Build a Free AI Image Generator with ReactJS

Hi Devs,  Today, I'm going to show you how to create an image generator using ReactJS, and it's all free to use, thanks to Black Forest Labs and Together AI.

Step 1: Setting Up the Project

For this tutorial, we'll be using Vite to initialize the app and Shadcn for the UI. I'll assume you're already set up the project and installed Shadcn.

Step 2: Install the Together AI package

We need to install the Together AI package to access the free Flux model for image generation. Run following command in your terminal

npm i together-ai

Step 3: Building the UI

Now, let's create the UI for our app. Below is the full code for image generator component. it includes a text input for prompts. a dropdown for aspect ratios selection. Keep in mind, we need to use "black-forest-labs/FLUX.1-schnell-Free" because it's free.

import { useRef, useState } from "react";
import Together from "together-ai";
import { ImagesResponse } from "together-ai";
import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
import {
 Select,
 SelectContent,
 SelectItem,
 SelectTrigger,
 SelectValue,
} from "@/components/ui/select";
import { Textarea } from "@/components/ui/textarea";
import { motion } from "framer-motion";
import { Separator } from "@/components/ui/separator";
import { DownloadIcon } from "@radix-ui/react-icons";
import { save } from "@tauri-apps/plugin-dialog";
import { writeFile } from "@tauri-apps/plugin-fs";

function App() {
 const [input, setInput] = useState("");
 const [imageUrl, setImageUrl] = useState("");
 const [ratio, setRatio] = useState("9:16");
 const [isLoading, setIsLoading] = useState(false);
 const [downloading, setDownloading] = useState(false);
 const imageRef = useRef<HTMLImageElement>(null);

 const hRatio = ratio.split(":").map(Number)[0];
 const vRatio = ratio.split(":").map(Number)[1];

 const width = hRatio === 1 ? 512 : hRatio * 64;
 const height = vRatio === 1 ? 512 : vRatio * 64;

 const together = new Together({
  apiKey: import.meta.env.VITE_TOGETHER_API_KEY,
 });

 const handleGenerateImage = async () => {
  setIsLoading(true);

  try {
   console.log(width, height);
   const response: ImagesResponse = await together.images.create({
    model: "black-forest-labs/FLUX.1-schnell-Free",
    prompt: input,
    width: width,
    height: height,
    // @ts-expect-error response_format is not defined in the type
    response_format: "b64_json",
   });

   const base64Image = response.data[0].b64_json;
   const dataUrl = `data:image/png;base64,${base64Image}`;
   setImageUrl(dataUrl);
  } catch (error) {
   console.error("Error generating image:", error);
   // You might want to add some error handling UI here
  } finally {
   setIsLoading(false);
  }
 };

 const handleDownloadImage = async () => {
  if (imageUrl) {
   setDownloading(true);
   try {
    // Remove the data URL prefix
    const base64Data = imageUrl.replace(/^data:image/w+;base64,/, "");

    // Convert base64 to binary
    const imageBuffer = Uint8Array.from(atob(base64Data), (c) =>
     c.charCodeAt(0)
    );

    // Open a save dialog
    const filePath = await save({
     filters: [
      {
       name: "Image",
       extensions: ["png"],
      },
     ],
    });

    if (filePath) {
     // Write the file
     await writeFile(filePath, imageBuffer);
     console.log("File saved successfully");
    }
   } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error saving image:", error);
   } finally {
    setDownloading(false);
   }
  }
 };

 return (
  <div className="bg-gradient-to-br from-indigo-100 via-purple-100 to-pink-100 p-10 md:p-8">
   <motion.div
    initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
    animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
    transition={{ duration: 0.5 }}
    className="max-w-7xl mx-auto bg-white/80 backdrop-blur-sm rounded-3xl shadow-2xl overflow-y-auto"
   >
    <div className="flex flex-col md:flex-row h-[calc(100vh-4rem)]">
     <div className="w-full md:w-1/2 p-6 flex flex-col">
      <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold mb-6 text-gray-800 bg-clip-text text-transparent bg-gradient-to-r from-indigo-500 to-purple-600">
       AI Image Generator
      </h2>
      <div className="flex-grow flex flex-col justify-center">
       <Textarea
        value={input}
        onChange={(e) => setInput(e.target.value)}
        placeholder="Describe the image you want to create..."
        className="mb-4 resize-none rounded-2xl border-2 border-indigo-200 focus:border-indigo-500 transition-colors"
        rows={5}
       />
       <div className="flex items-center space-x-4 mb-6">
        <Select value={ratio} onValueChange={setRatio}>
         <SelectTrigger className="w-full rounded-full border-2 border-purple-200 focus:border-purple-500 transition-colors">
          <SelectValue placeholder="Select ratio" />
         </SelectTrigger>
         <SelectContent>
          <SelectItem value="1:1">1:1</SelectItem>
          <SelectItem value="4:3">4:3</SelectItem>
          <SelectItem value="16:9">16:9</SelectItem>
          <SelectItem value="3:4">3:4</SelectItem>
          <SelectItem value="9:16">9:16</SelectItem>
         </SelectContent>
        </Select>

        <Button
         onClick={handleGenerateImage}
         disabled={isLoading}
         className="flex-shrink-0 bg-gradient-to-r from-indigo-500 to-purple-600 hover:from-indigo-600 hover:to-purple-700 text-white font-semibold py-2 px-4 rounded-full transition-all duration-300 ease-in-out transform hover:scale-105"
        >
         {isLoading ? "Generating..." : "Generate Image"}
        </Button>
       </div>
      </div>
     </div>
     <Separator orientation="vertical" className="hidden md:block" />
     <div className="w-full md:w-1/2 p-6 bg-gray-50/50 flex flex-col">
      <h2 className="text-3xl font-bold mb-6 text-gray-800 bg-clip-text text-transparent bg-gradient-to-r from-purple-500 to-pink-600">
       Generated Image
      </h2>
      {imageUrl ? (
       <motion.div
        initial={{ opacity: 0, scale: 0.9 }}
        animate={{ opacity: 1, scale: 1 }}
        transition={{ duration: 0.5 }}
        className="flex-grow flex flex-col items-center justify-center"
       >
        <img
         ref={imageRef}
         src={imageUrl}
         alt="Generated"
         className="max-w-full max-h-[60vh] object-contain rounded-lg shadow-lg mb-6"
        />
        <div className="flex space-x-4">
         <Button
          onClick={handleDownloadImage}
          className="rounded-full bg-gradient-to-r from-purple-500 to-pink-600 hover:from-purple-600 hover:to-pink-700 text-white font-semibold py-2 px-4 transition-all duration-300 ease-in-out transform hover:scale-105 flex items-center space-x-2"
         >
          {downloading ? "Downloading..." : <DownloadIcon />}
          <span>Download</span>
         </Button>
        </div>
       </motion.div>
      ) : (
       <div className="flex-grow flex items-center justify-center text-gray-400">
        <p className="text-lg italic">
         Your generated image will appear here
        </p>
       </div>
      )}
     </div>
    </div>
   </motion.div>
  </div>
 );
}

export default App;

Final Thoughts

With this setup, you now have a simple ReactJS app that can generate and download AI-generated images. Thanks for reading! If you think this post is interesting, don’t hesitate to give it a like. Happy coding!