[Draft] Discuss options for exposing original image metadata in upscaled images (Issue #6291)

[Filippo-Venturini]

Summary

This draft PR is meant to continue the discussion from [Issue #6291] and the related Discord conversation regarding original image metadata for upscaled images.

Currently, upscaled images store a reference to the source image via upscale_initial_image, but the full metadata (prompt, seed, scheduler, etc.) is not stored.

Two alternatives are under discussion:

1. Expose a UI way to jump to the source image in the gallery, leveraging the existing reference.
2. Store the full original metadata under a separate field (e.g., source_image_metadata) for external/export use.

This PR does not include any implementation; it is intended to facilitate review and discussion among maintainers.

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Related Issues / Discussions

• GitHub Issue: [Issue #6291]([bug]: Meta Data Lost With Built-In Upscaler #6291)
• Discord discussion: “I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong… the biggest question here is what original metadata you keep…”

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QA Instructions

Not applicable — no code changes in this PR.

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Merge Plan

• Marked as draft to indicate discussion PR.
• No merging expected until a consensus on the approach is reached.

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Checklist

• PR title is short but descriptive
• Implementation to be added after discussion
• Documentation updated once implementation is decided

[lstein]

Here's my 2c (with apologies for taking so long to join the conversation). While it is more elegant to maintain a reference to the source metadata via the existing upscale_initial_image field, there is nothing to prevent the user from inadvertently deleting the initial image and thus irrevocably losing the generation parameters. Therefore, I'd go with the second proposal of using a source_image_metadata field.

What do you think of the idea of generalizing this so that if there is a chain of source images (e.g. a series of upscales are applied), the metadata from each upscale operation is presented as well.

[Filippo-Venturini]

Thanks for the feedback, I agree. Relying solely on upscale_initial_image does risk losing metadata if the source image is deleted, so the source_image_metadata approach makes more sense.

I also agree that generalizing this to include the full chain of source images (e.g. multiple upscales) would be beneficial, and I’m happy to proceed in that direction.

[skunkworxdark]

Why not do both by adding the 'upscale_initial_image' inside the 'source_image_metadata' so for people that do keep everything they have a way of traversing back to the original.

[joshistoast]

I like @skunkworxdark's idea of having both the original and upscale with full metadata and pointers to each other.