Migration Guides

grok-imagine-image-quality Retirement on November 2, 2026

grok-imagine-image-2.0 now covers everything grok-imagine-image-quality was used for, at a lower price. Effective November 2, 2026, the grok-imagine-image-quality model slug is retired from the xAI API. Its 60-day notice period began on September 2, 2026.

[!CAUTION]

After November 2, 2026, requests to grok-imagine-image-quality are served by grok-imagine-image-2.0 with quality set to low. The slug continues to resolve, so you do not need to change your code to avoid breakage. grok-imagine-image-2.0 is priced differently than the model it replaces.

grok-imagine-image (1.0) is not affected by this change.

How the redirect works

Starting November 2, 2026:

• Requests to grok-imagine-image-quality on /v1/images/generations and /v1/images/edits are served by grok-imagine-image-2.0 with quality: "low".
• The request and response shapes are unchanged. Every parameter accepted today is accepted after the switch, and grok-imagine-image-2.0 additionally accepts quality, up to five source images for editing, and the 21:9 and 5:2 aspect ratios.
• The model field on responses reports the model that served the request, so you can confirm the switch from your logs.
• Requests to grok-imagine-image-pro, which already redirect to grok-imagine-image-quality, follow it to grok-imagine-image-2.0 at low.

Pricing impact

grok-imagine-image-2.0 at low quality is $0.01 per image cheaper than grok-imagine-image-quality at every resolution. If you keep sending requests to the retired slug after November 2, you are billed at the grok-imagine-image-2.0 low rate. See Pricing for current per-image rates.

Recommended replacement

We recommend switching to grok-imagine-image-2.0 explicitly before November 2. Doing so lets you choose the quality you pay for, rather than accepting the low default applied by the redirect.

Migrating is a one-line change to the model field. grok-imagine-image-2.0 also accepts an optional quality parameter:

• low is what the redirect uses. It ranks #2 on the Arena Image Edit leaderboard and #3 on Text-to-Image, and is the closest match in cost to grok-imagine-image-quality.
• medium spends more compute on each image for finer detail; choose it where output quality matters more than cost.
• auto (the default when quality is omitted) currently serves low for generation and medium for editing, and you are billed at the quality served.

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.x.ai/v1",
    api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
)

response = client.images.generate(
    model="grok-imagine-image-2.0",
    prompt="A watercolor painting of a lighthouse at dawn",
    extra_body={"quality": "low"},
)

print(response.data[0].url)

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
    apiKey: process.env.XAI_API_KEY,
    baseURL: "https://api.x.ai/v1",
});

const response = await client.images.generate({
    model: "grok-imagine-image-2.0",
    prompt: "A watercolor painting of a lighthouse at dawn",
    quality: "low",
});

console.log(response.data[0].url);

curl -X POST https://api.x.ai/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "grok-imagine-image-2.0",
    "prompt": "A watercolor painting of a lighthouse at dawn",
    "quality": "low"
  }'

import xai_sdk

client = xai_sdk.Client()

response = client.image.sample(
    prompt="A watercolor painting of a lighthouse at dawn",
    model="grok-imagine-image-2.0",
    quality="low",
)

print(response.url)

The same model change applies to image editing requests on /v1/images/edits.

Need help?

If you have questions or need assistance with this migration, reach out to support@x.ai.