figure

Figure

Generate a figure from the prompt and surrounding context.

Input

• File path: the file being processed.
• Surrounding text: the paragraph or block where the <@figure ...> tag appears.
• Prompt (optional): description of the figure. If absent, infer from surrounding text.

Workflow

1. Read the surrounding text and prompt.
2. Synthesize a detailed image-generation prompt from user intention and context.
3. Generate the image using the API call below.
4. Save the image in the same directory as the source file. Name it based on the prompt (e.g., figure_system_architecture.png).
5. Replace the <@figure> tag with a format-appropriate image reference:
   • Markdown (.md): ![description](filename.png)
   • LaTeX (.tex): \includegraphics{filename.png}

API call

Requires GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable.

Run the entire generate-and-save flow in a single Bash command to avoid redundant API calls. Use single-quoted JSON with the prompt inserted via variable substitution to avoid escaping issues.

source ~/.bashrc && RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST \
  "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview:generateContent" \
  -H "x-goog-api-key: $GEMINI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "contents": [{
      "parts": [{"text": "Generate an image: YOUR_PROMPT_HERE"}]
    }],
    "generationConfig": {
      "responseModalities": ["TEXT", "IMAGE"]
    }
  }') && echo "$RESPONSE" | python -c "
import json, sys, base64
r = json.load(sys.stdin)
if 'error' in r:
    print('API error: ' + r['error'].get('message', 'unknown')); sys.exit(1)
if 'candidates' not in r:
    print('No candidates in response'); sys.exit(1)
for part in r['candidates'][0]['content']['parts']:
    if 'inlineData' in part:
        data = base64.b64decode(part['inlineData']['data'])
        with open('OUTPUT_PATH.png', 'wb') as f:
            f.write(data)
        print(f'Saved {len(data)} bytes')
        break
"