Magic Post Thumbnail (Premium)

An automatic image per post is paid for in credits or limits, depending on where it comes from

You publish a batch of posts imported from a feed and all of them need a featured image. Setting them by hand is a job nobody wants, and leaving them without an image spoils the listing. Automating it looks solved, until the first invoice from the image service or the first limit warning arrives.

In automatic image generation, the source you choose decides what each post costs: a search in a photo bank takes a few seconds, and an AI image takes longer and uses provider credits.

Magic Post Thumbnail is a plugin that generates images for posts, pages and custom post types, with or without AI. It looks them up from the title and from an analysis of the text, and places them as the featured image, inside the content or in both. You build a chain of sources in the settings; each bank needs its own API key, except Bing Images, which asks for none although heavy use can hit request limits.

Image sources and ways to generate

• Banks in the free version: Google Image, Pixabay, Flickr, Openverse and DALL·E.
• Banks added in Pro: Unsplash, Pexels, YouTube, Stable Diffusion and Replicate.
• Manual or automatic generation: manual with a Gutenberg block, or automatic on publish.
• No cap in Pro: the free version's manual block is limited to 6 images per bank, and Pro removes that limit.
• Wider search criteria in Pro: tags, categories, custom fields, custom requests or an OpenAI keyword extractor.
• Custom fields: it can generate images into CMB2, ACF and Meta Box fields.
• Alt text: filled in automatically in Pro.

Pro is also compatible with WPeMatico, FeedWordPress, WP All Import, Featured Image from URL and WP Automatic Plugin, that is, with plugins that create posts on their own.

A blog that receives posts by import

If you import posts with one of the compatible plugins, you can let Magic Post Thumbnail set the featured image as each one is published. Take it as a starting point and adapt it to your site.

The dashboard shows a configuration check, "Ready to generate" or "Needs attention," that reviews the source chain, the API keys, the image placement and the brand overlay. With "Generate a test image" you can try the first ready source without touching any post.

Generation times and API keys

• Searches in photo banks usually take a few seconds. AI generation takes longer and uses provider credits.
• The plugin works only in the admin area, so it does not act on the public side or affect caching plugins facing the visitor.
• Each photo or AI bank, except Bing Images, needs its own key. The badges on the Source screen show whether it is missing, untested, working or failed.
• "First image in content" requires the post to already have an image, and "Default image" requires choosing a file in the media library.
• The brand overlay needs PHP GD.

Putting it to work

You need WordPress and API keys for the banks you want to use, except Bing Images.

1. Install the plugin with the WordPress installer and activate it.
2. Under Source, choose the banks for the chain and paste the keys they ask for.
3. Set the placement: featured image, inside the content or both, and the post types.
4. Turn on automatic generation or use the Gutenberg block on each post.

Alternatives for illustrating posts

If your need is writing with AI and not only illustrating, look at AIKit or AI Engine Pro. For placeholder images in Elementor templates there is Holdy.

Questions about the images it generates

Can it generate images with AI?

Yes. DALL·E is in the free version, and Pro adds Stable Diffusion and Replicate.

Does it work with imported posts?

Yes. Pro is compatible with WPeMatico, FeedWordPress, WP All Import, Featured Image from URL and WP Automatic Plugin.

Does it also set the alt text?

Yes, in Pro it fills it in automatically.