The Quality Slug Still Answers. Don't Ship the Low Still.

xAI’s migration guide is blunt. Effective 2 November 2026, the grok-imagine-image-quality slug is retired. Requests to /v1/images/generations and /v1/images/edits still resolve. The request shape does not change. The bill is $0.01 cheaper per image. The file you get is grok-imagine-image-2.0 with quality set to low. That is a silent redirect, not a license to treat the quieter kettle as MAIN. grok-imagine-image (1.0) is not on this path. grok-imagine-image-pro already pointed at Quality and follows it to 2.0 at low. Lock catalog and campaign stills from a photograph you already trust. Leave type empty. Overlay real words last. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. Do not stamp Grok Quality on a GPT Image 2 JPEG, and do not export a low-quality cousin bottle as the product.

Draft in FreeGPTImg. Stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the label on the screen. Recrop a feed frame in AI social media ads. Keep materials honest in AI product photography. Put one unit on white in the Amazon product photo generator. Change only the field in white background product photo. Change only one noun from a locked hero in image to image. Start a net-new concept in text to image only when you do not yet have a photo.

What the job actually is

A retired slug that still returns 200 is the trap. xAI’s own caution says you do not need to change your code to avoid breakage. That sentence is for uptime. It is not a quality grade on the pack. The model field on the response reports the model that served the request. Read it. If the log says grok-imagine-image-2.0 and you asked for Quality, the still is the redirect, not the file you used to ship.

xAI recommends switching to grok-imagine-image-2.0 explicitly so you choose the quality you pay for. low is what the redirect uses. medium spends more compute for finer detail. auto, the default when quality is omitted on 2.0, currently serves low for generation and medium for editing, and you are billed at the quality served. Pin the word. Do not let auto decide a listing hero.

2.0 also accepts up to five source images on an edit, plus 21:9 and 5:2. Those are extra handles, not extra SKUs. n can be 1–10 in one request. Ten variations from one prompt is a mood board. It is not ten cartons you sell. Image URLs from the API are temporary. Download the PNG. Do not paste a vanishing URL into a listing.

OpenAI’s current image guide still splits the work: generate from a prompt, or edit an existing image, including partial edits. The same guide currently points API users at gpt-image-2.5-flare for everyday generation and gpt-image-2.5-sunburst when editing precision matters. FreeGPTImg currently exposes GPT Image 2 on this loop. Write the name on the screen into the filename. Do not relabel a GPT Image 2 still as Grok Quality, Grok Imagine 2.0, Flare, or Sunburst.

Amazon’s product image help still treats MAIN as a realistic photo of the item you sell, on a pure white field (RGB 255, 255, 255), without extra graphics or type. A redirected low still is not MAIN. Meta’s image-ad guide for Facebook Feed currently recommends JPG or PNG, a 4:5 frame, and 1440×1800 as a working resolution, with a 600 px minimum width. That is a crop target, not permission to bake a Grok CTA into pixels.

The cheap failure today is not “I did not read the migration page.” It is “I kept calling Quality, got 200, the glaze went quieter, and now the grid disagrees with the box.”

Name the still before you generate

Weak sets fail because one Grok prompt tries to be a concept still, a redirected Quality file, MAIN, a 4:5 ad, a 2.0 batch, and the signed headline. Pick one job.

Job	What you export	Keep	Change one thing	Wrong move
Concept still	A mood board or placeholder	One idea	Nothing else	Feeding it to Quality as the product
Locked catalog still	The SKU you already ship	Shape, color, label, logo, pack size	Nothing, or light only	Starting from a generated JPEG
White MAIN draft	Same SKU, square, opaque white	The upload	Field only	Grok chrome, extra unit, restyled colorway
4:5 feed still	Same SKU, empty lower or top band	Silhouette, palette	Crop and empty band	Asking the slug to “make it sharper”
9:16 story still	Same SKU, empty lower third	The object	Crop only	Status bars, prices, “Quality” badges
Explicit 2.0 still	Same locked photo, named quality	The SKU file	low or medium, written down	Leaving auto to pick a listing hero
Redirected Quality still	2.0 at low, whether you asked or not	Nothing until you inspect it	Do not ship it as MAIN	Treating HTTP 200 as “same file”
Offer overlay	Don’t generate it	Empty type	Editor, last	“SALE”, “$29”, “Shop now” in the prompt

A text-to-image pass invents. An image-to-image pass should borrow. If you already paid for a pack shot that matches the listing, that file is truth. A quieter redirect does not get to warm the glaze into a cousin SKU because the slug still answers.

Checklist before anything leaves Grok

Use this sequence. Do not paste a campaign brief into grok-imagine-image-quality and expect the export to be the SKU you used to ship.

1. Name the job. Concept still, catalog still, MAIN draft, feed still, story still, explicit 2.0 still, redirected Quality still, or overlay. One file, one job.
2. If it is a catalog, ad, or listing still, start from a photograph. The locked JPEG of the item you sell. If you do not have that file, stop and photograph it. Do not invent a bottle because a slug still 200s.
3. Write keep / change / do-not in five lines. Keep silhouette, color, label, logo, and pack size. Change only one noun: crop, field, empty band, or the quality word you pinned. Do not add a second SKU, a restyled colorway, or a percent.
4. Name the engine on the screen. If the response model is grok-imagine-image-2.0, write grok-imagine-image-2.0-low or grok-imagine-image-2.0-medium into that filename. If you still called Quality, write grok-imagine-image-quality-redirect-low. If FreeGPTImg shows GPT Image 2, write gpt-image-2. Do not relabel either file quality-approved.
5. Lock the still outside Grok first. Run the keep / change / empty-type loop on GPT Image 2. Only then send that PNG to an edit endpoint, and only with the quality word written down.
6. Pin quality. Do not omit it. On 2.0, omitted quality currently means auto: low for a generate, medium for an edit. The redirect from Quality is always low. If the still might ship, pass medium on purpose or do not use Grok for that file.
7. Ask for empty type. Prices, percents, star ratings, “Shop now,” legal lines, and model names never belong in the generator if they must be exact. Overlay them in an editor after a person signs the words.
8. Leave production room. Product in the middle third. Quiet field. Empty band where the headline will sit. Do not fill every edge with Grok UI.
9. Generate one still, then multiply. One locked pass first. File names like kettle-4x5-empty-band-gpt-image-2.png. Never kettle-final-quality.png for a listing. n=10 is ten concepts, not a catalog.
10. Inspect the subject before the overlay. A softer glaze, a rewritten mark, a floating “Quality”, a ribbon that says “SALE”, or a tag that says “4.9” are stop conditions. Hold the still next to the real pack. If a stranger would think this brand shipped a quieter edition, discard it.
11. Only then overlay. In an editor, set the real headline and only the claims a manager signed. Recrop to the live placement size after the pixels match. Do not ask the slug to spell the price. Do not ask low to invent a lid that “reads cleaner at 1K.”

Prompt formula for the locked still

GPT Image 2 catalog or ad still, not a Grok Quality generate and not MAIN unless named.
Start from the uploaded product photo.
Keep: exact silhouette, color, label, logo, pack size.
Change only: [crop / field / empty headline band].
Empty type. No prices, percents, ratings, model names, watermarks, or Grok chrome.
Do not add: extra SKUs, restyled colorways, “Shop now”, celebrity faces, children.

Prompt examples

Locked catalog still. “Image-to-image: keep this exact matte-black kettle, spout curve, handle, and printed mark. Even studio light. Empty type. Not a Grok Quality reshoot, not MAIN unless named.”

White MAIN, not a redirected file. “Image-to-image: keep this exact SKU. Change only the field to opaque pure white. No badge, no extra unit, no Grok UI.”

4:5 feed, empty lower band. “Image-to-image: keep this exact kettle. 4:5 crop, product in the upper two thirds, empty lower band for later overlay. Quiet kitchen, even light. No prices, no Quality chrome, no second kettle.”

9:16 story, empty lower third. “Image-to-image: keep this exact mug glaze and printed mark. 9:16, empty lower third. No status bar, no ‘Shop now’, no model watermark.”

Do not generate this. “Call grok-imagine-image-quality, make it sharper and more premium, new copper glaze, ten colorways, Instagram CTA Shop now $29, 4.9 stars, Quality, guaranteed Amazon approved, cousin lid that looks cleaner at low.”

What to tell an explicit 2.0 edit after the still is locked

If you already have the GPT Image 2 PNG, an edit on grok-imagine-image-2.0 can still be useful. Keep the instruction short and negative about the product. Pin quality.

Use this product photograph exactly as uploaded. Do not restyle, recolor, relight, or redraw the SKU.
Keep labels, logo, silhouette, and pack size accurate.
Change only: [crop / field / empty headline band].
Leave all type empty. Do not invent prices, percents, or CTAs.
quality: medium

That is an edit pass. It is not a second generate of the object, and it is not the Quality redirect.

Review the pixels before they leave the slug

Zoom to 400%. A quieter still hides a rewritten label. An overlay will not hide it either.

• Subject honesty. Same silhouette, color, label, and pack size. If a stranger would think this brand shipped a Grok edition, discard the still.
• Job honesty. A concept still stays in the concept folder. A redirected Quality export is 2.0 at low until you prove otherwise. MAIN stays white, one unit, no graphics.
• Engine honesty. Write the model you used into the file name. A Quality redirect is a Quality redirect. An explicit 2.0 still is 2.0 plus the quality word. A GPT Image 2 still is GPT Image 2. Do not stamp Quality on the FreeGPTImg JPEG.
• Empty type. Prices, percents, ratings, store chrome, and model names stay empty of anything you need people to read.
• Redirect honesty. “The slug still resolves,” “no change to the request shape,” and “$0.01 cheaper” are xAI’s ops verbs. They are legal on uptime. They are a stop condition when they mint a quieter colorway you do not sell.
• People and file. No recognizable generated faces you cannot clear. No children. PNG or JPEG, RGB, quiet field, no QR. Preview at feed size and at the size the catalog actually renders. Download the URL before it expires.
• Provenance. A 200 from a retired slug is not a license, not a marketplace approval, and not a signed offer. Recheck Amazon’s product image help and Meta’s ads guide before you tell a teammate the file is ready.

Limitations you should not skip

A redirected Quality export is not a signed discount, not a commercial-rights grant, and not MAIN. FreeGPTImg does not run Grok Imagine, grok-imagine-image-quality, grok-imagine-image-2.0, ChatGPT Images 2.5 Flare, or Sunburst. The default loop here is GPT Image 2 stills. Do not generate medical seals, “#1 2026,” store logos, or sale badges unless those claims are already on the real label and a manager signed them.

xAI says 2.0 at low now covers everything Quality was used for, at a lower price, and that low is the closest cost match. Treat those as xAI’s claims about its models, not as a quality grade on your kettle. Recheck the live migration guide. grok-imagine-image (1.0) is a different slug. Do not mix the two files in one listing set.

OpenAI’s image guide is explicit about the two jobs: generate from a prompt, or edit an existing image. Edits can be partial or entire. Treat that as a keep-subject loop, not as a promise any model will honor an unsigned price. Quality tiers, background modes, and model IDs move. Recheck the live docs.

Models invent letters, digits, and product cousins when you mention Instagram, a dollar figure, “sharper,” “more premium,” or “make ten.” Shorten the brief. One SKU. One crop. Empty type. A slug that still answers is not a backup of the PNG you already had. If the locked raster is honest, recrop that. If it is not honest, rephotograph. Do not ask a redirect to remember a pack you never locked.

FAQ

What happened to grok-imagine-image-quality on 2 November 2026?

xAI retired the slug. Requests still resolve. After that date they are served by grok-imagine-image-2.0 with quality set to low. The request and response shapes stay the same. The model field on the response tells you which model actually ran. Recheck the live migration guide.

Is grok-imagine-image (1.0) affected?

No. xAI’s guide says grok-imagine-image (1.0) is not on this change. grok-imagine-image-pro already redirected to Quality and now follows it to 2.0 at low. Do not treat the three names as one file.

Does FreeGPTImg run Grok Imagine?

No. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. Use it to lock the still. Write the name on the screen into the filename.

Can I use a redirected Quality still as Amazon MAIN or a Meta ad?

Not if it changed the product, and not because the slug returned 200. MAIN is a realistic photo of the item you sell, usually on pure white, without extra graphics or type. A quieter glaze, a “premium” reshoot, or baked “Shop now” type fails that job. Lock the SKU first. Empty type. Overlay last. Recheck Amazon’s product image help and Meta’s ads guide.

Why did the kettle look softer when I kept calling Quality?

You are no longer on Quality. You are on 2.0 at low, billed $0.01 less, with the same request body. Read the model field. If the still might ship, stop calling the retired slug. Photograph the item. Run the keep / change / empty-type loop on GPT Image 2. If you still want 2.0, call it by name and pin medium.

Should I lock stills in Grok or outside it?

Outside it, if the file might ship as catalog, MAIN, or an ad. Photograph the item. Run the keep / change / empty-type loop on GPT Image 2. Then, if you still need a Grok edit, send that PNG to grok-imagine-image-2.0 with quality written down, and tell the edit not to touch the SKU.

Sources

• xAI: grok-imagine-image-quality Retirement on November 2, 2026
• xAI: Image generation
• OpenAI: Image generation
• Amazon: Product image requirements
• Meta: Image ads guide

Lock the still before you trust the slug

Pick the PNG that already matches the item you sell, not the JPEG a retired slug invented at low and not the cousin auto served because you omitted quality. Write five lines: keep, one crop or field change, empty type, overlay later. Open FreeGPTImg, stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the label on the screen, recrop a feed frame in AI social media ads, keep materials honest in AI product photography, put one unit on white in the Amazon product photo generator, change only the field in white background product photo, run the edit in image to image, start a net-new concept in text to image only when there is no photo, and only then overlay the signed words — or send the locked PNG to grok-imagine-image-2.0 with quality pinned and tell the edit not to touch the SKU.