CLI
npx @meterapp/car-image — the six commands most people need, and the rest.
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.
Six commands
car-image --help shows these six; they cover signing in, fetching an image, minting a signed URL, finding a vehicle, decoding a VIN and checking the setup. Every command has --help, and car-image help --all lists the rest.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
car-image login | Browser-approved device login; stores a revocable key with mode 0600. car-image login |
car-image get | Download one image (1 credit): --make --model --year or --vehicle veh_…, --view, --color (a preset or any hex), --size or --width/--height with --fit, --background, --framing or --trim [--padding], --shadow, --format, --out. car-image get --make Porsche --model 911 --year 2024 --view side --color red --out porsche.png |
car-image url | Mint signed URLs for browsers and emails (1 credit each): the same image flags as get, plus --ttl, --max-uses, --renew [--renew-days] and --idempotency-key; --batch takes up to 50 from a JSON file. car-image url --make BMW --model M3 --year 2022 --ttl 86400 |
car-image search | Search the catalog: years, makes and models matching a query, with the vehicle id of each model year. Free. car-image search porsche 911 |
car-image vin | Decode a full or partial VIN (* for unknown positions): year, make, model, trim and every vPIC attribute, plus the catalog vehicle id and a ready-to-run get command. Free. car-image vin 1HGCM82633A004352 |
car-image doctor | Check connectivity, key validity, every endpoint and the local config; --yes spends the two credits of the paid checks without asking. car-image doctor --yes |
More commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
car-image | Interactive onboarding: sign in, create a key, fetch a first image, configure agents. |
car-image whoami · logout | The signed-in account, key prefix, scopes and credit balance · remove the stored key. |
car-image resolve <free text…> | Turn "red 2024 porsche 911 side" into request parameters, vehicle id included. |
car-image check <file.csv|file.json|-> [--out <file>] | Check which vehicles of a list the catalog carries; --out writes the file back with the id, the match rule and any suggestion beside each row. Free. |
car-image options · describe | Valid views, colors, sizes, formats and the vehicle-id format · the REST API explained from openapi.json. |
car-image logo --make Toyota --width 256 --out toyota-logo.png | Download a make logo (1 credit per delivery). Same transforms as get; no signed URLs. Third-party trademarks, no license granted. |
car-image 3d create|get|download|publish|list | Request a 3D model (100 credits, charged at creation; free for a vehicle and color you already own), poll it, download its files, host it with a two-line embed, list your requests. |
car-image billing · pricing · support <question> | A checkout or billing link you confirm in the browser · current prices and packs · source-linked product help. |
car-image mcp [--toolset core|all] | The local stdio MCP server (reads CAR_IMAGE_API_KEY): the eleven core tools by default; --toolset all adds make logos, 3D models, image options, the API reference, pricing, help and billing links. |
car-image agent-config [--host …] | Write MCP config for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT or a generic host. |
car-image update · config · telemetry | Update the CLI · local preferences, including the auto-update policy · anonymous usage telemetry on or off. |
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://carimage.dev # optional overridecar-image config set autoUpdate ask asks first, never only says so, and CAR_IMAGE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK=1 turns it off. car-image update updates now, together with the car-image plugin in Claude Code and Codex.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.