The parley CLI: Parley from a terminal or a coding agent

Generate images, clips, thumbnails and product ads from the command line, and let Claude Code, Cursor or Codex drive Parley through open-source skills.

Everything you can make in the Video and Image tabs, you can also make from a terminal. The parley CLI signs in with your existing account, spends the same credits, and returns files plus hosted URLs. Every command has a --json mode, so a script or a coding agent can drive it without reading prose.

1. Install and sign in

Install with npm install -g parley-live (Node 20 or newer).
Run parley login. It opens your browser for a one-time sign-in and keeps a session token under ~/.parley. Nothing else is stored.
Run parley account to see your credit balance and parley engines to see which video engines are live and what they cost per second.

2. The commands

Command	What it makes
`parley image "…"`	An image. Add --ref to lock identity or style to a reference, --size and --quality for the output.
`parley video "…" --image still.png`	A clip from a still. --look picks the tier (fast, standard, cinematic, transform, camera); --move adds up to three named camera moves.
`parley thumbnail "…"`	One to three YouTube thumbnail concepts for a title, with an optional 2 to 4 word overlay.
`parley ugc-ad --product photo.jpg --name "…"`	A spokesperson product ad with a marketplace end-card for Amazon, eBay, Etsy, TikTok Shop or Shopify.
`parley youtube --beat …`	A complete faceless YouTube video: beat stills animated, cut to a narration URL with a ducked music bed, optional captions.
`parley api GET /api/studio/…`	A signed raw call to any Parley endpoint, including the Studio (projects, characters, shots, renders, reels).
`parley camera-moves`	The 41 named camera moves.
`parley doctor`	Node, server, session, credits, live engines and the last outputs, with the fix for anything missing. Run it first.
`parley voice "…" --voice documentary`	Narration as a hosted audio file (natural voice, 1 credit per 1,000 characters). The video and Studio commands take it as --narration @last.
`parley studio …`	The Studio from the terminal: cast characters and locations, add shots with a lens look and a camera move, render, assemble a reel.
`parley deploy ./dist --name my-site`	Put a built static site on a live URL. Free; reuse the project id to redeploy at the same address.
`--image @last`	Chains a command to the image or clip you just made, so a still becomes a clip without re-typing a URL. --ratio sizes an image for its destination.

Example

parley image "matte black espresso machine on marble, morning light" --out hero.png
parley video "steam rises, a hand lifts the cup" --image hero.png --look standard --move dolly-in --ratio 9:16

3. Let a coding agent do it

The Parley skills pack teaches Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and any agent that reads SKILL.md files how to brief each job well and then run the CLI. The skills carry the craft: what to ask for, what never to invent, which engine fits, how the aspect ratio follows the destination, and what a finished answer looks like. They are open source under the MIT licence.

In Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add the Parley skills marketplace, then /plugin install parley.
In other agents, copy the parley-* skill folders into your agent’s skills directory.
Ask for the thing: "make me a 9:16 clip of this product with a 360 orbit". The skill picks the tier, states the cost, runs the command and hands back the file.

Try this in Parley Open in the app