SeeDream Image Generation/Editing

API Endpoint: https://api2.laozhang.ai/v1/images/generationsAvailable Models:

seedream-4-0-250828 - $0.035/image
seedream-4-5-251128 - $0.045/image (Latest version)

Billing: Pay-per-use

Pricing Update Notice (January 2026)Official subsidy has ended, SeeDream prices have been adjusted:

SeeDream 4.0: $0.025/image → $0.035/image
SeeDream 4.5 (New version): $0.045/image

Prerequisites

Get API Key

Configure Billing Mode

Edit token settings and choose one of the following billing modes (same price for both):

Volume Priority (Recommended): Uses balance billing first, automatically switches when balance is insufficient. Suitable for most users
Pay-per-call: Direct deduction for each call. Suitable for strict budget control scenarios

Both modes have exactly the same price, only the billing method differs. SeeDream 4.0 is $0.035/image, 4.5 is $0.045/image.

If billing mode is not configured, API calls will fail. You must complete this configuration first!

Changelog

September 11, 2025 - SeeDream 4.0 API launched officially, integrated by LaoZhang AI on the same day

Core Features

Text-to-Image

Generate high-quality images from text descriptions

Image-to-Image

AI editing and redrawing based on source images

Multi-Image Input

Supports up to 10 reference images

Flexible Dimensions

Customizable image resolution and size

OpenAI Format

Fully compatible with OpenAI Image API format

Flexible Versions

4.0 at $0.035/image, 4.5 at $0.045/image

Key Information

Source

Strategic PartnershipSeeDream 4.0 is powered by BytePlus Ark (international version). LaoZhang AI has established a strategic partnership to provide you with stable and reliable service.

Technical Specifications

Item	Description
API Format	OpenAI Image API compatible
Request Endpoint	`/v1/images/generations`
Model Name	`seedream-4-0-250828` / `seedream-4-5-251128`
Max Reference Images	10 images
Size Support	Customizable resolution
Watermark	Optional (can be disabled)

Versions & Pricing

Version	Model ID	Price	Description
SeeDream 4.0	`seedream-4-0-250828`	$0.035/image	Stable version
SeeDream 4.5	`seedream-4-5-251128`	$0.045/image	Latest version, higher quality

💰 Pricing Details

SeeDream 4.0: $0.035/image
SeeDream 4.5: $0.045/image
Billing note: Pay-per-use pricing, with actual charges visible in call logs

Getting Started

Create Token

Select Billing Type

Important: Must select “Pay-per-use” type

Save Token

Copy the generated token (format: sk-xxxxxx) and replace API_KEY in the code

Text-to-Image

Python Version

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""
Seedream API Image Generator - Pure Python Version
Just modify API_KEY to use
"""

# =================== Configuration Section ===================
API_KEY = "sk-"                                              # Replace with your API key
API_URL = "https://api2.laozhang.ai/v1/images/generations"    # API endpoint
PROMPT = "A beautiful sunset over mountains, realistic style"  # Image description
MODEL = "seedream-4-0-250828"                                # Model name
OUTPUT_DIR = "."                                             # Output directory
# ==============================================

import requests
import os
import datetime

def generate_image(prompt, output_dir="."):
    """Generate image and save to local"""
    print(f"🎨 Seedream Image Generator")
    print(f"📝 Prompt: {prompt}")
    print("=" * 50)
    
    # API request parameters
    headers = {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"
    }
    
    payload = {
        "model": MODEL,
        "prompt": prompt,
        "response_format": "url",
        "size": "2K",
        "watermark": False
    }
    
    try:
        print("⏳ Generating image...")
        
        # Call API
        response = requests.post(API_URL, headers=headers, json=payload, timeout=60)
        
        if response.status_code != 200:
            return False, f"API Error ({response.status_code}): {response.text}"
        
        # Parse response
        result = response.json()
        if "data" not in result or len(result["data"]) == 0:
            return False, "API returned no image data"
        
        # Get image URL
        image_url = result["data"][0]["url"]
        print(f"🌐 Got image URL successfully")
        
        # Download image
        print("⬇️ Downloading image...")
        img_response = requests.get(image_url, timeout=30)
        img_response.raise_for_status()
        
        # Generate filename with timestamp
        timestamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
        filename = os.path.join(output_dir, f"generated_{timestamp}.jpg")
        
        # Save image
        os.makedirs(output_dir, exist_ok=True)
        with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
            f.write(img_response.content)
        
        file_size = len(img_response.content)
        return True, f"✅ Generated successfully: {filename} ({file_size // 1024}KB)"
        
    except Exception as e:
        return False, f"Generation failed: {str(e)}"

def main():
    """Main function"""
    print("🚀 Seedream API Image Generator - Python Version")
    print("=" * 50)
    
    # Check API key
    if API_KEY == "sk-" or not API_KEY:
        print("⚠️  Please modify API_KEY at the top of the code")
        print("   Replace 'sk-' with your actual API key")
        print()
        print("📋 Instructions:")
        print("1. Modify API_KEY to your actual key")
        print("2. Optional: Modify PROMPT to generate different images")
        print("3. Run: python3 seedream-text-to-image.py")
        return
    
    # Execute image generation
    success, message = generate_image(PROMPT, OUTPUT_DIR)
    print(message)
    
    if success:
        print()
        print("🎉 Task completed!")
        print("💡 Tip: Modify PROMPT to generate different images")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Curl Simple Version

curl -X POST https://api2.laozhang.ai/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "seedream-4-0-250828",
    "prompt": "A beautiful sunset over mountains, realistic style",
    "response_format": "url",
    "size": "2K",
    "watermark": false
}'

Curl One-Line Version (with Auto Download)

Requires python3 installation, automatically parses response and downloads image

curl -X POST https://api2.laozhang.ai/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"model": "seedream-4-0-250828","prompt": "A beautiful sunset over mountains, realistic style","response_format": "url","size": "2K","watermark": false}' \
  | python3 -c "import json,sys,os; data=json.loads(sys.stdin.read()); os.system(f'curl -L -o generated_\$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).jpg \"{data[\"data\"][0][\"url\"]}\"') if 'data' in data else print('Error')"

Image-to-Image

AI editing and redrawing based on source images, supports up to 10 reference images.

Python Version

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

"""
Seedream API Image Editor - Python Version
Generate new images based on source image, just modify API_KEY to use
"""

# =================== Configuration Section ===================
API_KEY = "sk-"                                              # Replace with your API key
API_URL = "https://api2.laozhang.ai/v1/images/generations"    # Image editing API endpoint
PROMPT = "Generate a close-up image of a dog lying on lush grass."  # Editing prompt
IMAGE_URL = "https://ark-doc.tos-ap-southeast-1.bytepluses.com/doc_image/seedream4_imageToimage.png"  # Source image URL
MODEL = "seedream-4-0-250828"                                # Model to use
OUTPUT_DIR = "."                                             # Output directory
# ==============================================

import requests
import os
import datetime

def edit_image(prompt, image_url, output_dir="."):
    """Generate edited image based on source image"""
    print(f"🎨 Seedream Image Editor")
    print(f"📝 Edit Prompt: {prompt}")
    print(f"🖼️  Source URL: {image_url[:50]}...")
    print("=" * 50)
    
    # API request parameters
    headers = {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {API_KEY}"
    }
    
    payload = {
        "model": MODEL,
        "prompt": prompt,
        "image": image_url,
        "sequential_image_generation": "disabled",
        "response_format": "url",
        "size": "2K",
        "stream": False,
        "watermark": False
    }
    
    try:
        print("⏳ Editing image...")
        
        # Call API
        response = requests.post(API_URL, headers=headers, json=payload, timeout=60)
        
        if response.status_code != 200:
            return False, f"API Error ({response.status_code}): {response.text}"
        
        # Parse response
        result = response.json()
        if "data" not in result or len(result["data"]) == 0:
            return False, "API returned no image data"
        
        # Get image URL
        edited_image_url = result["data"][0]["url"]
        print(f"🌐 Got edited image URL successfully")
        
        # Download image
        print("⬇️ Downloading edited image...")
        img_response = requests.get(edited_image_url, timeout=30)
        img_response.raise_for_status()
        
        # Generate filename with timestamp
        timestamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
        filename = os.path.join(output_dir, f"edited_{timestamp}.jpg")
        
        # Save image
        os.makedirs(output_dir, exist_ok=True)
        with open(filename, 'wb') as f:
            f.write(img_response.content)
        
        file_size = len(img_response.content)
        return True, f"✅ Edit successful: {filename} ({file_size // 1024}KB)"
        
    except Exception as e:
        return False, f"Edit failed: {str(e)}"

def main():
    """Main function"""
    print("🚀 Seedream API Image Editor - Python Version")
    print("=" * 50)
    
    # Check API key
    if API_KEY == "sk-" or not API_KEY:
        print("⚠️  Please modify API_KEY at the top of the code")
        print("   Replace 'sk-' with your actual API key")
        print()
        print("📋 Instructions:")
        print("1. Modify API_KEY to your actual key")
        print("2. Modify IMAGE_URL to the image you want to edit")
        print("3. Modify PROMPT to describe the desired editing effect")
        print("4. Run: python3 seedream-image-edit.py")
        return
    
    # Execute image editing
    success, message = edit_image(PROMPT, IMAGE_URL, OUTPUT_DIR)
    print(message)
    
    if success:
        print()
        print("🎉 Edit completed!")
        print("💡 Tip: Modify PROMPT and IMAGE_URL to edit different images")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Curl Version

#!/bin/bash

# Seedream API Image Editor - Curl Version
# Generate new images based on source image, modify API_KEY to use

# =============== Configuration Section ===============
API_KEY="sk-YOUR_API_KEY"                                    # Replace with your API key
API_URL="https://api2.laozhang.ai/v1/images/generations"      # Image editing API endpoint
PROMPT="Generate a close-up image of a dog lying on lush grass."  # Editing prompt
IMAGE_URL="https://ark-doc.tos-ap-southeast-1.bytepluses.com/doc_image/seedream4_imageToimage.png"  # Source image URL
MODEL="seedream-4-0-250828"                                  # Model name
# ====================================

# Check API key
if [ "$API_KEY" = "sk-YOUR_API_KEY" ]; then
    echo "⚠️  Please modify API_KEY in the script"
    echo "   Replace 'sk-YOUR_API_KEY' with your actual API key"
    echo ""
    echo "📋 Instructions:"
    echo "1. Modify API_KEY to your actual key"
    echo "2. Modify IMAGE_URL to the image you want to edit"
    echo "3. Modify PROMPT to describe the desired editing effect"
    echo "4. Run: ./seedream-image-edit.sh"
    exit 1
fi

# Generate output filename
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
OUTPUT_FILE="edited_${TIMESTAMP}.jpg"

echo "🎨 Seedream API Image Editor - Curl Version"
echo "========================================"
echo "📝 Edit Prompt: $PROMPT"
echo "🖼️  Source URL: ${IMAGE_URL:0:50}..."
echo "📁 Output File: $OUTPUT_FILE"
echo "========================================"

# Step 1: Call API to get JSON response
echo "⏳ Editing image..."

# Build JSON request body
JSON_DATA=$(cat <<EOF
{
  "model": "$MODEL",
  "prompt": "$PROMPT",
  "image": "$IMAGE_URL",
  "sequential_image_generation": "disabled",
  "response_format": "url",
  "size": "2K",
  "stream": false,
  "watermark": false
}
EOF
)

RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST "$API_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -d "$JSON_DATA")

# Check API response
if [ -z "$RESPONSE" ]; then
    echo "❌ No API response, please check network connection"
    exit 1
fi

echo "✅ API response successful"

# Step 2: Parse JSON with Python and extract image URL
echo "🔍 Parsing edited image URL..."
EDITED_IMAGE_URL=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | python3 -c "
import json
import sys

try:
    data = json.loads(sys.stdin.read())
    
    if 'data' in data and len(data['data']) > 0:
        url = data['data'][0]['url']
        print(url)
    else:
        print('ERROR: Image URL not found')
        sys.exit(1)
        
except Exception as e:
    print(f'ERROR: {e}')
    sys.exit(1)
")

# Check URL parsing result
if [[ "$EDITED_IMAGE_URL" == ERROR* ]]; then
    echo "❌ URL parsing failed: $EDITED_IMAGE_URL"
    echo "📄 Original API response:"
    echo "$RESPONSE"
    exit 1
fi

echo "🌐 Edited image URL retrieved successfully"

# Step 3: Download edited image
echo "⬇️ Downloading edited image..."
curl -s -L -o "$OUTPUT_FILE" "$EDITED_IMAGE_URL"

# Check download result
if [ -f "$OUTPUT_FILE" ] && [ -s "$OUTPUT_FILE" ]; then
    FILE_SIZE=$(du -h "$OUTPUT_FILE" | cut -f1)
    echo "✅ Image edited successfully!"
    echo "📁 File: $OUTPUT_FILE"
    echo "📊 Size: $FILE_SIZE"
    echo ""
    echo "🎉 Complete! Check the edited image file"
    echo "💡 Tip: Modify PROMPT and IMAGE_URL to edit different images"
else
    echo "❌ Image download failed"
    echo "🔗 You can manually access: $EDITED_IMAGE_URL"
fi

Resources

Official Documentation

API Documentation

BytePlus ModelArk official technical documentation

User Manual

Seedream 4.0 User Manual

User Guide

Seedream 4.0 User Guide

Prompting Tips

Prompting and style keyword guide

Common Questions

Dimensions and Resolution

Supports custom image dimensions via size parameter:

2K: 2048 pixels (recommended)
Also supports custom resolutions

See official documentation for parameter details.

Reference Image Count

Text-to-Image: No reference images needed
Image-to-Image: Supports 1-10 reference images
Pass via image parameter as URL or Base64

Watermark Settings

Control via watermark parameter:

false: No watermark (recommended)
true: With watermark

Response Format

Supports two response formats (response_format):

url: Returns image link (recommended, convenient for download)
b64_json: Returns Base64 encoding

Generation Mode

Control via sequential_image_generation parameter:

disabled: Standard generation mode (recommended)
enabled: Sequential generation mode

API Parameter Reference

Request Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`model`	string	✓	Model name: `seedream-4-0-250828`
`prompt`	string	✓	Image description or editing prompt
`image`	string	✗	Reference image URL (for image-to-image)
`size`	string	✗	Image size, default `2K`
`response_format`	string	✗	Response format: `url` or `b64_json`, default `url`
`watermark`	boolean	✗	Whether to add watermark, default `false`
`sequential_image_generation`	string	✗	Generation mode, default `disabled`
`stream`	boolean	✗	Whether to stream response, default `false`

Response Format

{
  "created": 1726051200,
  "data": [
    {
      "url": "https://example.com/generated_image.jpg",
      "revised_prompt": "..."
    }
  ]
}

Next Steps

Nano Banana Image Generation

$0.025/image Gemini image generation

FLUX Image Generation

Check out FLUX image generation API

API Console

Create API token

Billing Console

Review balance, account credit updates, and call logs

​Prerequisites

​Changelog

​Core Features

Text-to-Image

Image-to-Image

Multi-Image Input

Flexible Dimensions

OpenAI Format

Flexible Versions

​Key Information

​Source

​Technical Specifications

​Versions & Pricing

​Getting Started

​Text-to-Image

​Python Version

​Curl Simple Version

​Curl One-Line Version (with Auto Download)

​Image-to-Image

​Python Version

​Curl Version

​Resources

​Official Documentation

API Documentation

User Manual

User Guide

Prompting Tips

​Common Questions

​API Parameter Reference

​Request Parameters

​Response Format

​Next Steps

Nano Banana Image Generation

FLUX Image Generation

API Console

Billing Console

Prerequisites

Changelog

Core Features

Key Information

Source

Technical Specifications

Versions & Pricing

Getting Started

Text-to-Image

Python Version

Curl Simple Version

Curl One-Line Version (with Auto Download)

Image-to-Image

Python Version

Curl Version

Resources

Official Documentation

Common Questions

API Parameter Reference

Request Parameters

Response Format

Next Steps