Quick start

1. Get an API key

API keys unlock after your first USDT payment. Create one on the developer page of your account; it is shown once, so store it in an environment variable. Keep it on your server.

2. Create a job

Send the model, the prompt and the plan group to charge. The plan is required: "studio" or "credits". The system never switches group for you.

curl https://api.cheapvids.com/v1/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHEAPVIDS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"plan":"credits","model":"nano-banana-2","params":{"prompt":"A lighthouse at dusk"}}'

3. Read the result

Wait with ?wait=60 until the job is completed, then download the file from output.url. CheapVids relays results for a limited window after completion (24 hours by default), so download right away.

curl "https://api.cheapvids.com/v1/generations/$GENERATION_ID?wait=60" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHEAPVIDS_API_KEY"

# status "completed": download output.url right away
curl -L "$OUTPUT_URL" -o result.png

import os, uuid, requests

API = "https://api.cheapvids.com/v1"
s = requests.Session()
s.headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {os.environ['CHEAPVIDS_API_KEY']}"

body = {"plan": "credits", "model": "nano-banana-2", "params": {"prompt": "A lighthouse at dusk"}}
r = s.post(f"{API}/generations", json=body, headers={"Idempotency-Key": str(uuid.uuid4())}, timeout=120)
r.raise_for_status()
job = r.json()
while job["status"] not in ("completed", "failed", "cancelled"):
    r = s.get(f"{API}/generations/{job['id']}", params={"wait": 60}, timeout=90)
    r.raise_for_status()
    job = r.json()
if job["status"] == "completed":
    r = s.get(f"{API}/generations/{job['id']}/content", timeout=120)
    r.raise_for_status()
    open("result.png", "wb").write(r.content)

import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";

const API = "https://api.cheapvids.com/v1";
const auth = { Authorization: "Bearer " + process.env.CHEAPVIDS_API_KEY };
async function call(path, init = {}) {
  const res = await fetch(API + path, { ...init, headers: { ...auth, ...init.headers } });
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(res.status + " " + (await res.text()));
  return res;
}

const body = { plan: "credits", model: "nano-banana-2", params: { prompt: "A lighthouse at dusk" } };
let job = await (await call("/generations", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json", "Idempotency-Key": crypto.randomUUID() },
  body: JSON.stringify(body),
})).json();
while (!["completed", "failed", "cancelled"].includes(job.status)) {
  job = await (await call("/generations/" + job.id + "?wait=60")).json();
}
if (job.status === "completed") {
  const res = await call("/generations/" + job.id + "/content");
  await writeFile("result.png", Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer()));
}

4. Or receive a webhook

Register an HTTPS endpoint to get generation.started, generation.completed and generation.failed events, signed with HMAC-SHA256. Each event is sent at most 4 times: the first send and 3 retries after 10, 60 and 300 seconds.

X-CheapVids-Event: generation.completed
X-CheapVids-Delivery: 0190a1b2-0000-7000-8000-000000000001
X-CheapVids-Signature: t=1760000000,v1=64e08ed860b53ecdca19eb0ef68dccefd1c7f3135a0a0e273d34a878d48b8ed5

Quick start

1. Get an API key

2. Create a job

3. Read the result

4. Or receive a webhook

Tools