AI

AI Vision Assist

AI Vision Assist connects FindRomCover to a vision-capable language model that looks at candidate images and decides which one is the correct cover. Instead of comparing filenames, the model compares artwork — a much stronger signal when filenames are ambiguous, abbreviated, or wrong.

AI Assist is optional. Everything in FindRomCover works without it, and no AI provider is contacted unless you enable it.

What AI Assist can do

Capability	Where	Description
AI Pick Best	Local Files and Google API tabs	Ranks the candidate images and highlights the best cover
Auto-run	Local Files and Google API tabs	Starts the AI pick automatically after a local search or a Google API search
Auto-save	Local Files and Google API tabs	Saves the AI pick automatically when confidence reaches the threshold
Verify before saving	Image folder watcher, manual saves, batch API downloads	Confirms that an image really matches the selected game before it is kept or renamed
Batch Fill	Missing covers list	Processes many missing covers in one run, with optional Google API fallback

How a pick works

1. The candidate images are downscaled to a maximum dimension (default 512 px) to keep token usage low.
2. The top-ranked candidates (default 6) are sent to the model together with the game name.
3. The model returns a JSON verdict: the chosen image, a confidence score, and a short explanation.
4. The winner is highlighted with an AI pick NN% badge and moved to the front of the results; depending on your settings it may be saved immediately.
5. Verdicts are cached for 30 days, so repeating the same pick does not cost anything.

The filename matcher pre-filters local candidates first: only images whose similarity is at or above the Candidate similarity value (default 70%) are sent to the model.

Supported providers

Provider	Type	Default model	API key
OpenRouter	Cloud	google/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it	Required
OpenAI	Cloud	gpt-4o-mini	Required
Anthropic	Cloud	claude-sonnet-4-5	Required
Gemini	Cloud	gemini-2.5-flash	Required
GLM	Cloud	glm-4.5v	Required
Local	Local server	qwen2.5vl:7b	Not required
Custom (OpenAI-compatible)	Any	Enter manually	Optional
Custom (Anthropic-compatible)	Any	Enter manually	Optional

See Providers & Models for setup details and Recommended Models for cost comparisons.

Cost control

AI Assist is designed to keep API usage predictable:

• Downscaling — images are resized before upload.
• Candidate limit — only the top N candidates are sent.
• Candidate similarity — weak filename matches never reach the model.
• Verdict cache — identical picks are answered from a 30-day cache; both successful and declined verdicts are cached.
• Model list cache — provider model lists are cached for 7 days, so browsing models does not contact the provider.
• Query history — covers already queried are not asked again (180-day memory).
• Confidence threshold — auto-save only happens above your threshold.

With the default OpenRouter model, a typical pick costs a fraction of a cent. See Recommended Models for estimates.

Safety

• Only the AI API key is stored encrypted in the settings database; the provider, base URL, model, thresholds, and toggles are stored as plain configuration values. The key is never logged.
• AI request failures are logged as warnings and never trigger the automatic bug-report pipeline.
• The AI never deletes anything. It can only choose an image; saving and renaming follow your settings and confirmation rules.
• Verify before saving protects against wrong images being kept: the watcher, manual local saves, manual Google API saves, and batch API downloads all ask the model to confirm an image. Manual saves show a confirmation prompt on a mismatch (for example "Save it anyway?"), and Batch Fill rejects the download automatically.

Getting started

1. Open Settings > AI Settings....
2. Pick a provider, enter your API key, and click Test / Load Models.
3. Select a model from the loaded list (vision-capable models are shown by default).
4. Enable AI-assisted image selection.
5. Optionally enable Run AI Pick automatically when a game is selected and Automatically save the AI pick when confidence is above the threshold.
6. Use AI Pick Best or AI Fill Missing Covers... in the main window.

Related pages

• Providers & Models
• AI Settings
• Picking Covers
• Batch Fill
• Query History
• Recommended Models
• AI Troubleshooting