Command line (CLI)

The CLI is published on npm as videodraft. It needs Node 20.18.1 or newer.

npm install -g videodraft
videodraft --version

Sign in once in your browser. In CI, skip the login and set VIDEODRAFT_API_KEY to a token from app.videodraft.ai/mcp-keys. videodraft logout signs you out and clears the saved credentials.

videodraft login
videodraft whoami

An image, clip, voiceover, music track or 3D model does not need a project. Add --estimate to see what a job costs before you run it.

videodraft generate image "a red fox in snow, cinematic" --download ./out/
videodraft generate video "slow dolly over a misty lake" --duration 6 --estimate
videodraft generate voiceover "Welcome to VideoDraft" --download welcome.mp3
videodraft create "30s launch video for our espresso machine" --ar 9:16

• Run videodraft generate --help for the rest: music, sound effects, dialogue, voice changer, dubbing, Seed Audio and 3D.
• videodraft models lists what you can use. videodraft costs shows what a model costs.
• Every command accepts --json. Exit codes are stable: 0 ok, 1 error, 2 usage, 3 sign-in, 4 not enough credits.

Image and video commands wait for the result by default. To manage jobs yourself, add --no-wait and keep the job ID. Check a job with status, or collect it with wait. If wait times out, the job keeps running on the server.

videodraft generate image "a blue ceramic cup on an oak desk" --num 1 --no-wait --json
videodraft status JOB_ID --json
videodraft wait JOB_ID --download "./media/{job_id}_{index}.{ext}" --json

Estimate first. Submit each approved job with --no-wait and save its ID, then collect them all with one wait command instead of checking each job separately.

videodraft wait JOB_ID_1 JOB_ID_2 JOB_ID_3 --download "./media/{job_id}_{index}.{ext}" --json

videodraft sessions current shows which AI Studio project your jobs go into. Use --session to pick a different one. A downloaded file is a copy; the original stays in your web history.

The CLI comes with an agent skill that covers model choice, references, waiting for jobs and costs. Install it and Claude Code, Codex and Cursor know how to make video without being told each time. The CLI finds which agents you have and installs the skill for each.

videodraft skills install