codevideo

The CLI tool for generating CodeVideos.

Installation

Option 1: Homebrew (Recommended for macOS)

brew tap codevideo/codevideo
brew install codevideo

After installation, use the tool as codevideo:

codevideo --help

Option 2: Download Pre-built Binaries

1. Go to the Releases page and download the appropriate binary for your OS:

2. Make the binary executable (Linux/macOS only):

chmod +x codevideo-*

3. Optionally, rename and move to your PATH:

# Linux/macOS - rename and move to system bin
sudo mv codevideo-* /usr/local/bin/codevideo

# Or add to your user bin
mkdir -p ~/bin
mv codevideo-* ~/bin/codevideo

Option 3: Build from Source

If you prefer to build from source or need the latest development version:

git clone https://github.com/codevideo/codevideo
cd codevideo
go build -o codevideo

Configuration

Create a .env file in your working directory (the directory where you plan to run codevideo):

# Copy from .env.example and fill in your values
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-elevenlabs-api-key
# ... other configuration options

Important: The .env file is loaded from your current working directory when you run the command, not from where the binary is installed.

Configuration Options:

1. Project-specific .env file (recommended):

   cd /path/to/your/project
   echo "ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key" > .env
   codevideo -p "your-actions"

2. Global environment variables:

   export ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key
   codevideo -p "your-actions"

3. Home directory .env file:

   echo "ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key" > ~/.env
   cd ~ && codevideo -p "your-actions"

Usage

1. Create your .env file with the required fields (see Configuration section above).

If you don't have an Elevenlabs account - we're working on a solution with htgo-tts and other providers.

2. Try a simple example video generation:

codevideo -p "[{\"name\":\"author-speak-before\",\"value\":\"Let's learn how to use the print function in Python!\"},{\"name\":\"author-speak-before\",\"value\":\"First, let's make a Python file.\"},{\"name\":\"file-explorer-create-file\",\"value\":\"main.py\"},{\"name\":\"file-explorer-open-file\",\"value\":\"main.py\"},{\"name\":\"author-speak-before\",\"value\":\"and let's print 'Hello world!' to the console.\"},{\"name\":\"editor-type\",\"value\":\"print('Hello, world!')\"}]"

Note: if you are using zsh and get the error zsh: event not found: \, try deactivate history expansion with set +o histexpand and try the command again.

If all works well, you should see the following final output:

Detected project type: Actions
/> CodeVideo generation in progress...
[==========================] 100% 
✅ CodeVideo successfully generated and saved to CodeVideo-2025-03-21-18-58-47.mp4

As an alternative, paste your actions, lesson, or course JSON into data/actions.json, data/lesson.json, or data/course.json respectively - all types are accepted.

With actions:

./codevideo -p "$(cat data/actions.json)"

With a lesson:

./codevideo -p "$(cat data/lesson.json)"

With a course:

./codevideo -p "$(cat data/course.json)"

Complex CLI Example - Actions, With Given Output Path, and Open when Done

./codevideo -p "$(cat data/actions.json)" -o codevideo-intro.mp4 --open

Video Configuration Options

You can specify the orientation and resolution of the video with the -r or --resolution and -o or --orientation flags, respectively. The default resolution is 1080p and the default orientation is landscape.

IDE Configuration Options

All React IDE props from the CodeVideoIDE can be passed in via the -c or --config to a config.json file. (See data/config.json for an example)

./codevideo -p "$(cat data/actions.json)" -c data/config.json

Server usage:

Simply pass the -m serve parameter to the command to start the server:

codevideo -m serve

To run in the background use nohup or similar:

nohup codevideo -m serve &

Docker

Build the container

docker build -t codevideo .

Run in server mode (default)

docker run -p 8080:8080 -v $(pwd)/.env:/.env -v $(pwd)/output:/app/output codevideo

Run with specific actions

docker run -v $(pwd)/.env:/.env -v $(pwd)/output:/app/output codevideo -p "[{\"name\":\"author-speak-before\",\"value\":\"Let's learn how to use the print function in Python!\"}]"

For Developers

You can update the Gatsby static site by replacing the public folder within cli/staticserver. We recommend you use the example site within the example folder of the @fullstackcraftllc/codevideo-ide-react repository.

Everything in the public folder is treated as an embedded go resource and served by the server.

CodeVideo Studio

Build your actions JSON in the CodeVideo Studio!