gpt-image-2 API Developer Guide: Pricing, Thinking Mode, and Production Integration (2026)

gpt-image-2 API Developer Guide: Pricing, Thinking Mode, and Production Integration (2026) OpenAI announced gpt-image-2 on April 21, 2026 — but the official API doesn't open to developers until early May 2026 . That gap between "announced" and "shippable" is exactly when developers need to architect, budget, and prototype. This guide covers everything a developer needs to know now : the published pricing math, the Instant/Thinking mode trade-offs, the multi-image API contract, pre-release access