Caption Express Agent

📖 Project Story

About the Project

While building Caption Express Agent, one of the first major challenges I encountered was related to API access, especially for image-to-caption understanding.

Most high-quality vision or multimodal APIs that can analyze images and suggest captions are paid, heavily rate-limited, or locked behind credit cards. As a student and hackathon participant, this became an immediate constraint. Instead of relying on expensive services, I had to carefully scope the project, prioritize core functionality, and design an architecture that could still deliver real value using accessible tools.

This limitation shaped the direction of the project and reinforced the focus on efficient text-first workflows, strong UX, and fast inference.

🎯 Motivation & Problem Statement

As a content creator, one of the most frustrating parts of my workflow has always been writing captions for different social media platforms.

Even when the content idea is the same, the caption cannot be reused across platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Each platform expects a different tone, structure, and intent:

Instagram needs hooks and engagement
YouTube needs clarity and discoverability
LinkedIn needs professionalism and context

To get this right, I had to:

Write the content idea manually
Rephrase it separately for each platform
Adjust tone and language every time

This process was time-consuming, repetitive, and mentally exhausting.

That frustration became the core inspiration behind Caption Express Agent.

💡 Inspiration

The idea came from a simple question:

Why can’t caption creation feel as seamless as designing inside Adobe Express?

Adobe Express already provides an excellent creative environment for visuals, but when it comes to captions, creators still need to jump between:

Notes apps
AI chat tools
Platform-specific editors

This constant context switching breaks creative flow. Caption Express Agent was built to eliminate that friction by bringing caption intelligence directly into Adobe Express.

🚀 What the Project Does

Caption Express Agent is an Adobe Express Add-on that allows creators to generate platform-optimized social media captions without leaving the editor.

The user can:

Describe content using text input (and optionally image context)
Select a target platform:
- Instagram
- YouTube
- LinkedIn
Choose a tone:
- Pro – professional and brand-safe
- Fun – light and engaging
- GenZ – casual and trendy
- Motivational – inspiring and positive
Choose a language:
- English
- Hinglish (Hindi + English)

With a single click, the add-on generates clean, ready-to-use captions tailored to the selected platform.

Different platforms, different captions — one unified tool.

🛠️ How I Built It

The project is built as a React + TypeScript Adobe Express Add-on, carefully designed to visually and behaviorally match Adobe Express.

Key technical decisions include:

Using Groq API for ultra-low-latency inference
Selecting a LLaMA-based model (llama-3.1-8b-instant) for fast, clean, human-like output
Designing a minimal interface with Lucide React icons
Applying a white + mint color system with subtle black hover states to match Adobe Express aesthetics

The internal pipeline is simple and efficient:

Analyze user input
Apply platform-specific formatting logic
Generate captions based on tone and language
Insert the selected caption directly into the design

No prompt engineering is required from the user.

🧠 What I Learned

This project reinforced several important lessons:

UX matters as much as AI quality
Platform context is more important than generic generation
Low latency significantly improves perceived intelligence
Designing inside an existing ecosystem requires restraint and focus

I also learned how to:

Build add-ons that feel native instead of external
Balance flexibility with simplicity
Integrate AI without making it feel intrusive or gimmicky

⚠️ Challenges Faced

Some key challenges during development included:

API limitations for image-based caption understanding due to paid access
Ensuring captions felt platform-appropriate, not generic
Keeping the UI minimal while still offering meaningful control
Avoiding “AI noise” such as excessive emojis or buzzwords
Matching Adobe Express’s visual language without copying it directly

Another ongoing challenge was resisting feature overload. The focus remained on doing one thing extremely well: captions.

🌱 Conclusion

Caption Express Agent brings multiple fragmented tools into one focused, creator-first experience.

Instead of switching platforms, rewriting captions, and breaking creative momentum, creators can now generate clean, platform-ready captions directly inside Adobe Express.

The project is guided by a simple belief: