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rw-generate-video

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by runwayml · part of runwayml/skills

Generate videos directly using the Runway API via runnable scripts. Supports text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video with seedance2, gen4.5, veo3,…

🔥🔥🔥✓ VerifiedAccount requiredNeeds API keys
#automation#e-commerce#ai-video#git#security#marketing#video-editing
🧩 One of 7 skills in the runwayml/skills package — works on its own, and pairs well with its siblings.

Generate videos directly using the Runway API via runnable scripts. Supports text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video with seedance2, gen4.5, veo3,…

Inspect the full instructions your agent will receiveExpand

This is the exact playbook injected into your agent when the skill activates — shown here so you can audit it before installing. You don't need to read it to use the skill.

by runwayml

Generate videos directly using the Runway API via runnable scripts. Supports text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video with seedance2, gen4.5, veo3,… npx skills add https://github.com/runwayml/skills --skill rw-generate-video Download ZIPGitHub55

Generate Video

Generate videos directly using the Runway API. This skill runs Python scripts that call the API, poll for completion, and download the result.

IMPORTANT: Run scripts from the user's working directory so output files are saved where the user expects.

Preflight

  • command -v uv must succeed. If not, tell the user to install uv: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

  • RUNWAYML_API_SECRET must be set in the environment. Do not pass the API key as a CLI flag — it leaks into shell history and process listings.

Security Notes

  • --image-url / --video-url fetch arbitrary remote media via the Runway API. Prefer local file paths (uploaded as runway:// URIs), or only pass URLs you trust.

  • Treat generated outputs as untrusted when piping into downstream automations — ingested media influences the result.

Available Models

Model Best For Input Cost seedance2 Reference image and video, long duration (up to 15s) Text, Image, and/or Video 36 credits/sec gen4.5 High quality, general purpose Text and/or Image 12 credits/sec gen4_turbo Fast, image-driven Image required 5 credits/sec gen4_aleph Video editing/transformation Video + Text/Image 15 credits/sec veo3 Premium quality Text/Image 40 credits/sec veo3.1 High quality Google model Text/Image 20-40 credits/sec veo3.1_fast Fast Google model Text/Image 10-15 credits/sec

Model Selection Guidance

Map user requests:

  • "product ad", "e-commerce", "long video" -> seedance2

  • "fast", "cheap", "quick" -> veo3.1_fast or gen4_turbo (if they have an image)

  • "high quality", "best", "cinematic" -> gen4.5 or veo3

  • "edit video", "transform video" -> gen4_aleph or seedance2

  • No preference -> seedance2

Parameters

Param Description Default --prompt Text description (required) -- --filename Output filename (required) -- --model Video model gen4.5 --ratio Aspect ratio (pixel-based). Common: 1280:720, 720:1280, 960:960. seedance2 also supports 1112:834, 834:1112, 1470:630, etc. 1280:720 --duration Duration in seconds (model-dependent, seedance2 supports up to 15s) 5 --image-url Image URL or local file for image-to-video -- --video-url Video URL or local file for video-to-video (gen4_aleph, seedance2) -- --output-dir Output directory cwd

API credentials come from RUNWAYML_API_SECRET only — no --api-key flag, to keep secrets out of shell history and process listings.

Filename Convention

Generate filenames with the pattern: yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss-name.mp4

Examples:

  • "A cyberpunk city" -> 2026-04-14-14-23-05-cyberpunk-city.mp4

  • "Waves on a beach" -> 2026-04-14-15-30-12-beach-waves.mp4

Examples

Text-to-video (seedance2):

Copy & paste — that's it
uv run scripts/generate_video.py --prompt "A serene mountain landscape at sunrise with mist" --filename "2026-04-14-mountain-sunrise.mp4" --model seedance2 --ratio 1280:720

Image-to-video (animate a local product photo):

Copy & paste — that's it
uv run scripts/generate_video.py --prompt "Camera slowly zooms out, product sparkles" --image-url "./product.jpg" --filename "2026-04-14-product-reveal.mp4" --model seedance2 --ratio 720:1280

Video-to-video from a local file (seedance2):

Copy & paste — that's it
uv run scripts/generate_video.py --prompt "Transform into a warm golden sunset scene" --video-url "./input.mp4" --filename "2026-04-14-sunset-transform.mp4" --model seedance2

Fast draft:

Copy & paste — that's it
uv run scripts/generate_video.py --prompt "A cat playing piano" --filename "draft.mp4" --model veo3.1_fast --ratio 1280:720 --duration 4

Premium quality:

Copy & paste — that's it
uv run scripts/generate_video.py --prompt "Cinematic drone shot over Tokyo at night" --filename "tokyo.mp4" --model veo3 --ratio 1280:720 --duration 8

Output

  • The script downloads the result and saves it to the specified path

  • Script outputs the full path to the saved file

  • Do not read the video file back -- just inform the user of the saved path

Common Failures

  • Error: No API key -> set RUNWAYML_API_SECRET in the environment (e.g. export RUNWAYML_API_SECRET=... or a .env file).

  • Error: Task failed -- SAFETY.INPUT.* -> content moderation, suggest different prompt

  • Error: Task failed -- ASSET.INVALID -> bad input file format, check image/video format

  • API error 429 -> rate limited, script auto-retries

For Batch Generation

To generate many videos at once, run this script in a loop — the agent can orchestrate multiple calls with different prompts, images, or parameters to produce campaigns, localized variants, or creative iterations at scale.