# Image Editing - Multi Reference

## When to use this guide

Read this guide when `task_mode=image_editing` and the user wants the same explicit edit applied across multiple source images.

## Core routing rule

Multiple references do not make the task a narrative-sequence request. Keep the task in `image-generation` unless the user explicitly asks for a multi-panel narrative output.

## Style behavior

Default to `style_policy=preserve_source_style`.

Do not inject production-bible style just because multiple images are present.

## Core edit rule

Apply the same explicit user-requested change consistently across all provided images unless the user specifies image-specific exceptions.

## Preservation rules

Across every source image, preserve by default:
- original composition
- framing and crop
- lighting family
- identity and facial structure
- wardrobe, props, and background outside the requested edit
- each image's existing rendering style

## Per-image differences

If images differ in angle, crop, or lighting:
- preserve those differences
- apply only the requested change in a way that fits each source image
- do not normalize all images into a new shared composition

## Prompt pattern

```text
Apply the same requested edit across all provided source images. Keep each image's original composition, lighting, framing, identity, and style unchanged except for the requested edit.
```

## Precedence

For multi-reference edits, resolve inputs in this order:
1. explicit user edit request
2. image-specific exceptions from the user
3. ROI / mask / highlighted regions
4. explicit user preservation constraints
5. source-image visual truth across all inputs
6. extra references used only to keep the requested edit consistent
7. production-bible style only under `user_requested_restyle`

## Anti-drift rules

- do not reinterpret the task as continuity generation or a storyboard request
- do not merge visual ideas from the references beyond the requested edit
- do not restyle the set as a whole unless the user asks for that
- do not let one reference override the visual truth of another outside the requested change