Octo for generative AI in Photoshop

The AI generates, the log keeps, the credential shows. The one who decides what goes live is a person.

Photoshop brings Generative Fill and Generative Expand, Prompt to Edit and partner models; the Firefly API and the Photoshop API make part of that available to programs. Octo writes the policy and the usage log, builds the API client in dry-run mode, leaves each variation awaiting approval and reads the Content Credentials before publishing. Choosing the image and releasing it stay with people.

Request an assessment See what it does

Adobe AI guidelinesMay 15, 2026last updated

Firefly API token24 hserver credential, according to Adobe

Photoshop API v1Jul 31, 2026announced end; v2 is available

Sources10listed at the end of the page

What Octo does with your generative AI.

Six possible deliverables, drawn from the research. None of them publishes anything on its own, none of them touches Content Credentials, and all of them end with a person deciding.

Written policy

Models allowed by type of work, prohibited uses, who approves and how it is disclosed to the client, in a file the scripts read.

Deliverable: politica_ia.json with history

A log of every use

File, feature, model, channel, prompt, area changed, image release and who approved. Credit consumption stops being a surprise.

Deliverable: registro_ia.csv per job

Batch format expansion

A Firefly API client in dry-run mode by default; each variation lands in a new folder, awaiting approval.

Deliverable: firefly_expand_lote.py and a log

Reading Content Credentials

Each file's C2PA manifest read with c2patool and classified by the IPTC source vocabulary, without changing anything.

Deliverable: C2PA reports and an index

Cross-check before publishing

Manifest, log and policy together: AI with no log entry, a credential lost along the way, a model outside the policy, a person without a release.

Deliverable: pendencias_ia.csv for whoever publishes

Photos of people protected

A piece with a person and no image release doesn't go to the cloud; the data protection officer's assessment (LGPD, Brazil's data protection law) comes first.

Deliverable: list of blocked items with reasons

Eight arms, AI use that explains itself.

The same Octo cycle, applied to generative AI. Each arm has a narrow role; the ones who choose the image, disclose the use to the client and publish are people.

Discovery
Surveys actual usage

Who uses generative AI, on which plan, with which model, for which pieces, and how many credits are consumed.
Data
Writes the policy and log

Usage policy and a per-file log, in versioned files the scripts read.
Security
Protects the credential and the person

Server credential in a vault, photos of people blocked without a release, nothing published without approval (LGPD, Brazil's data protection law).
Architecture
Separates desktop and API

What stays with the designer in Photoshop and what goes to the Firefly API or the Photoshop API, with its own credential.
Development
Writes the client and the check

An API client in dry-run mode, C2PA reading and a cross-check with the log and the policy.
Review
Checks by content

Manifest, log and policy together. "The API responded" is not approval.
Release
Prepares the approved folder

Only approved pieces, with the manifest read. Publication is decided by a person.
Documentation
Records what applies to your environment

Policy, models, versions and who approved each piece, with the date.

Octo does not remove or alter Content Credentials, does not publish and does not press the generative button for the designer. It prepares, logs and checks.

Every task, its own path.

The criteria Octo uses to choose, with the documented limit of each path.

Task	Path	Notes
One-off AI retouching	Desktop Photoshop, by the person	Plan credits; log and review
Format expansion at volume	Firefly API, `/v3/images/expand-async`	Server credential; access through the Adobe representative
Generate images by program	Firefly API, `/v3/images/generate-async`	Response with `jobId` and `statusUrl`
Remove backgrounds at volume	Photoshop API v2, `/v2/remove-background`	See the cloud API page
Read Content Credentials	`c2patool`	Options checked with `-h` on the installed version
Cross-check manifest, log and policy	Python, standard library only	Doesn't decide; lists open items
Automate the interface's generative button	Outside the research	The guidelines prohibit unauthorized automation
Approve the image	A person	No script replaces it

From loose use to use that explains itself.

Three steps. Each one only makes sense after the previous one has shown results on your team.

A proposal, not a promise

1 Today

Reading the credentials

Octo reads the manifests in the publishing folder, without changing how you work.

Pieces with AI identified
Lost credentials pointed out
Report per file

Gain: knowing what is going live

2 Next

Policy and log

A written policy, a request and a log for every use, and the cross-check before publishing.

Models by type of work
Image release checked
Approval logged

Gain: an answer ready when the client asks

3 Later

API with approval

Expansion and generation at volume through the Firefly API, with variations awaiting approval.

Dry run before executing
Credential in a vault
Nothing published by the script

Gain: campaign formats without losing a day

Confirmed by a source.

Every point below has a source published by the vendor, by the project or by the responsible agency. The sources are in the next section.

points with a published source, each with its reference shown alongside.

ConfirmedGuidelines prohibit removing credentials: "You must not remove, alter, or disable any Content Credentials"; prompts and outputs may be reviewed by automated and manual methods.Source: adobe.com, Adobe Generative AI User Guidelines, May 15, 2026
ConfirmedAsynchronous Firefly API: generate-async and expand-async return jobId, statusUrl and cancelUrl; the server token lasts 24 hours.Source: developer.adobe.com, Firefly Services
ConfirmedIPTC source vocabulary: trainedAlgorithmicMedia ("Created using Generative AI") and compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia ("Edited using Generative AI").Source: cv.iptc.org, Digital Source Type

What Octo does, and what stays with you.

Octo prepares everything, but it does not sign. The document of record stays with whoever is accountable for it.

Octo prepares

Surveys, calculates, organizes and produces the documents: processed files, proofs, reports and spreadsheets.

Deliverable: material ready to check

Your team checks

The client or the art director checks what Octo delivered before approving. If something doesn't add up, it goes back to Octo with the correction.

Step: checked by the person who approves

Who approves

Octo does not approve the artwork. Artwork carries no legal signature: approval of the artwork and the proof stays with the client or the art director.

Approval: client or art director

Sources.

Firefly Services documentation, Adobe's AI guidelines and credits page, a 2024 announcement, the 27.11 release announcement, the C2PA specification, the IPTC vocabulary and c2patool, consulted on Oct 31, 2026.

Firefly APIImage5, composites, Upscale
Firefly API: getting startedToken and scopes
Firefly API: asynchronousexpand-async, status
Photoshop APIv2, generative actions
Generative AI guidelinesMay 15, 2026
Generative creditsRules and add-on plans
Announcement of Apr 23, 2024Automatic credentials
Photoshop 27.11GPT Image 2
IPTC Digital Source TypeSource codes
c2patoolReading manifests

Your generative AI, logged and approved.

The assessment starts by reading the Content Credentials of a publishing folder that already exists. You get what has AI, what lost its credential along the way and the questions only your team can answer, and you decide with that in hand.

Request an assessment