Production Image APIs Need Explicit Upscaling and Structured Code Review (and Why I Chose One)

Use one plain image generation API boundary for the e-commerce image path when the real requirement is controlled resolution, repeatable spending, and machine-readable review findings. Generate a base image, use upscaling only when the delivery target needs more pixels, and enhance resolution without pretending interpolation is new detail. Make the account budget response a gate before inference.

Short answer: the image generation endpoint is the right first step for a text-to-image base asset, followed by /v1/ai/image/upscale for a 2x or 4x enlargement. The built-in enlarger uses Lanczos interpolation only. It produces a clean, sharp enlargement; it is not an AI super-resolution model. That distinction decides the production boundary.

This is an architecture decision record for an e-commerce team reviewing code changes that touch image generation.…