CLI
npx @meterapp/car-image — every command.
Install
Run it with npx (nothing to install) or put a binary on your PATH with the install script. Both give you the same car-image command.
npx @meterapp/car-imageRunning car-image with no arguments starts the interactive onboarding: sign in, create a key, fetch a first image and (optionally) write MCP configuration for the agents on your machine.
A first image
npx @meterapp/car-image login
npx @meterapp/car-image get --make porsche --model 911 --year 2024 --view front-3-4 --color red \
--out porsche-911.pngEvery image command prints the credits charged and remaining on stderr, so the bytes on stdout stay clean for piping. Add --json to any command to get machine-readable output.
Commands
| Command | Group | What it does |
|---|---|---|
car-image | Setup | Interactive onboarding: sign in, create a key, fetch a first image, configure agents. |
car-image login | Setup | Browser-approved device login; stores a revocable key with mode 0600. |
car-image logout | Setup | Remove the stored key (the key itself stays valid until revoked). |
car-image whoami | Setup | Show the signed-in account, key prefix, scopes and credit balance. |
car-image doctor | Setup | Check connectivity, key validity, rate-limit headroom and local config. |
car-image get | Images | Download image bytes: --make --model --year --view --color --size --format --out. |
car-image url | Images | Mint signed URLs (--ttl, --max-uses) for browsers and emails. |
car-image search | Images | Search the catalog: years, makes and models matching a query. |
car-image resolve | Images | Turn free text ("red 2024 porsche 911 side") into request parameters. |
car-image options | Images | List valid views (with yaw), colors, sizes and formats. |
car-image describe | Images | Print the API description an agent needs (endpoints, costs, rules). |
car-image feedback | Images | Rate an image good/bad with a reason so bad renders get fixed. |
car-image billing | Account | Show balance and open hosted Stripe Checkout or the billing portal. |
car-image mcp | Agents | Run the local stdio MCP server (reads CAR_IMAGE_API_KEY). |
car-image agent-config | Agents | Write MCP config for Claude Desktop/Code, Cursor, Windsurf and others. |
car-image update | Maintenance | Update the CLI to the latest release. |
car-image config | Maintenance | Get or set local preferences, including the auto-update policy. |
car-image telemetry | Maintenance | Show or toggle anonymous usage telemetry. |
Configuration and environment
Credentials are stored at ~/.config/car-image-api/config.json (mode 0600). Environment variables always win over the file, which is what you want in CI and agent sandboxes:
export CAR_IMAGE_API_KEY=cimg_... # required in CI
export CAR_IMAGE_API_URL=https://car-imgs.vercel.app # optional overridecar-image config to always update silently or never update, or run car-image update on demand. Press Ctrl+C at the prompt to keep the current version for this run.Using the CLI from agents
The CLI is the local half of the agent story: car-image mcp exposes the same tools as the remote server over stdio, and car-image agent-config writes the right JSON for your MCP host. See MCP & agents.