_url when you submit and the moment the job ends, success or failure, the gateway pushes exactly what the poll endpoint returns to that URL, signed and retried on failure. You can also set an account-wide address under Settings → Webhook in the console. Webhook docs →

curl https://kovapi.com/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model": "gpt-image-2.6-sunburst", "prompt": "An oil painting of a harbour at dusk, visible brushstrokes, warm palette", "size": "1:1", "callback_url": "https://your-domain.com/webhook"}'