# Let Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor Compress Images with PiPic

> Source: <https://dev.to/zimmer_c/let-codex-claude-code-and-cursor-compress-images-with-pipic-5bim>
> Published: 2026-08-13 09:00:53+00:00

Your coding agent can run a build and edit the code that ships it. Image

compression often ends with a tool installation, a throwaway script and output the

agent cannot interpret reliably.

PiPic uses a two-part setup instead:

`@pipic/cli`

performs the image compression.PiPic is not an AI compression model. The agent operates the tool; the hosted PiPic

service compresses PNG, JPEG, WebP and AVIF files.

Run the setup yourself once:

```
npm i -g @pipic/cli
pipic login

npx skills add PiPic-cc/pipic-cli -g \
  -a claude-code \
  -a codex \
  -a cursor \
  -y
```

The short form below asks which supported agents should receive the Skill:

```
npx skills add PiPic-cc/pipic-cli -g
```

The Skill source is public in the

[PiPic CLI repository](https://github.com/PiPic-cc/pipic-cli/blob/main/skills/pipic/SKILL.md).

After setup, the task does not need a product name or flags:

```
Compress the images in ./assets in place.
```

The Skill matches image compression, shrinking and optimisation requests. It checks

that `pipic`

exists and that the machine is signed in. “In place” gives it an

explicit destination, so the agent runs:

```
pipic ./assets --replace --json
```

To preserve the originals, ask for a separate output directory. The agent then uses:

```
pipic ./assets -o ./compressed --json
```

`--replace`

and `-o`

are mutually exclusive, and one is required. PiPic exits with

a usage error before uploading anything when the destination is missing.

With `--json`

, stdout contains one NDJSON object per file:

```
{"file":"assets/hero.png","status":"ok","before":2316198,"after":723577,"saved":1592621}
```

Those byte counts come from a published PiPic Agent CLI 1.0.6 benchmark run over a

licensed PNG. They demonstrate the output shape; results vary by image.

Every row has `file`

, `status`

, `before`

, `after`

and `saved`

. Skipped and failed rows

also include `error`

. `status`

is always one of:

`ok`

: a smaller result was written.`skipped`

: the original stayed in place, often because the result was larger.`error`

: the file failed and may need attention.The Skill explicitly teaches the agent that `skipped`

is not a failure. Without that

rule, an agent can report an already-optimised image as broken.

| Code | Meaning | What the agent does |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Everything succeeded | Summarises the rows and stops |
| 1 | Some files failed | Re-runs only paths with `status: "error"`
|
| 2 | Usage error | Fixes the command instead of repeating it |
| 3 | Sign-in required | Stops and asks the user to sign in |
| 4 | Monthly allowance exhausted | Stops; a retry cannot help |

Retry scope matters because every accepted file uses monthly allowance. If two files

fail in a 100-file directory, re-running the entire directory uploads the other 98

again. The Skill tells the agent to retry only the two failed paths.

It also tells the agent never to run `pipic login`

. That command opens a browser or

waits for device-code approval. A coding agent cannot provide the human approval and

should stop instead of waiting for a timeout.

PiPic Skill is an instruction file. It does not contain an encoder or transport

image bytes. The CLI resolves files, calls the hosted compression service, writes

smaller output atomically and returns structured results.

The remote MCP endpoint is separate and read-only. It helps agents discover the CLI

and HTTP API; images do not move through JSON-RPC.

CLI images leave the machine for processing and are deleted from the server as soon

as compression completes. Teams that require local-only processing should choose a

local encoder. PiPic CLI and API offer 100 images per month on Free and 5,000 on Pro;

the browser compressor remains free, unlimited and account-free.

Full contract: [PiPic Agent CLI documentation](https://pipic.cc/cli)