Generate images for a website with Claude Code and Sume MCP

To generate images for a website from Claude Code, connect it to Sume's hosted MCP server at https://mcp.sume.com/mcp with Write access, have it call generate_image with a prompt, an aspect_ratio, and an idempotency_key, wait on the job with jobs_wait, and save each finished image into your repo.

Facts come from Sume's MCP quickstart, MCP tools and gates, and Image API docs, read on 2026-09-27. Sume basics says hosted MCP still works but is not part of the primary path today, so reach for it when your environment is an MCP client such as Claude Code; from a backend, the same call is POST /v1/images on the Developer API. Setup is covered in Connect Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex to Sume.

What access does Claude Code need?

Write access: default hosted OAuth is read-only (mcp:read), and paid tools such as generate_image return insufficient_scope until you turn Write on at consent or use an API-key session, as the setup guide explains.

Before the first image, have Claude Code call mcp_health, which confirms the endpoint, auth source, and safety posture, and check that generate_image is in tools_list: under mcp:read alone, paid tools are hidden. Keep API keys out of the chat; the quickstart prefers the OAuth connector flow for interactive clients.

Which Sume tools does Claude Code call, in order?

Tool ids use underscores. tools_list shows what your session can see; this is the path for one image:

How do I check the cost before an image is generated?

Follow Sume's inspect-before-paying playbook: read the schema, call generate_image with dry_run: true (or generation_admission_preview), confirm the estimate, balance, and queue behavior, then submit again without dry_run and with a fresh idempotency_key. max_spend_usd caps the call, and it is enforced only when you send it.

Omit payload.model and Sume picks the family as sume/auto, and never discloses which one ran. To pin a model, pass a catalog id from image-models_list. These are the arguments for a preview of a wide hero image:

{
  "idempotency_key": "site-hero-2026-09-27",
  "dry_run": true,
  "max_spend_usd": 1,
  "payload": {
    "prompt": "Wide hero illustration of a tidy home office at sunrise, soft light, no text",
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9"
  }
}

Which sizes and formats should I ask for?

Start from a ratio and, where the model has one, a tier. A model only accepts the values its catalog descriptors list, so have Claude Code read supported_parameters with image-models_get before it pins any of these:

• aspect_ratio: normalized ratios such as 16:9 for a wide hero, 1:1, 4:5, or 9:16. auto leaves the choice to the provider.
• resolution: 512, 1K, 2K, or 4K, on models that have a resolution descriptor.
• output_format: png, jpeg, webp, or svg.
• n: up to 10 images per call; per-model ceilings are lower.
• For a cutout with a transparent background, run rmbg_create on the finished image. RMBG 1.0 returns PNG artifacts with alpha, per the Sume API reference; the remove background API covers the call.

How do the images end up in my repo?

In the current code, generate_image submits POST /v1/images as an async job by default, so the tool answers with a job, not the image. Call jobs_wait with its job_id. A wait holds at most 55 seconds (50 by default); on wait_slice_expired, call jobs_wait again with the same id and never resubmit the paid create. An image still running at 50 seconds is usually stuck rather than slow. Then jobs_result returns the images.

Hosted MCP is a remote server that cannot read files from your laptop, so saving the images is Claude Code's job: ask it to download each one into the repo, for example under public/images/, and reference that path in your pages rather than the Sume URL. The Image API describes its result URLs as Sume-hosted and signed, and Sume's safe-automation guide lists signed URLs among the things not to log.

How do I generate a whole set of site images at once?

Use script_run when a turn needs three or more calls of the same shape, such as one generate_image per page section. It runs a short JavaScript program on the Sume side under the same gates, and every paid call inside still needs its own idempotency_key. The run is bounded by timeout_seconds (5–55), max_calls, and max_paid_calls, and returns the child jobs[]; programmatic tool calling covers the budgets.

Then wait once: jobs_wait accepts job_ids with 1–20 ids and wait_for: "all" by default. Image models are metered per image, a completed generation is billed in full, and a failed or canceled one is not billed. Custom pixel sizes are covered in image aspect ratios and custom sizes.