Question 1

imaginary vs ImageMagick: which is better for web apps?

Accepted Answer

Imaginary is faster and more memory-efficient due to libvips, making it ideal for high-load web services. However, ImageMagick has broader format support and is more established, so choose based on performance needs versus compatibility.

Question 2

how to set up imaginary with Docker for production?

Accepted Answer

Use the official Docker image 'h2non/imaginary' and run with flags like -concurrency for throttling and -enable-url-source for remote fetching. The README provides examples for production deployment with Docker Compose and environment variables.

Question 3

does imaginary handle animated GIFs?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but only if libvips is compiled with GIF support. By default, it might not, so you need to ensure proper compilation or use a pre-built image with the necessary bindings, as mentioned in the prerequisites.

Question 4

what are the performance benchmarks for imaginary?

Accepted Answer

According to the README, imaginary can handle up to 20 requests per second per server with low latency, processing a 5MB JPEG in under 100ms. Benchmarks show it's significantly faster than native Go image packages and ImageMagick.

Question 5

how to secure the imaginary API from unauthorized access?

Accepted Answer

Enable API token authorization with the -key flag, use URL signature protection with -enable-url-signature, and restrict origins with -allowed-origins. The README details these security features and provides examples for implementation.

Question 6

how to chain multiple image operations in imaginary?

Accepted Answer

Use the /pipeline endpoint with a JSON array of operations. For example, you can specify crop, watermark, and convert in one request, up to 10 operations, as described in the API documentation with sample JSON.

imaginary

What is imaginary?

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