guides — the prompt reference
How a Midjourney prompt works.
What a prompt is made of, and what every parameter in the tail actually does — the accepted range, the default you get by leaving it out, and the combinations that fail without telling you. Each claim cites the official documentation it came from.
basics — prompt structure · 7 min
How a Midjourney prompt is put together
Every prompt is image references, then text, then parameters — in that order. Learn the shape once and every individual parameter becomes a slot you already know where to put.
reference — every parameter · 6 min
Every Midjourney parameter, with its range and default
The lookup table. Every flag with its short alias, what it accepts, what it defaults to, and which of them are mutually incompatible.
parameters — --profile and --p · 8 min
What --profile is: personalization codes explained
Those seven-character codes at the end of a prompt are personalization profiles: a style trained on images you chose, referenced by code. The one parameter you cannot copy from someone else and expect the same picture.
parameters — --sref · 8 min
What --sref does: style references and style codes
A style reference takes the look of an image and leaves its contents behind. It accepts an image URL, a numeric style code from Midjourney’s own library, or several of either at once.
parameters — --sw, --sv and --iw · 6 min
How strongly a reference applies: --sw, --sv and --iw
Adding a reference is one decision; how loud it is is another. --sw is the volume knob, --sv is which algorithm interprets it, and --iw is the same idea for image prompts.
parameters — --stylize and --s · 5 min
What --stylize sets, and its second job
Stylize is how much artistic latitude Midjourney takes with your prompt. Low is literal, high is expressive — and when a personalization profile is attached, the same number is also that profile’s volume.
parameters — --raw · 5 min
What --raw turns off
Midjourney styles your image whether you asked it to or not. --raw is the flag that stops it, which is why photographic work reaches for it and illustration rarely does.
parameters — --ar · 5 min
Setting the frame with --ar
Every prompt without --ar is a prompt asking for a square. The syntax has three rules worth knowing and one common confusion with image resolution.
parameters — --v, --niji and --hd · 7 min
Which model made the picture: --v, --niji and --hd
A prompt without --v runs on whatever the current default is — which changes. Pinning the version is what makes a saved prompt still mean something a year later.
parameters — --chaos, --weird and --seed · 6 min
Controlling variety: --chaos, --weird and --seed
Chaos spreads your results apart, weird pushes them somewhere unusual, and seed tries to hold them still. The first two are dials; the third comes with more caveats than most people expect.