On 8 September 2026 the OpenAI API changelog added two GPT Image 2.5 models: gpt-image-2.5-sunburst and gpt-image-2.5-flare. They generate and edit through the Image API, and through the Responses API — OpenAI’s chat-style API, where image generation is a tool on the request. Both support the new xhigh and max quality settings.

The docs split the jobs. Use Sunburst when editing precision matters most. Use Flare for fast everyday generation.

Pick the model for the job

Set model on the Image API request, or on the image-generation tool inside a Responses call. Quality is a separate request setting from the model name, so choosing max does not choose Sunburst or Flare for you.

The Image API has two calls for this: edits, which change an existing image, and generations, which create a new image from a prompt.

A concrete UI job — an editorial illustration of that documented split, not a test result:

  1. You have a 32px toolbar icon and need the same geometry with a new accent color and a sharper inner highlight. A prompt you might send: “Keep this 32px toolbar icon’s silhouette. Change the accent to teal and sharpen the inner highlight.”
  2. Call the Image API edits request (or the Responses image tool with an edit) and set model to gpt-image-2.5-sunburst.
  3. You instead need three illustrations for empty screens — the ones shown when a list or inbox still has no content — from a text prompt, with no existing file to preserve. A prompt you might send: “A small illustration for an empty to-do list: an open notebook and a pencil on a desk, light background, no letters in the drawing.” Use gpt-image-2.5-flare on the Image API generations request.

If the next image is a revision — keep the layout, swap a color, correct a label — start with Sunburst. If you need a first pass for a mockup or a small decorative illustration, start with Flare. When a Flare draft is close to the result you want, switch to Sunburst to refine the same image.

Check the request before you send it: the model name is what picks Sunburst or Flare; the quality setting only picks how detailed that model should render. If you are changing an existing image, use Sunburst. If you are generating a new image from text, use Flare.

Sources