From brief to video.

Create your first video from the terminal. You need shell access and a Reela account to continue.

1. Install the CLI

On Linux or macOS, run:

curl -fsSL https://get.reela.com/reela-cli/install.sh | bash
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
reela --version

For Windows x64, follow the installation guide for PowerShell instructions. Windows ARM64 is not supported.

Already installed? Check reela --version first. To update an existing installation, run reela update.

2. Authorize your account

reela login
reela whoami
reela status
reela tiers list

Login displays an authorization URL and code and attempts to open your browser. Complete authorization in the browser and wait for the command to finish. The remaining commands verify your account and show available quality and cost options.

If you are already signed in, use reela whoami to check the account instead of starting login again.

3. Preview the request

reela create "A 30-second product demo for a reusable water bottle" \
--visual ai-video \
--layout portrait \
--duration 30 \
--dry-run

Review the estimated credits before submitting. Use --tier with a choice from reela tiers list to select a specific quality and cost option.

4. Start automatic delivery

Video generation takes time. On Linux or macOS, start the CLI daemon before submitting so the finished video can be delivered automatically. The default delivery settings enable downloads; choose a destination and confirm delivery is running:

reela config set delivery.download "$HOME/Videos/reela"
reela daemon start
reela subscribe status

If download is missing from the enabled methods, add it with reela subscribe add download. Keep this machine awake and connected while generation is underway. See Automatic delivery to send the result to your own script or receive it by email. The daemon and subscription commands are available on Linux and macOS.

5. Submit your video

Remove --dry-run from the approved request. Submission creates a task and can consume credits.

reela create "A 30-second product demo for a reusable water bottle" \
--visual ai-video --layout portrait --duration 30

The command returns after submission while Reela continues generating in the background. With the daemon running and download delivery enabled, the completed video arrives in ~/Videos/reela automatically. A script subscription receives a completion event with the video’s download information.

Use your own inputs

Read a longer brief from a file and attach an image to animate:

reela create --prompt-file brief.txt \
--visual image-video --file original-image:photo.png --dry-run

Other visual choices include avatar, original-clip, and original-sync. Run reela create -h for their input requirements. Repeat --visual and --file for multiple values; do not comma-join them.

Next: CLI command reference →