ImageAICaptioner

Welcome to ImageAICaptioner.

A simple C# console app that uses LLaVA (via Ollama) to generate captions for images!

Built with .NET 8 and powered by Microsoft.Extensions.AI (in preview), this project preloads images from a folder, lets you pick one, and spits out a caption.

All with dependency injection for a clean, modern twist.

Perfect for C# devs curious about local AI tools.

It’s a companion to my post, where I dive deeper.

What It Does

Scans an images folder in the project’s output directory.

Lists all .jpg and .png files for you to choose from.

Sends your selected image to LLaVA (running locally) and prints a one-sentence caption.

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK installed.
• Ollama set up on your machine.
• A C# IDE (Visual Studio, Rider, VSCode. Your pick!).

Getting Started

Follow these steps to get the app running on your system.

1. Install Ollama and LLaVA

Download Ollama from ollama.com and install it (Windows/Mac installer or Linux script: curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh).

Open a terminal and pull the lightweight LLaVA model:

ollama pull llava:7b

Start LLaVA:

ollama run llava:7b

Keep this terminal open, it hosts LLaVA at http://localhost:11434.

Note: Want better captions? Try ollama pull llava for the full model (needs more RAM/GPU power).

2. Clone and Set Up the Project

Clone this repo:

git clone https://github.com/ronnythedev/ImageAICaptioner.git
cd ImageAICaptioner

Add the required NuGet packages (version 9.3.0-preview.1.25161.3 or later):

Microsoft.Extensions.AI Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Ollama

Use your IDE’s package manager or run:

dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.AI --version 9.3.0-preview.1.25161.3
dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Ollama --version 9.3.0-preview.1.25161.3

Check the images folder in the repo.

It’s got sample images (e.g., dog.jpg, cat.png).

Add your own if you like. Ensure they’re .jpg or .png.

In your IDE, set their “Copy to Output Directory” to “Copy if newer” so they land in bin/Debug/net8.0/images.

3. Run the App

Build and run the project.

You’ll see something like:

Welcome to the Image AI Caption Generator!

Choose an image to caption:
1. dog.jpg
2. rabbit.jpg
3. car.jpg
4. llama.jpg
5. cat.png

Enter the number of your choice:

Type a number (e.g., 4), and get a caption like:

Caption: A large, woolly alpaca standing on a grass field under a blue sky with clouds. 

How It Works

The app uses dependency injection via Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting to wire up an IChatClient for Ollama’s LLaVA model.

It preloads images from the images folder, lets you pick one, and sends it as raw bytes to LLaVA with a prompt.

The response comes back, and we grab the caption from the first message.

Check out Program.cs for the full code!

Troubleshooting

• “No images”: Ensure the images folder has .jpg or .png files and they’re copied to the output directory (bin/Debug/net8.0/images).
• Connection errors: Verify ollama run llava:7b is running and http://localhost:11434 is up (test in a browser).
• Slow performance: If it lags, stick with llava:7b or upgrade your hardware for llava.

Preview Warning

Heads-up: This uses Microsoft.Extensions.AI version 9.3.0-preview.1.25161.3, a preview release.

The code works as-is with this version, but the API might change in future updates.

Keep an eye on the official docs if you’re using a newer release.

Contributing

Got ideas? Fork this repo, tweak it, and send a pull request! I’d love to see GUI versions or new features.

License

This project is MIT-licensed—use it, share it, have fun with it!