Multimodal

Multimodal

AI-Lib supports multimodal inputs and outputs — text combined with images, audio, and video — through the same unified API. The V2 protocol provides comprehensive multimodal capabilities with format validation and provider-aware modality checking.

Supported Capabilities

Capability	Direction	Providers
Vision (images)	Input	OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Qwen, DeepSeek
Image generation	Output	OpenAI (DALL-E), select providers
Audio input	Input	Gemini, Qwen (omni_mode)
Audio output	Output	Qwen (omni_mode), select providers
Video input	Input	Gemini
Omni mode	Input + Output	Qwen (simultaneous text + audio)

Sending Images

Rust

use ai_lib_rust::{AiClient, Message, ContentBlock};

let client = AiClient::new("openai/gpt-4o").await?;

let message = Message::user_with_content(vec![
    ContentBlock::Text("What's in this image?".into()),
    ContentBlock::ImageUrl {
        url: "https://example.com/photo.jpg".into(),
    },
]);

let response = client.chat()
    .messages(vec![message])
    .execute()
    .await?;

println!("{}", response.content);

Python

from ai_lib_python import AiClient, Message, ContentBlock

client = await AiClient.create("openai/gpt-4o")

message = Message.user_with_content([
    ContentBlock.text("What's in this image?"),
    ContentBlock.image_url("https://example.com/photo.jpg"),
])

response = await client.chat() \
    .messages([message]) \
    .execute()

print(response.content)

TypeScript

import { AiClient, Message, ContentBlock } from '@hiddenpath/ai-lib-ts';

const client = await AiClient.new('openai/gpt-4o');

const message = Message.userWithContent([
    ContentBlock.text("What's in this image?"),
    ContentBlock.imageUrl('https://example.com/photo.jpg'),
]);

const response = await client
  .chat()
  .messages([message])
  .execute();

console.log(response.content);

Base64 Images

For local images, use base64 encoding:

Rust

let image_data = std::fs::read("photo.jpg")?;
let base64 = base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(&image_data);

let message = Message::user_with_content(vec![
    ContentBlock::Text("Describe this".into()),
    ContentBlock::ImageBase64 {
        data: base64,
        media_type: "image/jpeg".into(),
    },
]);

Python

import base64

with open("photo.jpg", "rb") as f:
    image_data = base64.b64encode(f.read()).decode()

message = Message.user_with_content([
    ContentBlock.text("Describe this"),
    ContentBlock.image_base64(image_data, "image/jpeg"),
])

TypeScript

import { readFileSync } from 'fs';

const imageBuffer = readFileSync('photo.jpg');
const imageData = imageBuffer.toString('base64');

const message = Message.userWithContent([
    ContentBlock.text('Describe this'),
    ContentBlock.imageBase64(imageData, 'image/jpeg'),
]);

V2 Multimodal Capabilities

The V2 protocol provides a MultimodalCapabilities module that validates content against provider declarations before sending requests.

Modality Detection

The runtime automatically detects modalities in your content blocks:

use ai_lib_rust::multimodal::{detect_modalities, Modality};

let modalities = detect_modalities(&content_blocks);
// Returns: {Text, Image} or {Text, Audio, Video} etc.

from ai_lib_python.multimodal import detect_modalities, Modality

modalities = detect_modalities(content_blocks)
# Returns: {Modality.TEXT, Modality.IMAGE}

// TypeScript
import { detectModalities, Modality } from '@hiddenpath/ai-lib-ts/multimodal';

const modalities = detectModalities(contentBlocks);
// Returns: Set { Modality.TEXT, Modality.IMAGE }

Format Validation

The runtime validates formats against what the provider supports:

use ai_lib_rust::multimodal::MultimodalCapabilities;

let caps = MultimodalCapabilities::from_config(&manifest.multimodal);
assert!(caps.validate_image_format("png"));
assert!(caps.validate_audio_format("wav"));

from ai_lib_python.multimodal import MultimodalCapabilities

caps = MultimodalCapabilities.from_config(manifest_multimodal)
assert caps.validate_image_format("png")
assert caps.validate_audio_format("wav")

// TypeScript
import { MultimodalCapabilities } from '@hiddenpath/ai-lib-ts/multimodal';

const caps = MultimodalCapabilities.fromConfig(manifestMultimodal);
console.assert(caps.validateImageFormat('png'));
console.assert(caps.validateAudioFormat('wav'));

Content Validation

Before sending a request, validate that the provider supports all modalities in the content:

use ai_lib_rust::multimodal::validate_content_modalities;

match validate_content_modalities(&blocks, &caps) {
    Ok(()) => { /* all modalities supported */ }
    Err(unsupported) => {
        eprintln!("Provider doesn't support: {:?}", unsupported);
    }
}

from ai_lib_python.multimodal import validate_content_modalities

# Validate content blocks against provider capabilities

// TypeScript
import { validateContentModalities } from '@hiddenpath/ai-lib-ts/multimodal';

try {
  validateContentModalities(blocks, caps);
  // all modalities supported
} catch (unsupported) {
  console.error(`Provider doesn't support: ${unsupported}`);
}

How It Works

1. The runtime constructs a multimodal message with mixed content blocks
2. V2 validation: MultimodalCapabilities checks that all content modalities are supported by the provider
3. The protocol manifest maps content blocks to the provider’s format
4. Different providers use different structures:
   • OpenAI: content array with type: "image_url" objects
   • Anthropic: content array with type: "image" objects
   • Gemini: parts array with inline_data objects (supports video parts)
5. The protocol handles all format differences automatically

Provider Multimodal Matrix

The V2 manifest declares each provider’s multimodal capabilities explicitly:

Provider	Image In	Audio In	Video In	Image Out	Audio Out	Omni
OpenAI	✅ png, jpg, gif, webp	—	—	✅	—	—
Anthropic	✅ png, jpg, gif, webp	—	—	—	—	—
Gemini	✅ png, jpg, gif, webp	✅ wav, mp3, flac	✅ mp4, avi	—	—	—
Qwen	✅ png, jpg	✅ wav, mp3	—	—	✅	✅
DeepSeek	✅ png, jpg	—	—	—	—	—

Check multimodal.input and multimodal.output sections in the V2 provider manifest for the complete declaration.