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artcurator

Environment Variables

artcurator is configured entirely through environment variables. Set these before loading the package.

Required (Provider-Specific)

For Gemini: - ART_GEMINI_KEY - Your Gemini API key. Get one at https://aistudio.google.com/apikey r Sys.setenv(ART_GEMINI_KEY = "your-key-here")

For OpenAI: - ART_OPENAI_KEY - Your OpenAI API key. Get one at https://platform.openai.com/api-keys r Sys.setenv(ART_OPENAI_KEY = "your-key-here")

Optional (with defaults)

  • ARTCURATOR_PROVIDER (default: "gemini") - Default AI provider for artwork analysis. Options: "gemini", "openai".

    Sys.setenv(ARTCURATOR_PROVIDER = "openai")

  • ART_GEMINI_MODEL (default: "gemini-2.5-flash") - Default Gemini model.

  • ART_OPENAI_MODEL (default: "gpt-5.1") - Default OpenAI model.

For additional provider configuration, see artgemini and artopenai documentation.

Overview

artcurator provides a unified AI interface for artwork analysis that works with both Google Gemini and OpenAI. Switch between providers with a single parameter instead of changing packages.

Key capabilities: - Provider-agnostic artwork analysis (5 core functions) - Interactive curator chat with streaming support - Curator context API for AI agents (hot-cached artist/artwork data) - Automatic provider switching via parameter or environment variable - Centralized prompt management with version tracking - Benchmark data utilities (percentile metrics, style analysis)

Quick Example 

library(artcurator)

# Auto-detect provider (uses Gemini by default)
styles <- art_style_ai("artwork.png")

# Switch to OpenAI with one parameter
styles <- art_style_ai("artwork.png", provider = "openai")

# Generate complete artwork analysis
description <- art_about_ai("artwork.png")
profile <- art_profile_ai(
  art_title = "Portrait",
  artist_name = "Artist Name",
  drawing_hours = 12,
  brush_strokes = 5000,
  img_path = "artwork.png"
)

Interactive Curator Chat

Create multi-turn chat sessions with artist context for gallery and profile UIs:

# Create chat session with artist context pre-loaded
chat <- curator_chat_new("artist-uuid-here")

# Send messages (conversation state maintained)
chat$chat("What are this artist's most notable works?")
chat$chat("How would you describe their artistic style?")

# Stream responses for real-time UI display
stream <- chat$stream("Tell me about their career progression.")

The chat object is an ellmer Chat with full streaming support for integration with shinychat.

Installation 

# Requires GITHUB_PAT
pak::pkg_install("artalytics/artcurator")

Both artgemini and artopenai are installed automatically as dependencies.

Documentation

Development

For AI agent instructions and coding standards, see AGENTS.md.

devtools::document()
devtools::test()
devtools::check()

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