What is image-fetcher?

This Claude skill enables seamless fetching and downloading of images from the internet in various formats including JPG, PNG, GIF, and SVG. It streamlines the process of gathering visual assets by supporting both single and batch downloads with automatic format detection, making it an essential tool for automating image-heavy workflows and document enrichment.

When should I use image-fetcher?

image-fetcher is useful in the following scenarios: • Automated Document Enrichment: Fetching and embedding charts, diagrams, or web images directly into presentations (PPTX) or reports (DOCX) to enhance visual storytelling. • Bulk Asset Collection: Efficiently downloading large sets of product images or reference photos from a list of URLs for e-commerce cataloging or research projects. • Brand Asset Retrieval: Quickly sourcing high-quality logos and brand elements from official websites for design, marketing, and branding tasks. • Web Research Integration: Saving visual evidence and reference images discovered during web searches to local directories for organized offline access and display.

name	image-fetcher
description	Fetch and download images from the internet in various formats (JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP, SVG, etc.). Use when users ask to download images, fetch images from URLs, save images from the web, or get images for embedding in documents or chats. Supports single and batch downloads with automatic format detection.

Image Fetcher Skill

This skill enables Claude to fetch and download images from the internet with support for multiple image formats and batch downloading capabilities.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user requests:

Downloading images from specific URLs
Fetching images from the web to embed in documents
Saving images locally from internet sources
Batch downloading multiple images
Converting or processing images that need to be downloaded first

Supported Image Formats

The skill automatically detects and handles these formats:

JPG/JPEG
PNG
GIF
WebP
BMP
SVG
ICO
TIFF/TIF

Core Workflows

Single Image Download

To download a single image from a URL:

python scripts/fetch_image.py <image_url> [output_directory] [filename]

Parameters:

image_url (required): URL of the image to download
output_directory (optional): Directory to save the image (defaults to current directory)
filename (optional): Custom filename for the saved image (defaults to URL filename)

Examples:

# Basic download to current directory
python scripts/fetch_image.py https://example.com/photo.jpg

# Download to specific directory
python scripts/fetch_image.py https://example.com/photo.jpg ./downloads

# Download with custom filename
python scripts/fetch_image.py https://example.com/photo.jpg ./downloads myimage.jpg

Batch Image Download

To download multiple images from a list of URLs:

python scripts/fetch_images_batch.py <urls_file> [output_directory]

Input file formats:

Text file with one URL per line
JSON file with array of URLs: ["url1", "url2", ...]

Examples:

# Download from text file
python scripts/fetch_images_batch.py urls.txt

# Download to specific directory
python scripts/fetch_images_batch.py urls.json ./images

# Create a URL list on the fly
echo -e "https://example.com/img1.jpg\nhttps://example.com/img2.png" > urls.txt
python scripts/fetch_images_batch.py urls.txt ./downloads

The batch script creates a fetch_results.json file with detailed results for each download.

Integration with Claude Workflow

For Document Embedding

When fetching images to embed in documents (DOCX, PPTX, etc.):

Download the image to a temporary location
Use the returned file path to embed the image in the document
Clean up temporary files if needed

# Download image
python scripts/fetch_image.py https://example.com/chart.png /home/claude/temp

# The script outputs the full path which can be used for embedding
# Example output: /home/claude/temp/chart.png

For Chat Display

When downloading images to display in chat:

Download to /mnt/user-data/outputs/ directory
Provide the user with a link to the downloaded image

python scripts/fetch_image.py https://example.com/image.jpg /mnt/user-data/outputs

Search Integration

When combined with web search:

Search for images using web_search tool
Extract image URLs from search results
Use this skill to download the images

Error Handling

The scripts handle common scenarios:

Invalid URLs
Network timeouts
Unsupported formats
Permission errors
Missing directories (auto-created)

Failed downloads are reported with clear error messages.

Output Information

Each successful download provides:

Full path to saved file
File size in KB
Content-Type from server
Success confirmation

Best Practices

Always validate URLs before attempting download
Use batch downloading for multiple images to improve efficiency
Specify output directory to organize downloads properly
Check file extensions - the script auto-detects format from headers if URL lacks extension
Handle errors gracefully - inform users of any failed downloads

Common Use Cases

Use Case 1: Embedding web images in presentations

# User: "Add this chart to my presentation: https://data.com/chart.png"
python scripts/fetch_image.py https://data.com/chart.png /home/claude/temp
# Then use the path to embed in PPTX

Use Case 2: Creating image gallery from URLs

# User: "Download these product images and save them"
# Create urls.txt with image URLs
python scripts/fetch_images_batch.py urls.txt /mnt/user-data/outputs/gallery

Use Case 3: Logo download for branding

# User: "Get the company logo from their website"
python scripts/fetch_image.py https://company.com/logo.svg /home/claude/assets logo.svg

Technical Notes

Uses requests library with appropriate headers to avoid being blocked
Streams large files to handle memory efficiently
30-second timeout for each download
Automatic content-type detection and extension mapping
Creates output directories automatically if they don't exist

When & Why to Use This Skill

Use Cases