Use Bing Image Creator in the terminal because why wouldn't you want to do that?

An image of a cat in space drawn by Bing Image Creator
An image of a cat in space drawn by Bing Image Creator in Python (Image credit: Windows Central / Bing Image Creator)

You can already use Bing Chat and Bing Image Creator from a multitude of places, but how about the terminal? The same developer that built a Bing Chat client that runs inside a terminal has also done the same thing for Bing Image Creator and it's pretty awesome. 

Obviously, it's not for everyone, nor is it the most user-friendly way to build AI artwork, but as a proof of concept it's still impressive. It's built in Python and allows you to create an image from your regular prompts and have them downloaded to a local directory. 

Everything will also be synced to your recents list that you can access from mobile or in the browser and it doesn't bypass using your boosts or anything. But if you're comfortable with a terminal and installing Python it's neat to play around with. 

Python, a bit of mild setup and all the terminal image creating you can handle

Creating with Bing Image Creator in PowerShell and exporting the images to a local directory.  (Image credit: Windows Central)

To try this out for yourself you'll need to have Python installed on your PC. On Windows you can easily do this by grabbing it from the Microsoft Store. From here you'll be able to access it through PowerShell. Alternatively, if you use WSL, you can also install and use in there, again just making sure you have a current version of Python installed. 

With this out of the way you can install the client with this command:

pip3 install --upgrade BingImageCreator

You may also need an additional module installed, so before attempting to run enter this command, also: 

pip3 install aiohttp

Before you begin you'll need to grab your authentication from Bing Image Creator on the web which you grab from your browsers Dev Tools. The instructions on how to do this are on the GitHub repo but in essence you'll be grabbing a cookie that you can feed into the Python client to authenticate your access. There are no requirements for account login information being passed into it directly. 

Once you have that you have everything you need to create images. The command you need to enter follows this template: 

python3 -m BingImageCreator -U [cookie] --prompt [prompt] --output-dir [directory location] 

After -U is where you paste your cookie. It's important to pass a directory to save your images to as well otherwise the images will download but won't have a place to be saved locally. They'll still be saved to your account to access elsewhere, but the killer part of using this is that they'll automatically be saved to your machine. 

It's a little long-winded and you'll want to make sure you have a copy of your cookie handy because you'll have to enter it each time. But as a concept, it's very cool, and if you live in the terminal, it's another fun way to interact with Microsoft's AI image generator. Find everything you need to know about it on GitHub.

CATEGORIES
Richard Devine
Managing Editor - Tech, Reviews

Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you'll find him steering the site's coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon at mstdn.social/@richdevine

Read more
Microsoft Bing Image Creator is displayed on a smartphone.
Microsoft backtracks DALL-E 3 AI's 'PR16' upgrade after backlash as Grok gets an Unhinged Mode: "Bing has become useless"
Artificial Intelligence AI Assistant Apps - ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, Poe.
Copilot gets a boost from Bing. Microsoft's search engine now promotes Copilot if you search for Gemini, ChatGPT, Grok, or other AI tools.
Artificial Intelligence AI Assistant Apps - ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, Poe.
Satya Nadella admits Microsoft missed an opportunity as ChatGPT and Copilot gain popularity — even OpenAI's Sam Altman "doesn't do Google searches anymore"
The Opera browser logo appears on the screen of a smartphone in Reno, United States, on December 6, 2024.
Microsoft's Windows Recall should've been everything Opera's Browser Operator promises to be on paper — an AI agent with a "pause button" to preserve user privacy
The HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024) on a desk and in tablet mode, showing Microsoft Paint open with an amateur drawing and HP's MPP2.0 stylus.
This Microsoft app is the latest to get infused with Copilot
OpenAI unveils ChatGPT Search to take on Google
OpenAI's "Google killer" AI-powered search experience is now freely available for everyone — you'll no longer need an account or $20 subscription plan, but don't ask silly questions either
Latest in Software Apps
Artificial intelligence mobile apps for DeepSeek, ChatGPT and Google Gemini arranged.
Google says its latest reasoning model is its "most intelligent" — but Microsoft's CEO claims Google already fumbled its AI opportunity
ChatGPT and Microsoft Logo
ChatGPT’s new image-generation tool is impressive; it can finally create a glass of wine filled to the brim — but it struggles with blank white images and appears to discriminate against 'sexy women'
Microsoft Edge Sidebar
My favorite Microsoft Edge feature just got an AI upgrade — is this the best way to use Copilot on Windows 11?
Professor Sir Roger Penrose, physicist, mathematician and cosmologist
Nobel laureate claims "AI will not be conscious" and shouldn't be considered intelligent — Until it develops its own ideas
In this photo illustration OpenAI ChatGPT icon is displayed on a mobile phone screen in Ankara, Turkiye on August 13, 2024.
OpenAI says an excessive dependency on ChatGPT can lead to loneliness and a "loss of confidence" in decision-making
Microsoft 365 app on Windows 11 with shortcuts to create documents in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other Microsoft 365 applictions.
This Microsoft 365 feature will nudge users to save files to OneDrive
Latest in News
Screenshot of one of the new flat world presets in Minecraft.
Minecraft testing new flat world presets and a better way to locate your friends in-game
Cover art for Heroes of the Storm.
Xbox Game Pass will give you more benefits in free-to-play games like Heroes of the Storm
Surface Pro 11
Microsoft’s smaller Surface Pro appears in certification database ahead of rumored launch this spring
Artificial intelligence mobile apps for DeepSeek, ChatGPT and Google Gemini arranged.
Google says its latest reasoning model is its "most intelligent" — but Microsoft's CEO claims Google already fumbled its AI opportunity
ChatGPT and Microsoft Logo
ChatGPT’s new image-generation tool is impressive; it can finally create a glass of wine filled to the brim — but it struggles with blank white images and appears to discriminate against 'sexy women'
Microsoft Edge Sidebar
My favorite Microsoft Edge feature just got an AI upgrade — is this the best way to use Copilot on Windows 11?