AI creative editing — in-paint, out-paint, variations

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Status (2026-06-22)

First op shipped via PR #156 (Phase 1.14.E-1): img2img against an operator-run ComfyUI MCP bridge through the ADR 0051 MCP-mediated path. The ComfyUI provider is implemented as an MCP client (app/internal/aiedit/providers/comfyuimcp/), not as a bespoke HTTP integration — the MCP composition gets the audit + cost + privacy infrastructure from Phase 1.14.A for free and stays consistent with the wider operator tool surface. Source-of-truth preserved: generated images land as new assets linked to the source via the creative_lineage table (migration 00014), exactly per the “output as new asset, not replacement” rule below.

Remaining (1.14.E-2 / 1.14.E-3): the other four ops (inpaint / outpaint / variations / remove-bg), the full Creative tools panel with mask drawing UI, OpenAI + Stability hosted providers, and tier-aware provider gating (Community vs Pro vs Enterprise per the per-tier table below).

Context

The DALL-E erase + regenerate pattern is widely used for marketing asset prep (remove background, regenerate a logo placement, generate variations for A / B testing), concept-art ideation (mask part of a sketch and regenerate it), and reference-image cleanup. The audit (2026-05-30) flagged this as Phase 1.20+ in the lower-priority bucket. User locked it in 2026-05-30.

Decision

Add Phase 1.34 — AI creative editing — as a provider-abstracted layer that exposes in-paint, out-paint, and variation generation in the asset viewer, with the heavy compute deferred to whichever provider the operator configures.

Provider abstraction

type ImageEditProvider interface {
    Name() string                                        // "openai", "stability", "comfyui-local", ...
    Capabilities() Capabilities                          // {InPaint, OutPaint, Variations, RemoveBg}
    InPaint(ctx, src, mask, prompt, opts) (asset, error)
    OutPaint(ctx, src, direction, prompt, opts) (asset, error)
    Variations(ctx, src, count, opts) ([]asset, error)
    RemoveBackground(ctx, src) (asset, error)
}

Provider packages live in app/internal/aiedit/<name>/.

Initial providers

OpenAI (DALL-E + GPT-Image) — the easiest on-ramp, hosted.
Stability AI — second hosted option, different aesthetic.
ComfyUI local — for studios who run their own GPUs and don’t want to send pixels off-network. Implemented as an MCP client per ADR 0051: operator runs the ComfyUI MCP bridge (ships at tools/comfyui-mcp-bridge/) alongside ComfyUI; AA registers the bridge and dispatches through mcpdispatch.Dispatcher.Invoke. The bespoke-HTTP path remains available for operators who don’t want to run an MCP bridge but is not the recommended shape.

Viewer integration

In the asset viewer, a “Creative tools” panel appears for image assets (per-image; never for video or 3D in v1). Tools:

Mask + regenerate — brush over an area on the canvas, type a prompt, get N candidates back to choose from.
Out-paint — extend the image in a chosen direction by a configurable percentage.
Variations — generate N similar but different versions.
Remove background — one-click for a transparent-background output.

Output as new asset, not replacement

Generated images are new assets that share a creative_lineage relationship with the source. The source is never overwritten. The new asset’s metadata records the provider, the prompt, the seed (if available), and the parameters used. This is critical for both licensing (the provider’s terms may attach) and for audit.

Per-tier behaviour

Community: ComfyUI local only (the studio brings their own GPU; no Artist-Alley-paid AI compute).
Pro: ComfyUI local + OpenAI + Stability with per-month token budgets per license.
Enterprise: unlimited provider + bring-your-own API key for the hosted providers.

Enforced via the tangled-derivation model from ADR 0017.

Provider terms surface

Each provider has its own content policy and license. The viewer surfaces the provider’s terms link before generating; outputs carry a provider_terms_acknowledged_at audit entry.

Consequences

Positive

Brings a real marketing-grade tool into the review surface without a separate app.
The “output as new asset” rule preserves the source-of-truth forever; no destructive AI edits.
Provider abstraction means studios who require local-only compute (ComfyUI) get the same UX as cloud-AI customers.

Negative

Provider terms change frequently and the surface needs to stay current. Mitigation: terms link is a configurable field per provider; ops can update without a release.
AI-generated content’s IP status is jurisdiction-dependent and evolving. Mitigation: the creative_lineage relationship + prompt audit are exactly what a legal review needs to assess.

Alternatives considered

OpenAI only. Misses local-only and Stability customers.
Destructive edits in-place. Rejected — too easy to lose the source asset.
Ship as a plugin only. Plugin ecosystem is later (Phase 1.23); this is high-leverage enough to land natively.

Reference

Phase 1.34 in docs/roadmap.md.
Federation (Phase 1.22) — creative_lineage rows replicate across peers via the same outbox mechanism.