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Clipcat Agent Skill

All-in-one TikTok Shop selling-video skill for any AI agent (Claude Code, Codex, WorkBuddy, OpenClaw). Find viral TikTok videos, research TikTok Shop products, shops, creators and live rooms, break down why a video sells (script, scenes, hooks, music), search the largest library of real high-GMV AI selling videos and their reverse-engineered prompts and turn the closest match into a ready-to-shoot prompt for your own product, replicate a winning video, turn product photos into AI selling / UGC / talking-head / product-demo videos, generate e-commerce images from a text prompt, upscale results to 1080p or 2K, and download TikTok or Douyin videos. Keywords — AI selling video, TikTok viral replication, TikTok Shop product research, competitor shop analysis, creator and influencer ranking, AI selling video prompt library, product-to-video, UGC video generator, AI product image, TikTok video downloader. Use whenever the user needs TikTok e-commerce data, viral video research, or AI video/image generation.

9k tokens
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the whole folder, loaded on every use
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instructions only
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on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/Clipcat-ai/clipcat-skill --skill clipcat

The instruction itself

24 sections, as written by the author

Clipcat CLI

This skill is intentionally short. Detailed flags and supported values belong to the CLI itself — always treat clipcat -h and clipcat <subcommand> -h as the primary reference. The one thing -h cannot be current about is the model catalog: models come and go between releases, so clipcat models is the authority on which models, resolutions and durations exist right now.

Installation

Run clipcat --version first — if it prints a version, clipcat is installed; skip to API key. If the command is missing, install for the platform:

macOS / Linux / Git Bash:

curl -fsSL https://clipcat.ai/cli | bash

Windows (PowerShell, no bash):

irm https://clipcat.ai/cli.ps1 | iex

Then set the API key (see below). Update later with clipcat update (re-runs the installer; your saved config is preserved).

Windows sandbox note (Codex etc.)

If the Windows install fails with SEC_E_NO_CREDENTIALS, AcquireCredentialsHandle, 0x8009030E, "The underlying connection was closed", or 「基础连接已经关闭」, you are in a restricted sandbox (e.g. the Codex Windows sandbox) where the Windows TLS stack (Schannel) can't open credentials — Invoke-WebRequest and system curl.exe both fail there. The installer automatically retries the download through Node (its OpenSSL bypasses Schannel), so installing Node in the sandbox usually fixes it. If it still fails, show the install command to the user and ask them to run it in a normal PowerShell outside the sandbox, or to approve running it outside the sandbox — do not keep retrying with different commands.

API key

Configure the key in the local config file — the only reliable method:

clipcat config --api-key <your-key> --base-url https://clipcat.ai

Get the key at https://clipcat.ai/workspace?modal=settings&tab=apikeys. Prefer the config file over the CLIPCAT_API_KEY environment variable: sandboxed agents (e.g. Codex) filter out env vars whose names contain KEY/SECRET/TOKEN, so it is usually invisible there. (OpenClaw injects CLIPCAT_API_KEY automatically; when set, it overrides the config file.)

What this CLI is for

clipcat is the local entrypoint for all Clipcat AI video generation workflows:

  • Query TikTok e-commerce data: creators, products, shops, videos, lives, search
  • Generate a ready-to-shoot selling-video prompt from the viral prompt library
  • Replicate viral videos with your product
  • Generate product videos from images
  • Generate AI images from text prompts using GPT Image 2 (with optional reference images)
  • Analyze videos (script, scenes, music)
  • Download TikTok/Douyin videos
  • Query async task status

Default agent workflow

  • Start with clipcat -h to see all commands.
  • Before using any command, run clipcat <subcommand> -h to see flags.
  • Default to JSON output.
  • Before any credit-consuming video command, quote the exact cost with

clipcat quote, confirm it with the user, and submit with

--expected-credits (see "Confirming cost before paid video commands").

  • If any command prints an update notice on stderr (`⬆ clipcat X is

available … Run: clipcat update), run clipcat update` once, then continue.

It self-skips when already up to date, so it is safe to run.

Choosing the right command

TikTok e-commerce data — entity commands

These are noun-verb commands: clipcat <entity> <verb>. Run clipcat <entity> -h

to list verbs and clipcat <entity> <verb> -h for flags.

  • creator <list|rank|profile|enrich|trend|posts|sales-videos|lives|products|followers|following|region|milestones> — TikTok creators/influencers
  • product <list|rank|detail|trend|reviews|live-comments|creators|videos|lives> — TikTok Shop products
  • seller <list|rank|detail|trend|catalog|inventory|creators|videos|lives> — TikTok Shop shops
  • video <list|rank|snapshot|sales|trend|comments|captions|products|hashtag> — TikTok videos
  • live detail — live-room detail (only while live)
  • find <creators|products|videos|lives|hashtags|music|photo|all> — keyword/image search; find all is the broad fallback

Two data sources, and the command name already picks one for you. There is no

--mode flag to reason about — pick by what you need back:

| You need | Command | What you get | What you don't |

|---|---|---|---|

| A creator's recent posts | creator posts | any public creator, newest first | no per-video sales/GMV |

| A creator's shoppable videos | creator sales-videos | sales + GMV per video, sortable | only creators in the historical dataset |

| A creator's profile now | creator profile | any public creator | no cumulative commerce metrics |

| Commerce metrics for many creators | creator enrich | batch ≤10, cumulative metrics | only collected creators |

| One video's current state | video snapshot | any public video | no sales/GMV |

| Sales for videos you already have ids for | video sales | batch ≤10, sales + GMV | only collected videos |

| Reviews you can filter by rating | product reviews | rating filters, paging | slightly staler |

| The freshest comments | product live-comments | latest, needs --region | no rating filter |

| A shop's history incl. removed items | seller catalog | sales + GMV, sortable | not what's listed right now |

| What a shop lists right now | seller inventory | current, needs --region | no sales/GMV |

The historical dataset does not cover everything (collection is capped by cost),

so the sales / catalog / enrich side answers "not collected" fairly often —

roughly 4-6 times in 10 when the id came from a live search. Ids taken from

… rank / … list are in the dataset by construction and hit nearly every time.

An empty result there means *not collected*, not *does not exist* — check with the

live command instead of retrying. Never expose the words offline/realtime to end

users; say historical vs. latest data.

Pagination: each call returns one page and is billed once. Historical

list/rank commands take --page / --page-size (--page-size maxes out at 10;

larger values are clamped and the response says so in pagination_corrected — get

more rows with --page 2, --page 3, …); live lists take --offset /

--cursor / --scroll-param echoed back from a prior page. Fetch more by

repeating the command page by page (--max-pages is deprecated and ignored).

The two data sources do not share a paging scheme. Historical commands

(creator sales-videos, product reviews, seller catalog) page by number; their

live counterparts (creator posts, product live-comments, seller inventory)

page by cursor, and a page number cannot become a cursor. If you page a live list

with --page, the CLI rejects it outright; if an older client sends it anyway,

the response carries pagination_ignored — that means **this is the source's first

page**, not the page you asked for. Stop paging by your original number and continue

with the token in next; repeating the number returns the same rows and bills 6

credits again.

Empty is an answer, not a failure. The historical dataset does not cover

everything, so an empty result usually means "not in that dataset" rather than "no

such thing". The response then carries try_instead with a ready-to-run command for

the other source, plus what you gain (live: full coverage, no sales/GMV; historical:

sales/GMV and sorting, covered entities only) and any flags you still need to add.

Switching sources is a separate billed call — switch only if you need those fields.

Do not retry the same empty query.

Errors tell you whether to retry. Failures carry error_kind and retryable:

transient (rate limit or a brief wobble — retry the same command in a few

seconds), invalid_params (the message says exactly what is wrong — fix the flag,

never retry as-is), temporarily_unavailable (retrying will not help; change the

query or come back later).

Insufficient credits: read commands cost 6 credits each (prompt search is 3, charged only after the free allowance included with your plan is used up); below that balance they error out and return no data.

Data-query playbook (dense):

  • Chain ids, don't guess them. Discover first (<entity> list|rank, find …),

take the id from the result, then call detail / trend / relationship verbs.

Batch verbs take comma-separated ids (--user-ids, --product-ids,

--video-ids, ≤10).

  • Where the id came from decides which command can answer. Ids from find …

(live search) are any public entity, so follow them with the live commands —

video snapshot, creator posts, creator profile. Ids from … rank / … list

are in the historical dataset by construction, so those are the ones to follow with

video sales, creator sales-videos, creator enrich, seller catalog. Running a

live-search id straight into a sales command is the single most common way to burn

credits on empty results — a find videos id misses the sales dataset about 4 times

in 10. If you need sales figures for something you found live, say so plainly rather

than paging for data that was never collected.

  • Seed relationships from commerce-active entities. Sub-resource verbs

(creator products|lives, product creators|videos|lives, seller lives,

video products) return [] for low-activity ids. Pull seeds from … rank or a

sorted … list (top sales/followers), not an arbitrary row, or expect empties.

  • … rank needs a *recent* --date. Pass any day in the target period — the backend

auto-snaps it to the period anchor (week→that week's Monday, month→that month's 1st).

It never silently serves a *different* period: if the period hasn't ended, or its data

isn't generated yet (T+1, usually after midday), you get data: [] plus period

(requested / latest_available / previous, each with anchor/start/end) and a

hint naming the exact --date to retry with — follow it instead of re-querying the same

period. The date must fall within the freshness window keyed to --rank-type:

day ≤30d, week ≤6mo, month ≤12mo back from *today*. A too-old date (e.g. last year)

is rejected upstream as rant_type N only support … — move it forward toward today;

don't switch rank-type.

  • Category filtering is numeric and split by level. To scope rank / list to a

category, first run category resolve --keyword <term> (e.g. lipstick / 口红; CJK

auto-uses the zh tree). It returns each match's level + ancestor ids `{l1_id, l2_id?,

l3_id?}` (ids work for any region). Pass the id for the level the target command takes:

product/seller rank/list use **L1→--category-id, L2→--category-l2-id,

L3→--category-l3-id** (--category-id is L1-only — don't put an L2/L3 id there).

The levels you pass must form one parent-child chain; a repeated or mismatched id is

rejected locally (costs nothing) with the offending fields in issues and the correct ids

in suggested — copy those and resend. Each entry in issues carries field, reason,

value, a localized message, and a structured detail (the machine-readable form of

the same thing — prefer detail when branching in code, message when showing a human). Then:

creator rank takes any level via --product-category-id; video rank only

accepts L1 (l1_id) — pass an L2/L3 id there and it is auto-lifted to its L1 ancestor,

which widens the filter (the response says so in category_level_corrected). Low-confidence hint → run category tree (L1+L2 overview), pick

the branch by meaning, then category tree --parent <that L2 id> to drill into its L3

leaves. For plain keyword *search* (no leaderboard), find products --keyword needs no id.

  • find products returns product_id only (it's a search index). For title /

price / metrics, chain the ids into product detail.

  • Empty [] / null means "none", not an error. A repeat of the same empty query may

come back with cached: true + retry_after (an ISO timestamp): the backend remembered

that this filter has no data and re-probes automatically after that time — don't poll it,

change the filter or move on. Known thin/quirky:

creator region (unreliable → read region from creator profile instead),

video captions (many videos have none), live detail (only while a room is

live), seller inventory (empty when a shop lists nothing right now — use

seller catalog for its history).

  • Responses are server-trimmed to signal (ids, core metrics, names, key links;

images already converted to accessible URLs) — no raw-blob handling needed.

  • All monetary values are USD. Every price / avg-price / GMV field (min_price,

max_price, spu_avg_price, *_gmv_*_amt, …) is a USD-converted number, regardless

of --region; the response carries "currency": "USD" to confirm it. Never label

them with a local symbol like ¥/. If a report needs the local currency (e.g.

JPY for a Japan market study), convert from USD using a current FX rate and mark the

result approximate.

Clipcat's own library of structured prompts, each reverse-engineered from a TikTok

video that actually drove sales — every TikTok market and category, ranked by real GMV.

This is not TikTok search: entries here are already broken down and rewritten into a

prompt you can hand to a video model as-is.

**When the user asks for a prompt, idea, script or angle for a selling video, start here

instead of writing one from scratch.** A prompt with a proven video behind it is the whole

point; an invented one is only a guess, and the user cannot tell the two apart.

Step 1 — find the closest proven videos
  • prompt search --query "<what you want>" — semantic + keyword search over the library.

Describe a feel ("warm indoor light, handheld close-up, real person on camera") or

name something exact (a brand, ASMR, OOTD) — both work; the two are fused, so you

do not have to guess which style of query fits. Optional filters: --region (lowercase

market code), --category (TikTok Shop L1 code, e.g. beauty-personal-care),

--video-type (real-review | ootd | asmr | unboxing-pov | …), --limit (1-20).

Build the query from the user's own product and audience — what it is, who it is for,

the market, the vibe they asked for. A bare category name ("skincare") retrieves the

generic middle of the library.

Priced apart from the other read commands: each paid plan comes with an allowance of

free searches, and calls beyond it cost 3 credits each (other reads are a flat 6).

The response carries quota.remaining / quota.free_quota / quota.cost_after_quota

tell the user what is left when it runs low instead of letting the next call surprise them.

  • Check weak_match and degraded before you trust the hits. The library returns the

nearest entries it has, so a full result list does not by itself mean the results fit.

weak_match: true means nothing closely matches — say so and suggest rewording or

dropping a filter, rather than presenting the nearest entries as the answer.

degraded: true means semantic search was unavailable and only keyword matching ran:

results may be incomplete, and that search is not charged (quota is refunded).

Fewer hits than --limit is normal and healthy — only entries relevant enough are

returned, so a narrow --region + --category combination legitimately returns a few.

Each hit carries the full prompt text (prompt_en for the English version), the metrics

of the original video (GMV, sales, views), matched_facet (which part of the prompt your

query hit — style / camera / voiceover / …), source_video_url for the original TikTok

video, and detail_url for the public page.

Step 2 — rewrite the hit into the user's own prompt

Never hand back a library prompt unchanged: it sells someone else's product. Rewrite the

best hit (or 2-3 hits that agree on structure — averaging ones that disagree yields a

template) into a prompt for this user's product:

  • Keep what made it sell: the opening hook and what happens in its first 1-2 seconds,

shot order and pacing, camera language, lighting, whether a presenter is on camera and

what kind, voiceover tone, promo mechanic, closing CTA.

  • Swap the product and its selling points, on-screen text, voiceover lines, and

anything market-specific (language, currency, local wording).

  • Carry over no claim you cannot back. Ratings, sales numbers, awards, before/after and

efficacy claims belong to the original product — drop them, or ask the user for their own.

  • Fit the target model: keep the prompt inside the --duration you will submit and the

shot count it implies (a 5s clip holds 2 shots, not 6), and pick the voiceover language

with --lang.

  • Show the user the finished prompt with the detail_url (and source_video_url) it was

built from before spending credits — citing the real video is what separates this

from a prompt you made up.

Step 3 — shoot it
  • Product images only → product_video, passing the rewritten prompt via --prompt-file -.
  • Want the original video's motion and cuts as the reference → `replicate

--url <source_video_url> with the user's --image`s (a TikTok link adds the 10-credit

download surcharge).

  • Both are paid: quote with the exact parameters → confirm with the user → submit with

--expected-credits (see "Confirming cost before paid video commands").

clipcat prompt search --query "handheld close-up of a serum bottle, warm bathroom light, real user voiceover" \
  --region us --category beauty-personal-care --limit 5
# pick a hit → rewrite its prompt for the user's product → quote and confirm:
clipcat quote --model seedance2 --resolution 480p --duration 8
clipcat product_video --image serum.jpg --model seedance2 --duration 8 \
  --resolution 480p --size 9:16 --expected-credits <totalCredits> --prompt-file - <<'EOF'
<the rewritten prompt>
EOF

Video generation & tools

  • quote — return the exact credit cost of one specific generation (--model + --resolution + --duration, plus --url/--social for a TikTok/Douyin replicate, plus --enhance for super-resolution). The primary way to quote a paid command: the server does all the math and hands back totalCredits (already includes the enhance fee) plus enhanceCredits / enhanceBlocked (see "Confirming cost before paid video commands" and "Super-resolution").
  • models — browse all available video models with their credit costs (discrete → prices, range → creditsPerSecond) and your balance. Use it when the user hasn't picked a model yet, or an unavailable one is reported. The listing is live and only contains tiers that currently have a provider — a resolution or duration missing from resolutions / prices is rejected on submit, so never submit a combination you did not see here.
  • replicate — replicate a viral video with your product images. Reference video via --url (TikTok/Douyin link or direct URL, auto-detects type) or --video (local video file, max 100MB, uploaded via presigned URL then downscaled server-side; re-replicating the same file reuses the upload; no download surcharge) — provide exactly one. Product images via --image (local) or --image-url (URL); local files and URLs can be mixed. Supports --model, --duration, --size (only 9:16 or 16:9), --lang, --resolution, --enhance (super-resolution, see below), --character-id, --expected-credits
  • product_video — generate video from product images only (no reference video); images via --image (local) or --image-url (URL); local files and URLs can be mixed; --size only accepts 9:16 or 16:9; supports --enhance (super-resolution, see below), --expected-credits
  • image — generate an AI image from a text prompt using GPT Image 2 model; optionally supply up to 5 reference images via --image (local file) or --image-url (URL). Use --aspect-ratio to pick 1:1 (default) / 16:9 / 9:16. Dimension hints (9:16/16:9/1:1, portrait/landscape/square, 竖版/横版/方图, banner, wallpaper) must appear in BOTH --prompt and --aspect-ratio--aspect-ratio sets canvas, the prompt hint anchors framing. Don't invent dimensions the user didn't ask for.
  • list_images — list image generation tasks from server; supports --status / --limit / --page filters, plus --scope all / --scope <member-user-id> (owners/admins only; adds creatorName)
  • breakdown — analyze a video (script, scenes, music); returns cached result immediately if previously analyzed
  • download — download TikTok/Douyin video (returns signed URL); cached results return immediately
  • query_task — check status of a task by ID and type (--type replicate | product | breakdown | download | image). Omit --task-id to resume the latest local task. With --enhance, each videos[] item carries its own status / enhanceStatus (see "Super-resolution"). Workspace owners/admins may also query their members' tasks.
  • list_tasks — list recent video-related tasks from server (--type required: replicate | product | breakdown | download). Image tasks use list_images. --scope all / --scope <member-user-id> widens to the workspace (owners/admins only; adds creatorName), default is your own tasks.
  • character list — list the characters saved to your account (id, name, status, type). The id is what you pass to --character-id on replicate / product_video; only status: completed characters are usable. Supports --status / --limit / --page / --sort-by / --sort-order, plus --scope all / --scope <member-user-id> (owners/admins only; adds creatorName). Free (account metadata, no credits).

Passing prompts (never let the shell mangle them)

A mis-escaped --prompt \"Create a 5s video\" reaches the CLI as "Create — cut at the

first space. Both the CLI and the server now reject that instead of charging for a garbage

video, but the fix is to pass prompts so it cannot happen:

  • Prompt contains quotes, newlines, $, or backticks → use stdin, not an inline flag:
  clipcat product_video --image-url <url> --model seedance2 --duration 5 \
    --expected-credits 100 --prompt-file - <<'EOF'
  Create a 5-second UGC demo. The narrator says "this changed my routine".
  EOF

The quoted delimiter <<'EOF' disables every kind of expansion — zero escaping needed.

This works in bash / zsh / Git Bash. **On Windows PowerShell, do NOT pipe — write a UTF-8

file and pass its path:**

  Set-Content -Encoding utf8 prompt.txt @'
  Create a 5-second UGC demo. The narrator says "this changed my routine".
  '@
  clipcat product_video --image-url <url> --prompt-file prompt.txt

Why not pipe on Windows: Windows PowerShell 5.1 encodes pipe output to native programs

with $OutputEncoding, which defaults to ASCII — every Chinese/non-ASCII character

silently becomes ?, and a prompt of ???????? looks perfectly valid to every quoting check.

If you must pipe, run $OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8 first. (PowerShell 7

defaults to UTF-8 everywhere and is not affected, but the file-based form above works on both,

so just use it.) Also note @' must end its line and '@ must start its own line — a

single-line @' … '@ is a syntax error. On 5.1, Out-File is not a substitute for

Set-Content -Encoding utf8: it defaults to UTF-16, which the CLI rejects outright.

  • Never read a file into a string and pass it inline — no --prompt (Get-Content p.txt).

On PowerShell 5.1 Get-Content decodes a UTF-8 file as ANSI, producing mojibake that is

valid UTF-8 with no quoting anomaly: every check passes and you get charged for a garbage

video. Pass the path (--prompt-file p.txt) and let the CLI read the bytes.

  • Short single-line prompts may stay inline as --prompt "…". Never backslash-escape the

outer quotes, and never wrap an already-quoted string in another layer of quotes.

  • --prompt and --prompt-file are mutually exclusive (- = stdin, otherwise a file path).
  • After submit the CLI prints Prompt sent (N chars): …. Check it against what you intended;

a wrong N means the command line was mangled, not the prompt you wrote.

  • If a submit is rejected for a mis-quoted prompt, do NOT retry the same command — re-send it

via --prompt-file -. Rejections happen before any charge.

Confirming cost before paid video commands

replicate and product_video consume credits. Always confirm cost first — and

never compute the credits yourself, let clipcat quote return them:

  • Run clipcat quote with the SAME parameters you'll submit (--model,

--resolution, --duration; for a TikTok/Douyin replicate also pass the

--url, which auto-adds the download surcharge; for super-resolution also pass

--enhance). It returns totalCredits (the server does all the math —

per-second rates, download surcharge, deferred enhance fee) and your

remainingCredits.

  • Show the user the model, duration, resolution and that totalCredits, and get

explicit approval.

  • Submit with --expected-credits <totalCredits>. The server rejects the request

only if the real cost is higher than what you pass, so you can never

overcharge (a cheaper real cost — cache hit, promo — just goes through). On a

rejection it returns the current cost — re-confirm that number with the user

and resubmit with the updated --expected-credits.

Example — quote, then submit the confirmed cost (Seedance 2, 480p default, 8s, TikTok link):

clipcat quote --model seedance2 --resolution 480p --duration 8 \
  --url "https://www.tiktok.com/@u/video/123"
# → seedance2 480p 8s → 160 credits  + 10 download → total 170 credits
clipcat replicate --url "https://www.tiktok.com/@u/video/123" \
  --image product.jpg --model seedance2 --duration 8 --resolution 480p \
  --size 9:16 --expected-credits 170

When the user hasn't chosen a model yet (or you need the full menu), run `clipcat

models to list every available model and its cost, then clipcat quote` the pick.

Premium models (e.g. seedance2, happyhorse10) require a paid plan; `clipcat

quote flags them (premiumBlocked`) and the server rejects them for free users.

Super-resolution (--enhance)

replicate and product_video accept --enhance 720p|1080p|2k to upscale the

finished video. Rules:

  • Tier must be strictly higher than the generated resolution: 480p → 720p /

1080p / 2k, 720p → 1080p / 2k, 1080p → 2k, 2k → no option. The CLI only

enum-checks the value; the server enforces the tier ladder.

  • Paid plans only. Free users are rejected on submit; clipcat quote --enhance

flags this as enhanceBlocked: true (upgrade needed).

  • Cost = ceil(duration_sec / 10) × tier rate (720p=10, 1080p=20, 2k=30

credits per 10s). It is deferred — charged only after the base video

succeeds. quote returns it as enhanceCredits, already folded into

totalCredits; submit that totalCredits via --expected-credits.

  • Status semantics (query_task): once the base video is ready it appears in

videos[] with status: enhancing and a usable videoUrl (the original), but

the task reaches its final completed state only after enhance finishes (a

standard 1-min video takes ~6-10 min extra). enhanceStatus: failed → the task

still completes and delivers the original video, and the enhance fee is refunded.

clipcat quote --model seedance2 --resolution 480p --duration 8 --enhance 1080p
# → seedance2 480p 8s → 160 credits  + 20 enhance (1080p) → total 180 credits
clipcat product_video --image product.jpg --model seedance2 --duration 8 \
  --resolution 480p --size 9:16 --enhance 1080p --expected-credits 180

replicate: reference video source

clipcat replicate takes the reference video via exactly one of --url / --video:

  • --url TikTok/Douyin link → calls /replicate_from_social (costs 10 extra credits for download)
  • --url direct video URL → calls /replicate
  • --video local file (max 100MB) → uploaded via presigned URL, then /replicate (no download surcharge). Uploading the same file again is deduplicated (content-hashed, per-user), so repeat replications skip the upload.

Always inform the user about the extra 10 credits before running with a social --url.

clipcat:// asset references

clipcat://... strings seen in earlier turns are stable asset references. Pass them verbatim to any --image-url / --character-id flag — never prepend https:// or modify them; the server resolves them to a signed URL. A mistyped reference is rejected up front (no credits charged), so never retype one from memory. See subcommand -h for details.

--character-id accepts three forms: a numeric id from clipcat character list (never guess ids), @<sora-username>, or an image URL / clipcat:// reference.

Async task rules

replicate, product_video, image, and breakdown are async. All four

submit and return immediately with a task ID — they never block.

Typical durations: image ~3 min, breakdown a few minutes, product_video /

replicate 10+ min. **Never try to wait synchronously inside a single tool

call** — every realistic agent harness has a tool-call timeout (commonly 60s)

that will kill the call long before the task is done. Always go submit → return

→ poll across turns.

  • Task ID is saved locally to ~/.clipcat/tasks.json automatically.
  • Check status with clipcat query_task --task-id <id> --type <type>. Each

call returns immediately with the current status. Omit --task-id to resume

the latest task. Re-invoke the command across turns (suggested cadence:

~30s for image, ~1-2 min for breakdown / product_video / replicate)

until status is completed or failed.

  • Use clipcat list_tasks --type <replicate|product|breakdown|download> to

see tasks of a given type from the server.

query_task: auto-resume

clipcat query_task with no flags automatically reads the latest task from ~/.clipcat/tasks.json and resumes it. No need to remember task IDs.

Available models

Trial models are available to all users; standard models require a paid plan.

| Model ID | Duration | Resolution | Notes |

| -------------------- | --------------------- | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |

| grok_imagine | 10s, 15s | 480p, 720p | Trial, default. xAI Grok Imagine 1.5, 9:16 aspect ratio only |

| veo3.1fast | 8s, 16s, 24s | 720p | Trial. Google Veo 3.1 Fast, balanced quality and cost |

| omini_flash | 10s, 20s | 720p, 1080p | Trial. Gemini Omni Flash, Google's newest model |

| seedance2_mini | 4-15s (any integer) | 480p, 720p | Trial. Seedance 2 Mini, value tier. Free plans are 480p only — pass --resolution 480p explicitly |

| mmh3_promo | 10s, 15s | 480p, 720p, 2K | Trial. Subsidized MiniMax H3 channel, open to free plans |

| seedance2 | 4-15s (any integer) | 480p, 720p, 1080p | Standard (paid). ByteDance Seedance 2, top quality. Default 480p |

| seedance2_5 | 4-30s (any integer) | 480p, 720p | Standard (paid). ByteDance Seedance 2.5, newest generation, clips up to 30s. Default 480p |

| seedance2_fast | 4-15s (any integer) | 480p, 720p | Standard (paid). ByteDance Seedance 2 Fast, fast variant. Default 480p |

| wan30 | 5-30s (any integer) | 480p, 720p, 1080p | Standard (paid). Alibaba Wan 3.0, clips up to 30s |

| minimax_h3 | 10s, 15s | 768p, 2K | Standard (paid). MiniMax H3 |

| happyhorse10 | 3-15s (any integer) | 720p, 1080p | Standard (paid). Alibaba HappyHorse 1.1 |

clipcat models is the authority on both the model list and the live

per-combination credit costs — a model missing there has been retired and is

rejected on submit, whatever -h or this table says. Prefer mmh3_promo over

minimax_h3 whenever clipcat models lists it: same model on a limited-time

subsidized channel, a fraction of the credits, and free plans may use it.

The tiers in this table are what each model *offers*; clipcat models is what is

*available right now*. Providers get disabled for maintenance, so a listed tier can

temporarily disappear. If a submit is rejected with "no available channel", the

parameters were valid but that tier has no provider at the moment — re-run `clipcat

models`, pick another resolution/duration/model from the fresh listing, re-quote and

re-confirm with the user. Do not retry the same combination.

seedance2, seedance2_5 and seedance2_fast default to --resolution 480p (the CLI

applies this in quote, replicate and product_video when --resolution is

omitted). Only pass a higher resolution when the user explicitly asks for one,

and keep quote and the submit on the same value.

seedance2_mini is not covered by that automatic default: free plans can only

use its 480p tier, so omitting --resolution sends the server default (720p) and

the submit is rejected. Pass --resolution 480p explicitly on both the quote and

the submit.

Supported languages (--lang)

en zh fr de ms vi th ja ko id fil es

Region (--region)

ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, uppercase: US GB DE ES FR IT JP MX BR ID MY PH SG TH VN. Server-enforced; an out-of-range code returns the current allowed list.

Good agent behavior

  • Run clipcat -h first if unsure which command to use.
  • Asked for a selling-video prompt / idea / script: run clipcat prompt search first,

rewrite the closest proven hit for the user's product, and cite its detail_url.

Writing one from imagination throws away the only thing that makes it a viral prompt.

  • For paid video commands (replicate, product_video): quote the exact cost with clipcat quote (same params you'll submit), show the user the model / duration / resolution / totalCredits, get explicit approval, then submit with --expected-credits <totalCredits>. Never compute the credits yourself — let clipcat quote return them.
  • Resolution: always quote and submit at the model's default (480p for seedance2 / seedance2_5 / seedance2_fast) unless the user explicitly asked for a higher one. Never silently upgrade to 720p/1080p — higher resolution costs more credits.
  • Pass any non-trivial prompt via --prompt-file - with a quoted heredoc (see "Passing prompts"); verify the Prompt sent (N chars) echo after submit.
  • Keep record of task IDs; re-invoke query_task across turns to track long-running tasks.
  • Preserve signed video URLs intact — they contain X-Amz-* params that break if truncated.
  • Agents should prefer the default JSON output.

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take clipcat-ai/clipcat from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.