Cloudinary Image has long empowered developers to move faster and build smarter, with powerful APIs that automate image transformation, optimization, and delivery at scale.
But as generative AI and creative automation become part of everyday workflows, speed alone isn’t enough. Automation can get you 90% of the way, but the polish, the brand style, the human judgment, the final tweaks, these are the differences between an asset that’s merely “done” and one that’s truly production-ready.
Speed and automation, along with the human touch and polish, is exactly what Cloudinary Image delivers. Alongside our core APIs, we’re introducing our set of Generative AI Refiners and a brand-new Editor experience. These UI-based workflows empower creative teams to refine GenAI and automated outputs quickly and confidently, without breaking the developer-driven automation pipeline.
GenAI outputs can be fast, but they’re not always flawless. Historically, if a background removal left jagged edges, or if an automated crop missed the subject, or if a GenAI prompt created something uncanny, the only option was to rerun the process and hope for a better outcome. That’s neither efficient nor scalable.
Refiners change that. They make GenAI practical by giving you tools to review at scale and perfect outputs directly:
- Background Removal Refiner. Automated background removal miss a few spots? Clean up messy edges or stray pixels to create clean, crisp backgrounds for any image.
- GenAI Refiners: Background Replace and Generative Fill. Did your GenAI prompt miss the mark? Spin up dozens of variations from the same prompt, then pick the best fit, all without changing the delivery URL.
- Focus Area Refiner. Did auto-cropping cut off the most important part of your image, like a face or headline? Quickly correct mistakes around key subjects and define new focal areas to keep assets looking professional and on-brand.
Instead of abandoning automation when it falls short, you can scan outputs in bulk, spot the outliers, and refine them mid‑workflow into production-quality assets, quickly and without disruption. Developers stay unblocked, creatives stay in control, content keeps flowing.
Marketers and designers often just need a quick set of edits without touching code. Developers, on the other hand, may want to visually prototype complex chains of edits that are difficult to debug in code alone.
That’s why, alongside Refiners, we’re introducing a new Editor experience inside the Cloudinary dashboard: a clean, powerful interface that removes friction and unites creative and technical teams in one seamless workflow.
Now, teams can edit, transform, and review assets all in a single interface. AI-driven transformations and optimizations are accessible through intuitive menus and simple selections, with fine‑tuning controls to ensure every result meets brand standards and quality expectations.
Successful transformations can be saved and applied in bulk as reusable templates, saving teams from repetitive work and guaranteeing consistency across campaigns. Bulk previews, side‑by‑side comparisons, and fast approvals eliminate the need for downloads or constant tool‑switching.
The same streamlined interface works for both images and video, meaning no new tools to learn and no separate workflows to manage. Developers, designers, and marketers collaborate in real time, scaling from a single quick fix to hundreds of assets with the same ease. And for advanced needs, the Editor is extensible, letting teams plug in custom tools and workflows without ever leaving the platform.
The result? One workspace where creative vision meets automation, helping teams move faster, stay on‑brand, and get more done with less hassle.
Together, Refiners and the new Editor experience bridge the gap between developer-driven automation and creative control. Developers can keep their pipelines running smoothly, while creatives get the tools they need to refine, approve, and scale assets without friction.
The end result isn’t just faster automation. It’s automation that’s usable, brand-safe, and production-ready, where GenAI doesn’t replace human judgment, but amplifies it.
With our newest release, Cloudinary Image continues its mission: helping teams automate at scale while keeping taste, trust, and quality at the center.
Refiners and the Editor experience are now available in the Cloudinary dashboard. Log in today to explore, or join our beta program to provide feedback and help shape the future of Creative Automation.
