API Reference

Go from video URL to captioned MP4 in 4 steps:

1. Get an API key — create one below or on your account page
2. Add captions — call POST /api/v1/captions with any public video_url and optional style_id. Returns immediately with a run ID.
3. Poll for completion — call GET /api/v1/render/:id until status is "completed".
4. Export & download — call POST /api/v1/render/:id/export, then poll until export_status is "completed" and grab the download_url.

Full example

# 1. Add captions to a video
curl -X POST https://api.elevideo.dev/v1/captions \
  -H "X-API-Key: ck_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"video_url": "https://example.com/video.mp4", "style_id": "holographic"}'

# 2. Poll status (repeat until status = "completed")
curl https://api.elevideo.dev/v1/render/run_abc123 \
  -H "X-API-Key: ck_your_key"

# 3. Trigger export
curl -X POST https://api.elevideo.dev/v1/render/run_abc123/export \
  -H "X-API-Key: ck_your_key"

# 4. Poll again until export_status = "completed", then use download_url

# 5. Try a different style (free — no re-transcription)
curl -X POST https://api.elevideo.dev/v1/render/run_abc123/rerun \
  -H "X-API-Key: ck_your_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"style_id": "beast"}'

The Clipcode CLI lets you render videos directly from your terminal using local files or URLs.

Install

npm install -g @clipcode/cli

Authenticate

clipcode auth --key ck_your_key

Render a local file

clipcode render ./video.mp4 --style bold
# ✓ Uploaded  (12.4 MB)
# ✓ Rendering … done
# ✓ Exported  → video-bold.mp4

clipcode styles          # list available styles
clipcode renders         # list past renders
clipcode status <run-id> # check render status

Clipcode ships an MCP server so AI agents (Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client) can render videos autonomously — no API calls required from your code.

Install

npm install -g @clipcode/mcp-server

Claude Desktop — add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clipcode": {
      "command": "clipcode-mcp",
      "env": {
        "CLIPCODE_API_KEY": "ck_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "clipcode": {
      "command": "clipcode-mcp",
      "env": {
        "CLIPCODE_API_KEY": "ck_your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available tools

• render_video — render a video with a template
• check_render_status — poll render progress
• export_render — trigger MP4 export
• list_templates — list all caption styles and AI templates
• get_account — check credit balance

Pass your API key in the X-API-Key header with every request:

curl -H "X-API-Key: ck_your_key_here" \
  https://api.elevideo.dev/v1/account

Bearer token authentication (Authorization: Bearer <token>) is also supported for web frontend integration.

Loading keys...

Upload Video ──▶ POST /captions ──▶ Transcription ──▶ Composition Built
                    or POST /ai-edits                     status: "completed"
                                                                │
                                                                ▼
                                                    POST /render/:id/export
                                                         (async)
                                                                │
                                                                ▼
                                                      Server-side Render
                                                                │
                                                                ▼
                                                    Upload to CDN ──▶ download_url

1. You provide a video URL and optionally a style ID
2. The API transcribes your video with word-level timing
3. For caption templates: builds a composition with styled captions overlaid on your video
4. For AI edit templates: also uses AI to extract highlights, quotes, or structured data from the transcript
5. Once the composition is built, you trigger an export which renders a final MP4 on our servers
6. The rendered MP4 is uploaded to CDN and a download URL is returned

Every completed render produces a composition object — the full set of rendering instructions including captions, timing, styles, and overlays.

You can retrieve any render's composition via GET /api/v1/render/:id. The composition contains:

• segments — video clips with timing, transitions, animations
• captions — word-level caption data with style configuration
• transcriptionWords — raw word timing from transcription
• audioUrl — extracted audio track
• styleParams — video effects (zoom, pan, blur)
• aiEditTemplate — AI-extracted overlay data (for AI edit templates)

Every video you render is effectively a reusable template. You can take any public video URL, process it with different templates, and get different styled outputs from the same source.

Both render and export operations are asynchronous. The API responds immediately and processes in the background. Poll the render endpoint to track progress.

Render status progression

processing ──▶ completed ──▶ (trigger export) ──▶ rendering ──▶ uploading ──▶ completed
     │                                                         │
     ▼                                                         ▼
   failed                                                    failed

• processing — transcription + composition in progress
• completed — composition ready, can view or export
• failed — processing error (check error_message)
• rendering — server-side export in progress
• uploading — rendered MP4 uploading to CDN
• export_status: "completed" — download_url available

Re-runs (POST /render/:id/rerun) skip transcription entirely. Caption re-runs complete instantly. AI edit re-runs only need a brief LLM step. Re-runs are free — no credits charged.

32 caption styles across 4 categories: minimal, bold, animated, and elegant. Each controls fonts, colors, animations, and effects.

Call GET /api/v1/styles/captions for the full current list.

Example styles

"classic"       — Traditional subtitles with dark background (minimal)
"holographic"   — Cyan holographic glow with uppercase text (animated)
"beast"         — Impact font with yellow box on active word (bold)
"elegance"      — Serif script with alternating cursive words (elegant)

32 AI edit overlay styles organized by industry: real estate, SaaS, personal brand, trendy, podcast, news, reviews, local business, e-commerce, and finance. Each uses AI to extract relevant data from your video's transcript.

Call GET /api/v1/styles/ai-edits for the full current list.

Example styles

"property_showcase"  — Property listing with price + features (real_estate)
"product_demo"       — SaaS product walkthrough (saas)
"tiktok_title"       — Trendy short-form content (trendy)
"podcast_clip"       — Interview clips with standout quote (podcast)

Register a URL to receive HTTP POST notifications when render events occur. Useful for agents and automations that want push delivery instead of polling.

Events

"render.started"          — job began processing
"render.completed"        — composition ready (status = "completed")
"render.failed"           — job failed
"render.export_completed" — MP4 export done, download_url available
"render.export_failed"    — export failed

Payload shape

{
  "event": "render.completed",
  "data": {
    "id": "run_abc123",
    "status": "completed",
    "flow_type": "captions",
    "style_id": "holographic",
    "created_on": "2026-03-25T12:00:00.000Z"
  }
}

All errors return a JSON body with error (machine-readable code) and message (human-readable description).

API requests are limited to 100 requests/minute per user. If you exceed this limit you will receive a 429 response. Standard rate limit headers (RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset) are included in every response.