How to Write Seedream 5 Pro Prompts (Guide + Examples)

Seedream 5 Pro at a glance

Made by

ByteDance Seed (ByteDance's AI research team)

Released

July 2026 (public launch); part of the Seedream 5.0 family with Lite and Flash

Resolution

1K, 1.5K and 2K tiers — about 2048×2048, or ~2752×1536 at 16:9. No native 4K.

Aspect ratios

Flexible, from tall portrait to wide landscape

Reference images

Up to 10 per request on major API hosts (fal, Replicate, Runware)

Output

One image per request (Lite can batch)

Strengths

Photoreal images, posters and infographics with in-image text, region-level editing guided by boxes, arrows or sketches

Where to use it

BytePlus ModelArk, Volcano Engine Ark, CapCut and Dola apps, and API hosts such as fal, Replicate, OpenRouter, Runware and ComfyUI

1. Seedream 3.0 · April 2025
2. Seedream 4.0 · September 2025
3. Seedream 4.5 · December 2025
4. Seedream 5.0 Lite · February 2026
5. Seedream 5.0 Pro · July 2026

The prompt formula

Write it as connected sentences, most important first. Each layer below adds one kind of control.

Write one in five steps

1. Start with the subject and action. One sentence that says who or what is in the frame and what is happening: “A ceramicist trims a tall vase on a spinning wheel.”
2. Place it in an environment. Say where and when: a sunlit studio, a rainy street at night, a seamless grey backdrop.
3. Add style and medium. Photograph, oil painting, 3D render, flat vector, editorial poster — pick one and say it plainly.
4. Describe light, lens and palette. Name the light source, the framing (close-up, wide, 85mm) and two or three colours.
5. Quote any text and set the shape. Put words to render in double quotes, say where they go, and choose the aspect ratio in your app.

Prefer clicking to typing? The Seedream prompt builder walks through the same five steps.

Getting text inside the image right

• Put the exact words in double quotes: a neon sign that reads “OPEN LATE”.
• Say where the text sits and how it looks — headline at the top, small caps on a label, hand-painted on a wall.
• Keep it short. Headlines and labels render far more reliably than paragraphs of body copy.
• Proofread every result. Small or long text can still contain wrong letters, so regenerate or fix it in an editor.

Examples: poster & typography prompts and infographic prompts.

Using reference images

Upload references (up to 10 on major API hosts) to keep a face, product or style consistent, then refer to each by its number: Put the person from image 1 in the jacket from image 2, standing in the street from image 3. Say what must stay identical and what may change.

Writing editing instructions

• Lead with the action: replace, remove, add, recolour, extend.
• Name what stays: Keep the face, pose and outfit unchanged.
• Be specific about the new part: Replace the background with a foggy pine forest at dawn, matching the light direction.
• Pro can follow boxes, arrows or sketches drawn on the image for region-level edits, where your app supports it.

More: image editing prompts.

Choosing an aspect ratio

Pro outputs up to about 2 megapixels per image (1K, 1.5K and 2K tiers), so the ratio decides the exact pixel size.

Common mistakes

Keyword soup

Strings like “masterpiece, best quality, 8k, trending” add little for natural-language models. Write a sentence instead.

Unquoted text

If the words are not in double quotes, the model may paraphrase or invent letters.

Too many subjects

Four characters each doing something different is hard to get right. Lead with one, add others after.

Vague edits

“Make it better” gives the model nothing to act on. Say what to change and what to keep.

Wrong canvas

A poster prompt on a 16:9 canvas will crop badly. Set the shape before you generate.

Examples to copy

Seedream 5 Pro FAQ