Quickstart

The fastest path: AI agent + skill

The recommended way to use varg is through an AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.) with the varg skill installed. The skill gives your agent full context on components, models, prompting, and rendering.

Get your API key

Install the varg skill

npx -y skills add vargHQ/skills --all --copy -y

This installs the varg skill into Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and 40+ other agents automatically.

Set your API key

export VARG_API_KEY=varg_live_xxx

Create your first video

claude "create a 10-second product video for white sneakers, 9:16, UGC style, with captions and background music"

Or with Cursor, Windsurf, or any other agent — just prompt it the same way:“Create a 10-second TikTok video of a cute robot waving hello with upbeat music and captions”

That’s it. The agent handles all the TSX code, rendering, and file management for you.

First render takes 1-2 minutes (AI generation). Subsequent runs with the same prompts are instant (cached at $0).

Pricing

1 credit = 1 cent. Typical costs:

Action	Model	Credits	Cost
Image	grok_imagine_image	4	$0.04
Image	flux_dev	68	$0.68
Image	nano_banana_pro	126	$1.26
Video (5s)	sora_2	105	$1.05
Video (5s)	wan_2.5	158	$1.58
Video (5s)	kling_v3	221	$2.21
Speech	eleven_turbo_v2_5	105	$1.05
Music	music_v1	79	$0.79
Cache hit	any	0	$0.00

A typical 3-clip video costs $2-5. Cache hits are always free. Live catalog: api.varg.ai/v2/pricing.

Alternative: Cloud Render (curl only)

No installation needed. Submit TSX code to the Render API via curl:

# Submit a render job
JOB=$(curl -s -X POST https://api.varg.ai/v2/render \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VARG_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "code": "const img = Image({ model: fal.imageModel(\"nano_banana_pro\"), prompt: \"a cabin in mountains at sunset\", aspectRatio: \"16:9\" });\nexport default (<Render width={1920} height={1080}><Clip duration={3}>{img}</Clip></Render>);"
  }')

JOB_ID=$(echo $JOB | jq -r '.id')

# Poll for result
curl -s "https://api.varg.ai/v2/jobs/$JOB_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VARG_API_KEY"

# When completed, the video URL is in .output.outputs[0].url

Cloud render uses fal.*Model() syntax — provider globals are auto-injected server-side. See the Render API reference for full details.

Alternative: Local Render (bun + ffmpeg)

For full control, render videos locally. Requires Bun and ffmpeg.

Installation

Bun (recommended)
npm

bun install vargai ai

npm install vargai ai

Set your API key

Create a .env file in your project root:

VARG_API_KEY=varg_xxx

Bun auto-loads .env files — no dotenv needed.

Your first video

Create hello.tsx:

/** @jsxImportSource vargai */
import { Render, Clip, Image, Video } from "vargai/react"
import { createVarg } from "vargai/ai"

const varg = createVarg({ apiKey: process.env.VARG_API_KEY! })

const character = Image({
  model: varg.imageModel("nano-banana-pro"),
  prompt: "cute kawaii fluffy orange cat character, round body, big eyes, Pixar style",
  aspectRatio: "9:16",
})

export default (
  <Render width={1080} height={1920}>
    <Clip duration={5}>
      <Video
        prompt={{
          text: "character waves hello enthusiastically, bounces up and down",
          images: [character],
        }}
        model={varg.videoModel("kling-v3")}
      />
    </Clip>
  </Render>
)

Render it:

bunx vargai render hello.tsx --preview   # free preview (placeholders)
bunx vargai render hello.tsx --verbose   # full render (costs credits)

Add music

/** @jsxImportSource vargai */
import { Render, Clip, Image, Video, Music } from "vargai/react"
import { createVarg } from "vargai/ai"

const varg = createVarg({ apiKey: process.env.VARG_API_KEY! })

const character = Image({
  model: varg.imageModel("nano-banana-pro"),
  prompt: "cute kawaii cat character, Pixar style",
  aspectRatio: "9:16",
})

export default (
  <Render width={1080} height={1920}>
    <Music
      prompt="upbeat happy electronic music, cheerful vibes"
      model={varg.musicModel()}
      volume={0.3}
      duration={5}
    />
    <Clip duration={5}>
      <Video
        prompt={{ text: "cat dancing happily", images: [character] }}
        model={varg.videoModel("kling-v3")}
      />
    </Clip>
  </Render>
)

Add voiceover with captions

/** @jsxImportSource vargai */
import { Render, Clip, Image, Video, Speech, Captions } from "vargai/react"
import { createVarg } from "vargai/ai"

const varg = createVarg({ apiKey: process.env.VARG_API_KEY! })

const character = Image({
  model: varg.imageModel("nano-banana-pro"),
  prompt: "friendly robot character, blue metallic, expressive eyes",
  aspectRatio: "9:16",
})

const voiceover = Speech({
  model: varg.speechModel("eleven_v3"),
  voice: "adam",
  children: "Hello! I'm your AI assistant. Let me show you something cool!",
})

export default (
  <Render width={1080} height={1920}>
    <Clip duration={5}>
      <Video
        prompt={{ text: "robot talking, subtle head movements", images: [character] }}
        model={varg.videoModel("kling-v3")}
      />
    </Clip>
    <Captions src={voiceover} style="tiktok" color="#ffffff" withAudio />
  </Render>
)

Project structure

Recommended layout:

my-video-project/
├── .env              # VARG_API_KEY=varg_xxx
├── package.json
├── output/           # Generated videos
├── .cache/ai/        # Cached AI generations
└── videos/
    ├── intro.tsx
    ├── episode-1.tsx
    └── outro.tsx

Next steps

Components Reference

All JSX components and their props

AI Models

All supported models with pricing

Templates

Copy-paste examples for common video types

Cloud Render API

Submit TSX via API — zero local dependencies

Get Started

Models

SDK

Templates

MCP

AI Agents

Comparisons

The fastest path: AI agent + skill

Pricing

Alternative: Cloud Render (curl only)

Alternative: Local Render (bun + ffmpeg)

Installation

Set your API key

Your first video

Add music

Add voiceover with captions

Project structure

Next steps

Components Reference

AI Models

Templates

Cloud Render API

​The fastest path: AI agent + skill

​Pricing

​Alternative: Cloud Render (curl only)

​Alternative: Local Render (bun + ffmpeg)

​Installation

​Set your API key

​Your first video

​Add music

​Add voiceover with captions

​Project structure

​Next steps

Components Reference

AI Models

Templates

Cloud Render API

The fastest path: AI agent + skill

Pricing

Alternative: Cloud Render (curl only)

Alternative: Local Render (bun + ffmpeg)

Installation

Set your API key

Your first video

Add music

Add voiceover with captions

Project structure

Next steps