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Glossary

Prompt metadata: the prompt saved inside the file

Prompt metadata is the text prompt, negative prompt, seed, sampler, steps and model name that some AI image tools write into the image file itself, typically as PNG text chunks or EXIF UserComment, so the exact generation instructions can be read back later.

Definitions and isGenAI behaviour as of October 2026. Updated .

Extract a saved promptFrequently asked questions
Controlled example PNG file that carries this record: Saved prompt found

parameters-tEXt.pngPNG file · controlled example

  1. Signature + IHDR
  2. iTXt XML:com.adobe.xmp
  3. tEXt parametersrecord
  4. tEXt prompt / workflow
  5. tEXt invokeai_metadata
  6. eXIf
  7. caBX C2PA manifest
  8. IDAT pixels
  9. IEND

Saved prompt found

The generator wrote its settings into the file.

Prompt, negative prompt, seed, sampler and model are read word for word, with the field they came from.

Open the prompt extractor →
Saved prompt found: where this record sits inside a PNG file and what the isGenAI report says about it. The picture is a code-drawn controlled example that carries this record; download it and check it yourself.

Who writes it and where

AUTOMATIC1111 writes a parameters text chunk in PNG and the same text in EXIF UserComment for JPEG and WebP. ComfyUI writes its prompt graph and workflow as PNG chunks. InvokeAI writes an invokeai_metadata JSON record. Fooocus writes a record only when enabled. NovelAI uses a Comment chunk and an alpha-channel payload. Hosted services such as Midjourney put the prompt in XMP description, and most commercial generators save no prompt at all.

Every one of these is editable text. A prompt record proves what a tool wrote, not who ran it.

How isGenAI reads prompt metadata

The image prompt extractor and the AI image detector read the AUTOMATIC1111, ComfyUI and InvokeAI formats, verify PNG chunk checksums, refuse duplicate or conflicting records and report the prompt, negative prompt, model and settings exactly as saved. A multi-stage graph is reported as a saved workflow rather than one prompt. isGenAI never reconstructs a prompt from the pixels; if no record exists, it says so.

Prompt metadata and privacy

A saved prompt can reveal a creator’s technique and model. The metadata remover rebuilds a clean PNG and lists exactly which chunks it removed, so creators can choose what they share.

How to use this term when checking a file

  1. Upload the original file to the AI image detector or the tool named on the page.
  2. Find the finding that uses this term under “How we checked” and read the source field it names.
  3. Weigh it by kind: a signed record, a declared field, a saved prompt and a matching copy are different strengths of evidence.
  4. Remember that absence of a record is not evidence of a human author.

Extract a saved prompt

Frequently asked questions

Which AI tools save the prompt in the image?

AUTOMATIC1111, ComfyUI and InvokeAI by default; Fooocus when enabled; NovelAI in its own format; Midjourney in XMP description. Most hosted generators do not.

Can isGenAI extract the prompt from any AI image?

Only when a supported record is in the original file. It reads A1111, ComfyUI and InvokeAI formats and never guesses a prompt from the picture.

Does a saved prompt survive sharing?

Only as an unchanged file or a document-type send. Screenshots, conversions and social uploads remove it.

How do I remove the prompt before posting?

Use the metadata remover; it outputs a clean PNG and lists the removed chunks.

Sources

Definitions follow the published standards linked above; the isGenAI behaviour described is the deployed checker as of October 2026.