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alt_text

Generate descriptive alt text for images from URLs or local files to improve accessibility and SEO using computer vision models.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
file_pathNo
image_urlNo
max_wordsNo

Implementation Reference

  • MCP tool handler for 'alt_text'. Validates input (image_url or file_path), constructs image_ref, and delegates to run_alt_text from metadata.runner.
    @mcp.tool()
    def alt_text(
        image_url: Optional[str] = None,
        file_path: Optional[str] = None,
        max_words: int = 20,
    ) -> str:
        if not image_url and not file_path:
            raise ValueError("Provide either image_url or file_path")
        if image_url and file_path:
            raise ValueError("Provide only one of image_url or file_path, not both")
        image_ref = image_url or file_path  # type: ignore
        return run_alt_text(image_ref, max_words=max_words)
  • Core implementation of alt_text generation. Supports local, Ollama, and OpenRouter backends using specific system and user prompts from prompts.py.
    def run_alt_text(image_ref: str, *, model: Optional[str] = None, max_words: int = 20) -> str:
        if _use_local_for("caption"):
            prompt = f"{prompts.ALT_SYSTEM}\n\n{prompts.alt_user_prompt(max_words)}"
            return _local_gen(image_ref, prompt)
        if _use_ollama_for("caption"):
            from cv_mcp.captioning.ollama_client import OllamaClient
            client = OllamaClient(host=str(_cfg_value("ollama_host", "http://localhost:11434")))
            res = client.analyze_single_image(
                image_ref,
                prompts.alt_user_prompt(max_words),
                model=_cfg_value("caption_model"),
                system=prompts.ALT_SYSTEM,
            )
            if not res.get("success"):
                raise RuntimeError(str(res.get("error", "Alt text generation failed (ollama)")))
            return str(res.get("content", "")).strip()
        client = OpenRouterClient()
        res = client.analyze_single_image(
            image_ref,
            prompts.alt_user_prompt(max_words),
            model=model or _cfg_value("caption_model"),
            system=prompts.ALT_SYSTEM,
        )
        if not res.get("success"):
            raise RuntimeError(str(res.get("error", "Alt text generation failed")))
        return str(res.get("content", "")).strip()
  • System prompt and user prompt template used by run_alt_text for generating factual alt text descriptions.
    from __future__ import annotations
    
    ALT_SYSTEM = (
        "You describe images for accessibility. Be concise and strictly factual. Do not infer unseen details."
    )
    
    
    def alt_user_prompt(max_words: int = 20) -> str:
        return (
            f"Describe this image in <= {max_words} words. Neutral tone. "
            "No brand/species/location guesses. Return one sentence only. If unknown, omit."
        )

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