Car Image Server

AI-generated car images with transparent backgrounds, powered by OpenAI and cached on Vercel.

Self-Hosting on Vercel

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• A Vercel account
• An OpenAI API key with image generation access

Setup

1. Clone the repo

   git clone git@github.com:MeterApp/car-image-server.git
   cd car-image-server
   npm install

2. Link to Vercel

   npx vercel link

   When prompted, create a new project.

3. Create a Blob store

   npx vercel blob store add

   Give it a name (e.g. car-imgs). This auto-sets BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN for deployed environments.

4. Add your OpenAI API key

   npx vercel env add OPENAI_API_KEY

   Paste your key and select all environments (Production, Preview, Development).

5. Pull env vars for local dev

   npx vercel env pull .env.local

6. Run locally

   npm run dev

   Open http://localhost:3000 to see the homepage with API docs.

7. Deploy

   npx vercel --prod

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key for image generation
BLOB_READ_WRITE_TOKEN	Vercel Blob store token (auto-set when you create a store)

API Usage

GET /images/car.png?view=side&brand=toyota&model=corolla&year=2012

Parameters

Param	Required	Description
view	Yes	side or front
brand	Yes	Car manufacturer (e.g. toyota, bmw, tesla)
model	Yes	Car model (e.g. corolla, m3, model-3)
year	Yes	Model year (1990 to current year + 1)
color	No	Car color (default: silver)
w	No	Resize width in pixels (1-1024)
h	No	Resize height in pixels (1-1024)

Examples

/images/car.png?view=side&brand=porsche&model=911&year=2024&color=red
/images/car.png?view=front&brand=tesla&model=model-3&year=2023&color=white
/images/car.png?view=side&brand=bmw&model=m3&year=2022&color=blue&w=256

Caching

Images are cached at two layers:

1. Vercel Blob Storage - persistent cache, survives redeployments
2. Vercel Edge CDN - Cache-Control: s-maxage=31536000 (1 year)

The first request for a unique car/view/color combination generates the image via OpenAI (takes a few seconds). All subsequent requests are served from cache.

Response

• 200 - PNG image with transparent background
• 400 - Invalid or missing parameters (JSON error)
• 502 - Image generation failed (JSON error)