How image links work

Every saved image has one link. Each recipient’s values travel in the link as query parameters:

https://app.piksio.com/i/YOUR_IMAGE_ID?first_name=Jane&company_name=Acme

Your email platform writes the parameters for you: Use in email puts its merge tags where Jane and Acme are, and the platform swaps in each recipient’s data when it sends.

How values are read

• Only your design’s fields count. A parameter whose name isn’t a field in the design is ignored.
• Values can be up to 512 characters. A link can carry up to 40 fields.
• A blank or unfilled value uses the fallback. That includes a merge tag your platform left as it was, like *|FNAME|*. See Fallbacks and blanks.
• Colours accept hex (ff2e9a or #ff2e9a) or a colour name (red). Anything else uses the design’s colour.
• Numbers (chart values, sizes) must be numbers. Anything else uses the design’s value.
• Special characters must be URL-encoded. Most platforms on the Integrations list do this for you; each page says whether its platform does.

Sizing

The image renders at your design’s size. Add w (width) or h (height) in pixels to get a smaller version:

https://app.piksio.com/i/YOUR_IMAGE_ID?w=600&first_name=Jane

The proportions are kept, Piksio never enlarges past the design’s own size, and the largest size is 2400 pixels. For email, set width="600" on the <img> tag (the HTML from Use in email already does).

Formats

Choose the format in the editor’s canvas settings, under Render as:

• PNG is the safe choice for email.
• GIF is the format for animation that works across email clients.
• WebP suits websites. Many email clients, including Outlook, don’t show it reliably.

Designs that use a surface effect (Wrap, Follow surface, material text) always render as a still PNG.

Updating a design

The link stays the same when you edit and save. New opens show the latest saved version, including emails that were already sent. Some email apps, such as Gmail, keep their own copy of an image after it’s first opened, so a recipient who opened before your change may still see the earlier version.

Views and credits

Recipient images are rendered from your saved template with the supplied values. This does not create a new AI design or background for each recipient. AI artwork generation and successful picture edits are separate actions with their own credit cost.

You pay per personalized image, not per open. The first time a particular combination of values is served it costs one credit; every later open of that same image — re-opens, prefetches, other sizes — is free. The first 500 new images each month are free; see Pricing for current rates.

• An image with a map costs 2 instead of 1, because it includes a paid Google Static Maps call. If a person has no address, their map is hidden, no call is made, and the image costs the usual 1. See Maps.
• Editing and saving a design changes the values’ fingerprint, so the next open of a redesigned image is a new image.
• Daily credit cap: set one per image in the editor’s top bar to limit how many credits it can use in a day.
• If your account runs out of credits, or an image reaches its daily cap, the link still returns the design, rendered with its saved default values — never a broken image, never a blank. Nothing is recorded for that recipient, so once you top up, their next open is personalized and billed normally.
• Paused images return a tiny transparent image and use no credits. See Pause.
• Test renders from Use in email never use credits or count as views.