Recraft V4.1 Flash

Recraft V4.1 Flash, released in September 2026, is a fast, low-cost model with quality close to Recraft V4.1. It’s built for high-volume generation and rapid iteration, follows prompts closely, and avoids the generic AI look. Strong use cases: photography, portraits, atmosphere, complex scenes, mixed media, and logo concepts.

$0.007

per image

~1.3 s

end-to-end per image

1K

raster, WebP or PNG

recraftv4_1_flash

model value

Try it

Get an API token on your profile page (it needs a positive API units balance) and set it once per terminal session:

export RECRAFT_API_TOKEN=your_token

Flash is built for speed, so this request uses "response_format": "multipart", which we recommend with Flash: the image bytes come back in the response itself, with no second download.

curl https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RECRAFT_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "two race cars on a track",
    "model": "recraftv4_1_flash",
    "response_format": "multipart"
  }' \
  --output response.multipart

# pip install requests requests-toolbelt
import json
import os

import requests
from requests_toolbelt.multipart import decoder

response = requests.post(
    'https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1/images/generations',
    headers={'Authorization': f"Bearer {os.environ['RECRAFT_API_TOKEN']}"},
    json={
        'prompt': 'two race cars on a track',
        'model': 'recraftv4_1_flash',
        'response_format': 'multipart',
    },
)
if not response.ok:
    raise SystemExit(f'{response.status_code}: {response.text}')

result, images = None, {}
for part in decoder.MultipartDecoder.from_response(response).parts:
    image_id = part.headers.get(b'Content-ID')
    if image_id is None:
        result = json.loads(part.content)
    else:
        images[image_id.decode().strip('<>')] = part.content

for image in result['data']:
    with open(f"{image['image_id']}.webp", 'wb') as f:
        f.write(images[image['image_id']])
    print('saved', f"{image['image_id']}.webp")

// Node.js 18+, run as an ES module (file.mjs)
import { writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';

const response = await fetch('https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1/images/generations', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.RECRAFT_API_TOKEN}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    prompt: 'two race cars on a track',
    model: 'recraftv4_1_flash',
    response_format: 'multipart',
  }),
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(await response.text());

// Split the multipart body into parts. Each part is named by image_id;
// the part named "response" holds the JSON.
const boundary = response.headers.get('content-type').match(/boundary="?([^";]+)"?/)[1];
const body = Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer());
const parts = {};
const delimiter = `--${boundary}`;
let start = body.indexOf(delimiter);
while (start !== -1) {
  const next = body.indexOf(delimiter, start + delimiter.length);
  if (next === -1) break;
  const part = body.subarray(start + delimiter.length + 2, next - 2);
  const split = part.indexOf('\r\n\r\n');
  const name = part.subarray(0, split).toString().match(/name="([^"]+)"/)[1];
  parts[name] = part.subarray(split + 4);
  start = next;
}

const result = JSON.parse(parts.response.toString());
for (const image of result.data) {
  await writeFile(`${image.image_id}.webp`, parts[image.image_id]);
  console.log('saved', `${image.image_id}.webp`);
}

# pip install openai
# The OpenAI SDK can't read multipart responses, so this tab returns a URL instead.
import os

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url='https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1',
    api_key=os.environ['RECRAFT_API_TOKEN'],
)

response = client.images.generate(
    prompt='two race cars on a track',
    model='recraftv4_1_flash',
)
print(response.data[0].url)

Response

The response is multipart/form-data. The part named response carries this JSON, followed by one part per image with its raw bytes, named by its image_id (also in the part’s Content-ID header):

{
  "created": 1759140000,
  "credits": 7,
  "data": [
    {
      "image_id": "0e6a1b8c-5b1f-4a8e-9f3a-2c7d4e8b9a10"
    }
  ]
}

data has one entry per image (n), and each image part’s Content-Type is the image format (image/webp by default, or image/png).
credits is the number of API units charged for the request.
With the default "response_format": "url", each data entry has a url instead, kept for about 24 hours. See Image inputs and results.

Parameters

Parameter	Type, default	Description
`prompt`	string, required	What to generate. Up to 10,000 characters.
`model`	string	`recraftv4_1_flash` (`recraftv4_1_flash_raster` is an alias). Without it the API uses `recraftv4_1`.
`size`	string, auto	Aspect ratio (`1:1`, `16:9`, `3:4`, …) or exact size (`1024x1024`). Picked from the prompt when omitted. See supported sizes.
`n`	integer, `1`	Number of images, 1 to 6.
`response_format`	string, `url`	`url`, `b64_json`, or `multipart`.
`image_format`	string, `webp`	`webp` (lossless) or `png`.

More parameters

Parameter	Type, default	Description
`random_seed`	integer	Seed for reproducible results.
`controls.colors`	array of colors	Preferred colors, e.g. `[{"rgb": [255, 102, 0]}]`. See Colors.
`controls.background_color`	color	Desired background color, e.g. `{"rgb": [255, 255, 255]}`.

Not supported by Flash: style, style_id, style_match, style references, negative_prompt, and text_layout.

Variants

`model`	Output	Price per image
`recraftv4_1_flash`	Raster, 1K	$0.007

Flash has no Vector or Pro variants. For those, use Recraft V4.1.

Capabilities

Capability	Support
Generate image	Yes
Image to image, create style	No
Vector output	No
Styles	No
Controls	Partial: `colors` and `background_color`

Examples

Get a URL instead of bytes

Without response_format, the response is JSON with a temporary download url per image:

curl https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RECRAFT_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "two race cars on a track",
    "model": "recraftv4_1_flash"
  }'

import os

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1/images/generations',
    headers={'Authorization': f"Bearer {os.environ['RECRAFT_API_TOKEN']}"},
    json={
        'prompt': 'two race cars on a track',
        'model': 'recraftv4_1_flash',
    },
)
if not response.ok:
    raise SystemExit(f'{response.status_code}: {response.text}')
print(response.json()['data'][0]['url'])

Batch of variations

curl https://external.api.recraft.ai/v1/images/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RECRAFT_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "prompt": "portrait of an old fisherman, golden hour, film photo",
    "model": "recraftv4_1_flash",
    "size": "4:5",
    "n": 6
  }'

Six images for $0.042.

Recraft V4.1

The full-quality V4.1 line: Pro, Utility, and Vector variants with style support.

All models

The whole lineup with prices and best-fit use cases.

Image inputs and results

Response formats in detail, including multipart.

Pricing

API unit charges across every model and operation.

Get started

Models

Tools

Reference

Recraft V4.1 Flash

$0.007

~1.3 s

1K

recraftv4_1_flash

Try it

Response

Parameters

Variants

Capabilities

Examples

Recraft V4.1

All models

Image inputs and results

Pricing

$0.007

~1.3 s

1K

recraftv4_1_flash

​Try it

​Response

​Parameters

​Variants

​Capabilities

​Examples

​Related

Recraft V4.1

All models

Image inputs and results

Pricing

Try it

Response

Parameters

Variants

Capabilities

Examples

Related