> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Media Library and AI Images
> Where every creative asset lands, how AI image generation applies your brand by default, the monthly image allowance, and the import, transform and upscale operations that always produce a new asset
The Media Library at **Marketing > Media** (`/dashboard/marketing/media`) is where every image and video in your account lives: uploads, AI generations, Design Studio exports, imported photos. It is what the social composer, the Design Studio, the workflow builder and the AI assistants pick from when they need a visual. This page covers the rules that apply to everything in it.
Every AI image generation reads your active brand guide unless you say otherwise
Generations and upscales draw from the same per-plan count; imports and transforms are free
Import an outside image by URL and Hiveku keeps its own copy of the bytes
Transform, upscale, export and import always create a new asset. The original never changes
## Brand-aware image generation
Every AI image generation applies your active [brand guide](/how-tos/brand-guide) by default. The palette, fonts and voice are appended to what the model sees; your own prompt is stored untouched as the image's title and metadata. This holds wherever images are generated: the Design Studio chat, the **Generate Image**, **Generate Image Set** and **Generate Video** workflow nodes, and any assistant working through the Claude Code plugin or the API.
The result is honest about what happened:
* **Brand applied**: the generation records that the active brand guide reached the model.
* **No active brand guide**: the image is generated unbranded, and the result says so. Activating a guide under **Marketing > Branding** is what turns brand context on; nothing else has to change.
* **Brand guide could not be read** (a database problem on Hiveku's side): the generation is refused before anything is spent, instead of quietly producing and billing an unbranded image. Retry in a moment, or opt out for that run.
To generate without brand context for one run:
* **In chat**: say so. "Generate this without brand styling" is enough.
* **In a workflow**: set **Apply Brand Context** to **No** on the node.
* **Through the API or the Claude Code plugin**: send `use_brand: false` on the request.
In the Design Studio chat, two more cases skip brand context on purpose: a prompt that already names a hex color (such as `#E11D2E`) is read as a deliberate palette, and the `flux`, `flux-pro` and `recraft` image models have no channel for brand context at all. Put the brand colors into the prompt yourself on those models.
## Your monthly image allowance
Each plan includes a number of AI image generations per month: 5 on Free, 50 on Standard, 500 on Premium. See [Billing](/settings/billing) for the full plan table. What draws from it:
* **Each generated image.** An image set counts one per image it produces. A generation that fails is refunded.
* **The composed reference still** when a video is generated in compose mode.
* **Each upscale** (see below).
Importing by URL, transforming an existing asset, exporting a design and stock photo searches do not count.
Before a large batch, ask your assistant how many generations are left this month. The read reports what has been used, the plan limit, what remains and when the period resets, and it is exact: it reads the same counter the next generation is gated on. If the count cannot be read, the assistant is told so rather than being handed a zero.
## Importing an image from a URL
There are two ways to bring an outside image into the library, and they are not the same:
* **Register the URL**: the library stores a pointer to the other site's file. If that site removes or moves the image, your asset breaks with it.
* **Import by URL**: Hiveku downloads the bytes, checks they really are an image, stores them in your own media storage and registers a new asset that outlives the source. The original URL is kept on the asset for reference.
Import by URL is what you want for anything you intend to keep using: a product photo from a supplier site, a press image, a photo the client emailed a link to. Ask the assistant to import it, optionally with a title, tags and a folder.
The limits: the URL must be `http` or `https`, the file must be an image (SVG is refused because it can carry scripts), the download is capped at 25 MB, and the copy counts toward your plan's media storage.
## Transform: crop, resize, re-encode
Simple pixel operations on an image already in the library, done on Hiveku's side so nothing needs to be downloaded and re-uploaded:
| Operation | What it does |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Crop** | A rectangle measured against the original pixels |
| **Resize** | To an exact width and height. **Cover** fills the frame and crops toward the most interesting region; **contain** fits the whole image and letterboxes the rest |
| **Re-encode** | To PNG, JPEG or WebP, with a quality setting from 1 to 100 |
Operations run in that order when combined. Output is capped at 4096 px per side; the source can be up to 25 MB and 24 megapixels. The result is a **new asset** titled after the original with an "(edited)" suffix, linked to its parent so you can trace where it came from.
Transforms are **free**: they do not touch the monthly image allowance. Only your media storage is affected.
## Upscale
AI upscaling for print, large-format and retina uses. The source stays as it is; the upscaled result lands as a new asset with an "(upscaled)" suffix, linked to its parent.
* **Scale**: 1x to 4x, 2x by default.
* **Cap**: the output must stay within 32 megapixels (source pixels multiplied by the scale squared). A 2000 x 1500 photo is 3 megapixels, so 3x (27 megapixels) is fine and 4x (48 megapixels) is refused up front. Nothing is submitted or charged for a job that cannot fit.
* **Cost**: one image generation from your monthly allowance, plus the upscaler's own charge of $0.03 per output megapixel deducted from your AI credits. A 16 megapixel result costs $0.48. Only the source's real dimensions, measured at the moment of the request, are used for the cap and the price.
The upscaler charges the moment it accepts the job. If the result then fails to save (a storage error, or the job outlives its time budget), the charge stands. Before asking for the same upscale again, check the Media Library: the finished asset may already be there.
## Every operation makes a new asset
An asset's bytes are immutable. Its file, dimensions, duration and generation metadata cannot be edited once it exists; what you can change is the title, alt text, caption, description, tags and folder. Transform, upscale, import and every Design Studio export add a row rather than replace one, which is why two versions of the same image can sit side by side and why nothing you or an assistant does can silently damage an asset a live post or page is already using. Delete what you no longer want.
## What's Next?
Design exports land here too, brand fonts included
The guide that brand-aware generation reads from
Attach library assets to posts, now or after scheduling
The Creative Studio nodes that generate media inside a workflow