Video Generation
Create short video clips (seconds, not minutes) from text descriptions or starting images within Starfish. Video generation runs in chat — ask for a clip and it renders inline — and every clip is kept in the Media library alongside your other work.
Available Engines
| Engine | Backend | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kling 2.6 | Kling kling-v2.6 (t2v / i2v) | Best value for everyday clips. 5s or 10s. Accepts a first frame and a last frame. |
| Kling v3 | Kling kling-v3.0 (t2v / i2v) | Higher-end control with both first and last frames. 5s or 10s. |
| Veo 3 | Google veo-3.0-generate-001 | Cinematic motion and prompt following, with audio. 4s, 6s, or 8s. First frame optional. |
| Grok Imagine 1.5 | xAI grok-imagine-video-1.5 | Animates a still image with synchronized sound. Requires a starting image. Up to 15s; 480p / 720p / 1080p. |
| MiniMax H3 | MiniMax minimax-h3 | Multimodal 2K video with sound, up to 15s. The only engine that accepts reference images and reference videos. |
| Seedance 2 | ByteDance seedance-2.0 | Stylized movement and social-first visuals. 5s or 10s. |
All engines route through the Vercel AI Gateway. A "premium" badge in the picker flags engines with a higher per-clip cost, and the same picker calls out whether an engine generates sound.
Video Settings
Duration, aspect ratio, and resolution are engine-dependent:
- Duration — fixed choices on most engines (Kling 5s/10s, Veo 4s/6s/8s, Seedance 5s/10s); free ranges on Grok Imagine (1–15s) and MiniMax H3 (5–15s).
- Aspect ratio — 9:16, 16:9, and 1:1 on the Kling and Seedance engines, and 16:9 / 9:16 on Veo 3. Grok Imagine and MiniMax H3 support the widest range (also 4:3, 3:4, 3:2, and 2:3).
- Resolution — Grok Imagine and MiniMax H3 expose 480p / 720p / 1080p. The other engines have no resolution input.
- First frame (optional) — upload or paste an image to use as the first frame. Required by Grok Imagine 1.5.
- Last frame (optional) — Kling engines only; greyed out everywhere else.
- Reference images / reference videos — MiniMax H3 only, and only through the in-chat tool (see below).
Generating in Chat
The agent can generate clips inline. This is useful when the clip is part of a bigger task.
Enabling it
Open the + menu in the chat composer (the same menu you use to add files or apps) and choose Create a video. The composer switches into video-creation mode for that message; leave the engine on Automatic or open the submenu to pick a specific one. Videos are slower and pricier than images, so nothing runs without this.
Once armed, the agent has access to a generate_video tool it can invoke when your message asks for a clip.
Reference media
The in-chat tool can base a new clip on media already in the conversation:
- Reference images — up to 9, and reference videos — up to 3 (MP4, 2–15 seconds, 50 MB each).
- Only MiniMax H3 accepts references. If you ask for one while a different engine is selected, Starfish automatically runs that generation on MiniMax H3 rather than asking you to switch engines.
- References can't be combined with a starting or ending frame.
How it shows up
While the clip renders, the reply shows a grid-reveal placeholder — a mosaic that resolves into the video in the same slot. If the job runs long, the frame shows a note that it can take a few minutes and that you can switch away and come back. The finished clip then plays inline as a <video> element.
The bytes are saved as an Artifact (in SQLite), and the chat message references them via /api/artifacts/<id> so the conversation timeline doesn't carry multi-MB data URLs in store state.
Aspect Ratio Guide
| Aspect Ratio | Format | Common Uses |
|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | Landscape | YouTube, presentations, websites |
| 9:16 | Portrait | Instagram Stories, TikTok, YouTube Shorts |
| 1:1 | Square | Instagram feed, social ads |
Use Cases
- Social media content — short-form clips for Stories, Reels, TikTok.
- Product demos — quick walkthroughs and feature highlights.
- Ad creatives — generate video ads for testing and iteration.
- B-roll — establishing shots, lifestyle footage, motion backgrounds.
Discuss a Clip in Chat
On a generated clip, click Discuss in chat to open a fresh chat with the clip attached and a starter prompt based on the original. The chat agent can reason about the attached clip (and use read_video to watch it), so you can ask for edits, variations, or pair the clip with other work. The raw bytes never enter chat history — chat keeps a compact local video memo.