rw-generate-video

Original：🇺🇸 English
Translated

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, and more.

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Sourcerunwayml/skills
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NPX Install

npx skill4agent add runwayml/skills rw-generate-video

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
runway-apiai-video-generationpython-scriptstext-to-videovideo-to-video

SKILL.md Content

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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.

Usage

bash
uv run scripts/generate_video.py --prompt "your description" --filename "output.mp4" [--model seedance2] [--ratio 1280:720] [--duration 5] [--image-url "..."]

Preflight

  1. command -v uv
    must succeed. If not, tell the user to install uv: 
    curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
  2. 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

ModelBest ForInputCost
seedance2
Reference image and video, long duration (up to 15s)Text, Image, and/or Video36 credits/sec
gen4.5
High quality, general purposeText and/or Image12 credits/sec
gen4_turbo
Fast, image-drivenImage required5 credits/sec
gen4_aleph
Video editing/transformationVideo + Text/Image15 credits/sec
veo3
Premium qualityText/Image40 credits/sec
veo3.1
High quality Google modelText/Image20-40 credits/sec
veo3.1_fast
Fast Google modelText/Image10-15 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

ParamDescriptionDefault
--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 directorycwd
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):
bash
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):
bash
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):
bash
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:
bash
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:
bash
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.