diff --git a/textgrad/variable.py b/textgrad/variable.py
index 01b9020..91507d3 100644
--- a/textgrad/variable.py
+++ b/textgrad/variable.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from textgrad.engine import EngineLM
 from typing import List, Set, Dict
 import httpx
+import numpy as np
 from collections import defaultdict
 from functools import partial
 from .config import SingletonBackwardEngine
@@ -11,7 +12,7 @@
 class Variable:
     def __init__(
         self,
-        value: Union[str, bytes] = "",
+        value: Union[str, bytes, np.integer] = "",
         image_path: str = "",
         predecessors: List['Variable']=None,
         requires_grad: bool=True,
@@ -33,14 +34,14 @@ def __init__(
 
         if predecessors is None:
             predecessors = []
-        
+
         _predecessor_requires_grad = [v for v in predecessors if v.requires_grad]
-        
+
         if (not requires_grad) and (len(_predecessor_requires_grad) > 0):
             raise Exception("If the variable does not require grad, none of its predecessors should require grad."
                             f"In this case, following predecessors require grad: {_predecessor_requires_grad}")
-        
-        assert type(value) in [str, bytes, int], "Value must be a string, int, or image (bytes). Got: {}".format(type(value))
+
+        assert type(value) in [str, bytes, int] or np.issubdtype(value, np.integer), "Value must be a string, int, or image (bytes). Got: {}".format(type(value))
         if isinstance(value, int):
             value = str(value)
         # We'll currently let "empty variables" slide, but we'll need to handle this better in the future.