Seedream image generation

Seedream is ByteDance's image-generation family. Single engine, multiple versions, native high-resolution support up to 4096×4096, and image editing via images[]:

version	Notes
v3	Earliest version. Compatibility only — prefer v4.5 or newer.
v4	Balanced quality and speed; lower cost than v4.5.
v4.5	Default — refined v4, better detail. Returned when version is omitted.
v5.0-lite	Latest fast tier — lighter than v4.5 with similar output characteristics for most workloads.

Default choice: version: "v4.5" (also the API default when the field is omitted). Use v4 when you want lower cost with slightly less detail; try v5.0-lite for faster / cheaper output on the newest release.

Unlike most image engines exposed here, Seedream uses plain width / height (not an enum) and accepts very large outputs — up to 4096 px per side.

Prerequisites

• For image editing: one or more source image URLs, data URLs, or Base64 strings

Text-to-image

POST https://orchestration.civitai.com/v2/consumer/workflows?wait=60
Authorization: Bearer <your-token>
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "steps": [{
    "$type": "imageGen",
    "input": {
      "engine": "seedream",
      "version": "v4",
      "prompt": "A photorealistic portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, golden hour lighting",
      "width": 1024,
      "height": 1024,
      "guidanceScale": 2.5,
      "quantity": 1
    }
  }]
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "imageGen", "input": { "engine": "seedream", "version": "v4", "prompt": "A photorealistic portrait of a woman with flowers in her hair, golden hour lighting", "width": 1024, "height": 1024, "guidanceScale": 2.5, "quantity": 1 } } ] }

Valid JSON

Parameters

Field	Default	Range	Notes
version	v4.5	v3 / v4 / v4.5 / v5.0-lite	Optional; defaults to v4.5.
prompt	— ✅	≥ 1 char	Natural-language works best.
width / height	1024	256–4096	Plain pixel dimensions. Stay near ~1 MP for native output; push higher only when you need print-size output.
quantity	1	1–12
guidanceScale	2.5	1–10	Lower than SD1/SDXL's 7 — similar range to Flux.
seed	random	int32
enableSafetyChecker	false	boolean
images[]	(none)	max 10	Passing images[] switches to edit mode. URLs, data URLs, or Base64.

Newer version (v5.0-lite)

{
  "steps": [{
    "$type": "imageGen",
    "input": {
      "engine": "seedream",
      "version": "v5.0-lite",
      "prompt": "A serene mountain landscape with a crystal clear lake at dawn",
      "width": 1536,
      "height": 864,
      "guidanceScale": 2.5
    }
  }]
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "imageGen", "input": { "engine": "seedream", "version": "v5.0-lite", "prompt": "A serene mountain landscape with a crystal clear lake at dawn", "width": 1536, "height": 864, "guidanceScale": 2.5 } } ] }

Valid JSON

High-resolution output

Seedream can render up to 4096×4096 natively — useful when you need print-size output without a separate upscaling pass. Expect higher runtime:

{
  "steps": [{
    "$type": "imageGen",
    "input": {
      "engine": "seedream",
      "version": "v4.5",
      "prompt": "An epic fantasy dragon perched on a mountain peak, highly detailed",
      "width": 2048,
      "height": 2048,
      "guidanceScale": 2.5
    }
  }]
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "imageGen", "input": { "engine": "seedream", "version": "v4.5", "prompt": "An epic fantasy dragon perched on a mountain peak, highly detailed", "width": 2048, "height": 2048, "guidanceScale": 2.5 } } ] }

Valid JSON

Watch for request-timeout behaviour at large dimensions — see Runtime below.

Image editing

Drop one or more source images into images[] and the same call switches to edit mode — same shape, prompt is treated as the edit instruction:

{
  "steps": [{
    "$type": "imageGen",
    "input": {
      "engine": "seedream",
      "version": "v4",
      "prompt": "Make it a winter scene with snow falling",
      "width": 1024,
      "height": 1024,
      "images": [
        "https://image.civitai.com/.../source.jpeg"
      ]
    }
  }]
}

POST/v2/consumer/workflows

Set your Civitai API token via the Token button in the navbar to enable Try It.

Request body — edit to customize (e.g. swap the image URL or prompt)

{ "steps": [ { "$type": "imageGen", "input": { "engine": "seedream", "version": "v4", "prompt": "Make it a winter scene with snow falling", "width": 1024, "height": 1024, "images": [ "https://image.civitai.com/xG1nkqKTMzGDvpLrqFT7WA/dd4b4ad5-040f-4f0e-baa3-6e1ff00add65/original=true,quality=90,optimized=true/26781018.jpeg" ] } } ] }

Valid JSON

Up to 10 reference images per call.

Reading the result

Standard imageGen output: an images[] array, one entry per quantity (shape and URL expiry).

Runtime

Size	Typical wall time	wait recommendation
≤ 1024×1024	10–25 s	wait=60 fine
1536×1536	20–45 s	wait=60 often fine; fall back to wait=0 on busy periods
2048–4096 per side	40–90+ s	Use wait=0 + polling — otherwise the call can outlast your HTTP client's timeout

Combined with quantity > 2, high-res outputs cross the timeout quickly. Always poll for anything above ~1.5 megapixels unless you're running a known-fast version.

Cost

Preview the exact charge with whatif=true (Payments (Buzz)).

Flat per-image pricing by version:

total = base × quantity

Version	Base (per image)
v4.5	60
v5.0-lite	52
v4 / v3	40

Examples:

• v4.5, 1024², quantity: 1 → 60 Buzz
• v4, 1024², quantity: 1 → 40 Buzz
• v5.0-lite, 1024², quantity: 1 → 52 Buzz
• v4.5 at 2048², quantity: 1 → 60 Buzz (dimensions don't affect the fixed base)
• v4 with 3 reference images, quantity: 1 → 40 Buzz (editing uses the same base)

Dimensions and images[] count don't change Seedream's Buzz price — the provider charges per-image-generated, not per-megapixel. If you need 4K output, you pay the same as 1K.

Troubleshooting

Timeouts, moderation blocks and expired blob URLs: see Common troubleshooting. Timeouts here usually mean high-resolution output; blocked comes from Seedream's content filter.

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
400 with "version must be one of"	Typo or unsupported version slug	Use v3, v4, v4.5, or v5.0-lite (note the v prefix).
400 with "width/height out of range"	Below 256 or above 4096	Clamp to 256–4096.
400 with "images maxItems"	More than 10 source images on edit	Trim to 10.
Output too saturated / painterly	guidanceScale too high	Seedream prefers 2–3 — values above 5 typically degrade output.

Related

• SubmitWorkflow · GetWorkflow
• Google image generation — commercial alternative with Nano Banana + Imagen 4
• OpenAI image generation — commercial alternative with GPT-Image + DALL·E
• Flux 2 / Qwen / SDXL — open-weights / sdcpp alternatives on Civitai-hosted workers
• Image upscaling — chain after imageGen (Seedream's native 4096 may already cover your upscale needs)
• Prompt enhancement — LLM-rewrite a prompt before feeding it in via $ref
• Seedance video generation — the video counterpart from the same provider, also called directly against BytePlus
• Full parameter catalog: the SeedreamImageGenInput schema in the API reference
• imageGen OpenAPI spec