cli-anything-gimp

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Command-line interface for Gimp - A stateful command-line interface for image editing, built on Pillow. Designed for AI agents and pow...

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cli-anything-gimp

A stateful command-line interface for image editing, built on Pillow. Designed for AI agents and power users who need to create and manipulate images without a GUI.

Installation

This CLI is installed as part of the cli-anything-gimp package:

pip install cli-anything-gimp

Prerequisites:

Python 3.10+
gimp is recommended for native batch rendering, but layered compositions can still render through the built-in Pillow path when GIMP is unavailable or when deferred draw operations are present

Usage

Basic Commands

# Show help
cli-anything-gimp --help

# Start interactive REPL mode
cli-anything-gimp

# Create a new project
cli-anything-gimp project new -o project.json

# Run with JSON output (for agent consumption)
cli-anything-gimp --json project info -p project.json

REPL Mode

When invoked without a subcommand, the CLI enters an interactive REPL session:

cli-anything-gimp
# Enter commands interactively with tab-completion and history

Command Groups

Project

Project management commands.

Command	Description
`new`	Create a new project
`open`	Open an existing project
`save`	Save the current project
`info`	Show project information
`profiles`	List available canvas profiles
`json`	Print raw project JSON

Layer

Layer management commands.

Command	Description
`new`	Create a new blank layer
`add-from-file`	Add a layer from an image file
`list`	List all layers
`remove`	Remove a layer by index
`duplicate`	Duplicate a layer
`move`	Move a layer to a new position
`set`	Set a layer property (name, opacity, visible, mode, offset_x, offset_y); negative offsets are accepted naturally
`flatten`	Flatten all visible layers
`merge-down`	Merge a layer with the one below it

Canvas

Canvas operations.

Command	Description
`info`	Show canvas information
`resize`	Resize the canvas (without scaling content)
`scale`	Scale the canvas and all content proportionally
`crop`	Crop the canvas to a rectangle
`mode`	Set the canvas color mode
`dpi`	Set the canvas DPI

Filter Group

Filter management commands.

Command	Description
`list-available`	List all available filters
`info`	Show details about a filter
`add`	Add a filter to a layer
`remove`	Remove a filter by index
`set`	Set a filter parameter
`list`	List filters on a layer

Media

Media file operations.

Command	Description
`probe`	Analyze an image file
`list`	List media files referenced in the project
`check`	Check that all referenced media files exist
`histogram`	Show histogram analysis of an image

Export Group

Export/render commands.

Command	Description
`presets`	List export presets
`preset-info`	Show preset details
`render`	Render the project to an image file; deferred draw ops are applied at render time

Session

Session management commands.

Command	Description
`status`	Show session status
`undo`	Undo the last operation
`redo`	Redo the last undone operation
`history`	Show undo history

Draw

Drawing operations (applied at render time).

Command	Description
`text`	Draw text on a layer (by converting it to a text layer)
`rect`	Draw a rectangle (stored as drawing operation)

Examples

Create a New Project

Create a new gimp project file.

cli-anything-gimp project new -o myproject.json
# Or with JSON output for programmatic use
cli-anything-gimp --json project new -o myproject.json

Interactive REPL Session

Start an interactive session with undo/redo support.

cli-anything-gimp
# Enter commands interactively
# Use 'help' to see available commands
# Use 'undo' and 'redo' for history navigation

Export Project

Export the project to a final output format.

cli-anything-gimp --project myproject.json export render output.png --overwrite

Layered Composition Workflow

For overlay-heavy compositions:

cli-anything-gimp --project poster.gimp-cli.json layer set 0 offset_x -48
cli-anything-gimp --project poster.gimp-cli.json layer set 0 offset_y 24
cli-anything-gimp --project poster.gimp-cli.json draw text --layer 0 --text "Launch Night" --x 96 --y 120 --size 72 --color "#f6f1e8"
cli-anything-gimp --project poster.gimp-cli.json export render output.png --overwrite

Notes:

layer set now accepts negative offset_x and offset_y values in both command mode and REPL mode.
draw text and draw rect are render-time operations. Treat the exported image, not only the project JSON, as the thing to review.
For projects with deferred draw ops, expect the Pillow render path to be the stable default even if GIMP is installed.

State Management

The CLI maintains session state with:

Undo/Redo: Up to 50 levels of history
Project persistence: Save/load project state as JSON
Session tracking: Track modifications and changes

Output Formats

All commands support dual output modes:

Human-readable (default): Tables, colors, formatted text
Machine-readable (--json flag): Structured JSON for agent consumption

# Human output
cli-anything-gimp project info -p project.json

# JSON output for agents
cli-anything-gimp --json project info -p project.json

For AI Agents

When using this CLI programmatically:

Always use --json flag for parseable output
Check return codes - 0 for success, non-zero for errors
Parse stderr for error messages on failure
Use absolute paths for all file operations
Verify outputs exist after export operations
Review rendered outputs after offset, draw, blend-mode, or filter changes instead of trusting saved project state alone

More Information

Full documentation: See README.md in the package
Test coverage: See TEST.md in the package
Methodology: See HARNESS.md in the cli-anything-plugin

Version

1.0.0