diff --git a/examples/cli/main.cpp b/examples/cli/main.cpp
index 1cc7a7af4..eea756fd9 100644
--- a/examples/cli/main.cpp
+++ b/examples/cli/main.cpp
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ struct SDCliParams {
              &metadata_format},
             {"",
              "--preview-path",
-             "path to write preview image to (default: ./preview.png). Multi-frame previews support .avi, .webm, and animated .webp",
+             "path to write preview image to (default: ./preview.png). For image generation, the filename can have %03d placeholder for sequential numbering. Multi-frame previews support .avi, .webm, and animated .webp",
              0,
              &preview_path},
             {"",
@@ -372,27 +372,6 @@ bool load_images_from_dir(const std::string dir,
     return true;
 }
 
-void step_callback(int step, int frame_count, sd_image_t* image, bool is_noisy, void* data) {
-    (void)step;
-    (void)is_noisy;
-    SDCliParams* cli_params = (SDCliParams*)data;
-    // is_noisy is set to true if the preview corresponds to noisy latents, false if it's denoised latents
-    // unused in this app, it will either be always noisy or always denoised here
-    if (frame_count == 1) {
-        if (!write_image_to_file(cli_params->preview_path,
-                                 image->data,
-                                 image->width,
-                                 image->height,
-                                 image->channel)) {
-            LOG_ERROR("save preview image to '%s' failed", cli_params->preview_path.c_str());
-        }
-    } else {
-        if (create_video_from_sd_images(cli_params->preview_path.c_str(), image, frame_count, cli_params->preview_fps) != 0) {
-            LOG_ERROR("save preview video to '%s' failed", cli_params->preview_path.c_str());
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 std::string format_frame_idx(std::string pattern, int frame_idx) {
     std::smatch match;
     std::string result = pattern;
@@ -412,6 +391,32 @@ std::string format_frame_idx(std::string pattern, int frame_idx) {
     return result;
 }
 
+int continuous_preview_counter = 0;
+
+void step_callback(int step, int frame_count, sd_image_t* image, bool is_noisy, void* data) {
+    (void)step;
+    (void)is_noisy;
+    SDCliParams* cli_params = (SDCliParams*)data;
+    // is_noisy is set to true if the preview corresponds to noisy latents, false if it's denoised latents
+    // unused in this app, it will either be always noisy or always denoised here
+    if (frame_count == 1) {
+        fs::path path = cli_params->preview_path;
+        std::string new_pathname = fs::path(path).remove_filename().string() + 
+            format_frame_idx(path.filename().string(), ++continuous_preview_counter);
+        if (!write_image_to_file(new_pathname,
+                                 image->data,
+                                 image->width,
+                                 image->height,
+                                 image->channel)) {
+            LOG_ERROR("save preview image to '%s' failed", new_pathname.c_str());
+        }
+    } else {
+        if (create_video_from_sd_images(cli_params->preview_path.c_str(), image, frame_count, cli_params->preview_fps) != 0) {
+            LOG_ERROR("save preview video to '%s' failed", cli_params->preview_path.c_str());
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 static fs::path get_video_audio_sidecar_path(const SDCliParams& cli_params) {
     fs::path out_path     = cli_params.output_path;
     fs::path base_path    = out_path;