---
title: "Turn circles on a picture into exact edits — AI video generator workflow for images & thumbnails"
description: "Circle what to change, name each colour, and GPT Image 2.6 edits only the marked spots. Script draws the marks. Install in Claude Code, Codex and Grok with one command."
url: https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-markup-edit
updated: 2026-11-05
---

# Turn circles on a picture into exact edits — workflow skill for images & thumbnails

> **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q=<what the person wants>"` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page. From a terminal: `curl -fsSL https://varg.ai/install | sh` installs the vargai CLI (https://varg.ai/how-to/cli.md): `vargai search` and `vargai install <slug>` with no key, every varg model after `vargai login`.

Circle what to change, name each colour, and GPT Image 2.6 edits only the marked spots. Script draws the marks.

- **Type:** [Workflow](https://varg.ai/how-to/workflows.md) · [Images & thumbnails](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/image.md)
- **Slug:** `gpt-image-markup-edit`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** varg (varg, verified)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/gpt-image-markup-edit
- **Works in:** Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI
- **Requires:** varg API key (VARG_API_KEY) or the varg MCP
- **Cost:** 7 credits per edit — 7 credits per edit (6 + 1 for the source image). Measured 2026-11-05 on varg.
- **Runtime:** About 10-60 s per image on varg (Sunburst ~50 s); scripts run locally in seconds

## What it does

Markup-guided image edits with GPT Image 2.6 on varg: draw circles, boxes, arrows and short notes on a transparent PNG the same size as the source (scripts/markup.py turns a JSON list of shapes into that PNG, a preview and the prompt lines), upload it, then edit with provider_options.fal.markup_image_url and a prompt written per colour ("Red circle: … Blue circle: … Change nothing outside the marks."). Includes the measured example (two changes, the rest of the frame kept), how to check what changed, and when to use a black-and-white mask_url instead. Use when someone wants to change one or several specific spots in an image, says "circle it", "only change this part", "fix this word", "add a hat here", or an edit keeps changing things it should not. Not for whole-image restyles (gpt-image-2-6 recipes), animation (gpt-image-gif) or video edits (varg-ai).

## Use when

- Change one or a few spots in an image and keep everything else
- Circle it, point an arrow, or fix one word on a picture
- An edit keeps changing things it should not

## Not for

- whole-image restyles (gpt-image-2-6 recipes)
- animation (gpt-image-gif)
- video edits (varg-ai)

## Install

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg`
- Codex: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill gpt-image-markup-edit -a codex -y`
- Cursor: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill gpt-image-markup-edit -a cursor -y`
- Gemini CLI: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill gpt-image-markup-edit -a gemini-cli -y`
- Any agent, with the vargai CLI: `vargai install gpt-image-markup-edit`

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/files/4325c578-378d-4c43-ae53-3cc3218df1ea/file_8cb554ea63bb.mp4 — Red circle: Santa hat on the cat; blue circle: book to wrapped present; nothing else changed (GPT Image 2.6) (credit: varg, https://github.com/vargHQ/skills/tree/main/gpt-image-markup-edit)

## More images & thumbnails skills

- [GPT Image 2.6 skills for Claude Code and AI agents](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-2-6.md): Prompt, size and price GPT Image 2.6: Flare vs Sunburst, what the API rejects, recipes for posters and sheets.
- [Turn a photo into an animated sticker pack](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/gpt-image-sticker-pack.md): A photo to an animated sticker pack on GPT Image 2.6, exported for Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat and more.
- [Higgsfield YouTube Thumbnail](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/higgsfield-youtube-thumbnail.md): Design truthful, high-CTR YouTube thumbnails and vertical covers with up to three consistent faces.
- [Slack GIF Creator](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/anthropic-slack-gif-creator.md): Make animated GIFs that pass Slack's limits: 128×128 emoji or 480×480 message GIFs, validated on export.
- [PixiJS GIFs](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pixijs-gif.md): Load, play and control animated GIFs inside a PixiJS v8 scene.
- [AI Image Generation](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/inference-sh-ai-image-generation.md): Generate images with 50+ models from one CLI: GPT Image 2.5, FLUX, Gemini, Grok, Seedream, Reve and more.