Features
AI Image Generation
A cover image, plus contextual inline images, for articles that pass the quality check, and how to regenerate a cover.
AI Image Generation
ReachSurge generates a cover image for your articles, plus a few contextual inline images inside the body so it is not a wall of text. Images show the article's subject, with no people, faces or text. ReachSurge's own blog uses the same cover generation.
What gets generated
- Cover image (1200×630): used as the article's social preview image and as the main image in its schema markup.
- Inline images (800×450): a few images placed at section breaks. The count scales with article length (roughly one per 400 words) and is capped by your plan. Articles and listicles only, not FAQ pages or video conversions.
Each image is written for the article it belongs to: the cover is based on the article's summary, and each inline image on the section it sits in. Each image asks for the real subject in a real-world setting, such as the product, tool or place the article is about. The Minimal style instead shows one clean subject on a plain background. Products appear as generic, unbranded items.
Each inline image gets alt text made from the section heading and the section's opening sentence. If the image had to be made with a simpler prompt, its alt text describes the topic in general terms instead.
Which articles get images
- Articles that pass the quality check, or go to review, get images when they are generated.
- Drafts that the quality check rejects get no images.
- Every successful video conversion gets a cover (no inline images).
- RSS drafts that pass the quality check, or go to review, get a cover (no inline images).
Image style
Each website has an image style, used for its new article images. Choose it under Settings, then Author, next to the inline images switch:
- Editorial photo: a natural-light photo, like one in a magazine. Editorial photo is the default.
- Clean illustration: a clean, flat illustration.
- Papercraft: a scene made from layered cut paper.
- Minimal: a simple illustration of one subject on a plain background.
If a brand colour is saved for the website or your account under Settings, then Branding, images use it as a small accent. With no saved colour, images keep their natural colours.
Changing the style affects new images only. Existing images keep their style, and a regenerated cover uses the current one.
What we ask the image service to leave out
Every image request asks for no people, faces, text, logos or brand marks, no branded packaging, and for content that is safe for a general audience. Nothing checks the finished image for these, so an image can occasionally include one; regenerate it if that happens. Images are also composed so the main subject stays in the middle, which keeps it visible when a platform crops the cover to a wide banner.
How many inline images
| Plan | Inline cap | Total with cover |
|---|---|---|
| Free preview | 1 | up to 2 |
| Free | 0 | 1 |
| Starter | 2 | up to 3 |
| Growth | 3 | up to 4 |
| Enterprise | 4 | up to 5 |
The free preview is the 3 articles you can generate before choosing a plan. A short article gets fewer than the cap.
When there is no cover
The article's page in your dashboard says why there is no cover. The reasons are:
- The quality check rejected the draft, so no images were made.
- The image service's safety filter blocked the image.
- The image service returned no image, or returned an error.
- The image that came back was blank or nearly empty, so it was not used.
- The image was made but could not be saved.
- Image generation was paused when the article was created.
If a cover fails, ReachSurge tries once more with a simpler prompt before giving up. An article created before reasons were recorded says that the reason is not known.
Regenerating a cover
On the article's page, use Regenerate image (or Generate image if it has no cover). Each article can be regenerated 3 times. An attempt where the image service returns an error, or image generation is unavailable, does not use up one of the 3. A safety block, a blank image, or an image that was made but could not be saved does. Regenerating is available on paid plans, and not for articles the quality check rejected or that have no quality check result.
If the article is already published, here is what happens to each copy. Your custom site gets the new cover the next time ReachSurge refreshes or republishes this article. Your CMS gets it when you publish the article there again. Copies already on Dev.to or Hashnode keep their old cover. Sites that pull articles through the Content API get the new one straight away.
Turning inline images off
Inline images are on by default. To produce text-only articles for a site (the cover is still generated), turn off Inline images in articles under Settings, then Author, for that website. This only affects newly generated articles.
FAQ
What format are images in? WebP. The cover is 1200×630 and inline images are 800×450.
Do images affect my page quota? No. Your quota counts pages, not images.
Can I use my own images instead? Not from the dashboard yet. If you publish to your own CMS you can swap images there after publishing.
Why didn't my draft get images? The quality check rejected it. Drafts that pass the check or go to review get images.