# OpenMontage Provider Guide

Everything you need to know about every provider in OpenMontage — setup instructions, pricing, free tiers, and what each unlocks.

---

## Quick Start: What Should I Set Up?

**Start free, add paid providers as you need them.** Here's the recommended order:

| Step | Cost | What to set up | What it unlocks |
|------|------|----------------|-----------------|
| 1 | **$0** | Pexels + Pixabay | Stock photos and videos — enough to produce basic videos |
| 2 | **$0** | Google API key | TTS with 700+ voices (1M chars/month free) + $300 new account credit |
| 3 | **$0** | ElevenLabs | Premium TTS + music + SFX (10K chars/month free) |
| 4 | **$0** | Piper (local install) | Fully offline TTS — no API key, no cost, no network |
| 5 | **~$0.03/image** | fal.ai | FLUX images + Kling/Veo/MiniMax video + Recraft — one key unlocks 6 tools |
| 6 | **~$0.04/image** | OpenAI | DALL-E 3 images + OpenAI TTS |
| 7 | **~$0.04/image** | Google Imagen | Imagen 4 images (shares the Google API key) |
| 8 | **$12/month** | Runway | Gen-4 video — highest quality AI video |
| 9 | **pay-as-you-go** | HeyGen | Avatar videos, multi-model video gateway |
| 10 | **pay-as-you-go** | Suno | Full song generation with vocals and lyrics |
| 11 | **$0 + GPU** | Local video gen | WAN 2.1, Hunyuan, CogVideo, LTX — free, offline |
| 12 | **$0 + GPU** | Local Diffusion | Stable Diffusion images — free, offline |

### Environment Variable Summary

```bash
# .env — add your keys here

# FREE (no cost, ever)
PEXELS_API_KEY=              # Stock photos + videos
PIXABAY_API_KEY=             # Stock photos + videos

# GOOGLE (one key, two tools, generous free tier)
GOOGLE_API_KEY=              # Google TTS + Google Imagen

# VOICE + MUSIC
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=          # TTS, music, sound effects (10K chars/month free)
OPENAI_API_KEY=              # OpenAI TTS + DALL-E 3 images

# MULTI-MODEL GATEWAY (one key, 6+ tools)
FAL_KEY=                     # FLUX, Recraft, Kling, Veo, MiniMax video

# VIDEO
HEYGEN_API_KEY=              # HeyGen avatar video gateway
RUNWAY_API_KEY=              # Runway Gen-4 video (direct)
SUNO_API_KEY=                # Suno music generation

# LOCAL (no keys needed — just GPU + install)
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_ENABLED=     # Set to "true" for local video gen
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=       # wan2.1-1.3b, wan2.1-14b, hunyuan-1.5, ltx2-local, cogvideo-5b
```

---

## Cloud Providers

### fal.ai — Multi-Model Gateway

> **Best bang for buck.** One API key unlocks 6 tools across image and video generation.

**Tools unlocked:** `flux_image`, `recraft_image`, `kling_video`, `veo_video`, `minimax_video`
**Env var:** `FAL_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [fal.ai](https://fal.ai/) and click **Sign up** (GitHub or Google)
2. Navigate to [fal.ai/dashboard/keys](https://fal.ai/dashboard/keys)
3. Click **Create Key**, copy it
4. Add to `.env`: `FAL_KEY=your-key-here`

#### Pricing

No subscription — pure pay-as-you-go, no minimum spend.

**Image generation:**

| Model | Price | Per $1 |
|-------|-------|--------|
| FLUX Pro v1.1 | $0.05/image | 20 images |
| FLUX Dev | $0.03/image | 33 images |
| Recraft v3 | ~$0.04/image | 25 images |

**Video generation:**

| Model | Price | Per $1 |
|-------|-------|--------|
| Kling 2.5 Turbo Pro | $0.07/sec | 14 seconds |
| MiniMax | ~$0.05/sec | 20 seconds |
| Veo 3 | $0.40/sec | 2.5 seconds |
| WAN 2.5 | $0.05/sec | 20 seconds |

**Free tier:** None — but $0 to start, you only pay for what you use.

---

### ElevenLabs — Voice, Music, Sound Effects

> **Premium voice quality.** Best TTS for narration-heavy videos. Also generates music and sound effects.

**Tools unlocked:** `elevenlabs_tts`, `music_gen`
**Env var:** `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [elevenlabs.io](https://elevenlabs.io) and click **Sign up**
2. Go to **Profile** (bottom-left) > **API Keys**, or visit [elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys](https://elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys)
3. Click **Create API Key**, name it, copy it
4. Add to `.env`: `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=xi_your-key-here`

#### Pricing

| Plan | Price | Characters/month | Key features |
|------|-------|-------------------|--------------|
| **Free** | $0 | 10,000 | 3 custom voices, API access, attribution required |
| Starter | $5/mo | 30,000 | No attribution |
| Creator | $22/mo | 100,000 | Professional voice cloning |
| Pro | $99/mo | 500,000 | 96kbps audio, usage analytics |
| Scale | $330/mo | 2,000,000 | Priority support |

**Free tier:** 10,000 characters/month (roughly 2-3 minutes of narration). API access included. Music generation and sound effects also available on free tier with limited credits.

---

### Google — TTS + Imagen (Shared Key)

> **One key, two tools.** Google Cloud TTS has 700+ voices in 50+ languages — the strongest localization option. Imagen 4 generates high-quality images.

**Tools unlocked:** `google_tts`, `google_imagen`
**Env var:** `GOOGLE_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [Google AI Studio](https://aistudio.google.com/) and sign in
2. Navigate to [aistudio.google.com/apikey](https://aistudio.google.com/apikey)
3. Click **Create API Key**, select a Google Cloud project
4. Copy the key
5. Add to `.env`: `GOOGLE_API_KEY=AIza...`

**For TTS specifically**, you also need to enable the Text-to-Speech API:
1. Visit [console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/texttospeech.googleapis.com](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/texttospeech.googleapis.com)
2. Click **Enable**
3. Make sure your API key's restrictions allow the Text-to-Speech API

**For Imagen**, enable the Generative Language API:
1. Visit [console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/generativelanguage.googleapis.com](https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/library/generativelanguage.googleapis.com)
2. Click **Enable**

#### Google TTS Pricing

| Voice Type | Free tier | Paid (per 1M chars) | Notes |
|-----------|-----------|---------------------|-------|
| **Standard** | 1M chars/month | $4.00 | Basic quality, fast |
| **WaveNet** | 1M chars/month | $16.00 | Natural-sounding |
| **Neural2** | 1M chars/month | $16.00 | Best quality |
| **Studio** | — | $24.00 | Professional studio voices |
| **Chirp** | — | $4.00 | Conversational style |

The free tiers apply *independently* — you get 1M Standard AND 1M WaveNet AND 1M Neural2 characters per month free. That's roughly 250+ minutes of narration per month at zero cost.

#### Google Imagen Pricing

| Model | Price per image |
|-------|----------------|
| Imagen 4 Fast | $0.02 |
| Imagen 4 Standard | $0.04 |
| Imagen 4 Ultra | $0.06 |

**Free tier for Imagen:** None. Paid tier only.

**New account bonus:** Google Cloud offers **$300 in free credits** for new accounts (90-day trial), applicable to both TTS and Imagen.

#### Google TTS Voice Types

Google TTS offers 700+ voices across 50+ languages. Voice names follow the pattern `{language}-{type}-{letter}`:

| Type | Example | Quality | Cost |
|------|---------|---------|------|
| Standard | `en-US-Standard-A` | Good | Cheapest |
| WaveNet | `en-US-WaveNet-D` | Very good | Mid |
| Neural2 | `en-US-Neural2-D` | Excellent | Mid |
| Studio | `en-US-Studio-O` | Professional | Highest |
| Journey | `en-US-Journey-D` | Conversational | Mid |

**Languages include:** English (US, UK, AU, IN), Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese), Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, and 30+ more.

---

### OpenAI — TTS + Image Generation

> **Solid all-rounder.** DALL-E 3 handles complex multi-element compositions well. TTS is fast and affordable.

**Tools unlocked:** `openai_tts`, `openai_image`
**Env var:** `OPENAI_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [platform.openai.com/signup](https://platform.openai.com/signup) and create an account
2. Add a payment method at [platform.openai.com/account/billing](https://platform.openai.com/account/billing)
3. Navigate to [platform.openai.com/api-keys](https://platform.openai.com/api-keys)
4. Click **Create new secret key**, name it, copy it
5. Add to `.env`: `OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...`

#### TTS Pricing

| Model | Price per 1M characters |
|-------|------------------------|
| tts-1 | $15.00 |
| tts-1-hd | $30.00 |
| gpt-4o-mini-tts | $12.00 |

#### Image Pricing

| Model | Size | Quality | Price per image |
|-------|------|---------|----------------|
| DALL-E 3 | 1024x1024 | standard | $0.040 |
| DALL-E 3 | 1024x1024 | hd | $0.080 |
| DALL-E 3 | 1024x1792 | standard | $0.080 |
| DALL-E 3 | 1024x1792 | hd | $0.120 |

**Free tier:** None. Requires prepaid billing. Previously offered $5 in free credits for new accounts (discontinued for most signups).

---

### Runway — Gen-4 Video

> **Highest-rated AI video quality.** #1 on Elo rankings. Professional-grade video generation.

**Tools unlocked:** `runway_video`
**Env var:** `RUNWAY_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [app.runwayml.com/signup](https://app.runwayml.com/signup) and create an account
2. Subscribe to a paid plan (Standard or above — API requires subscription)
3. Go to **Settings > API Keys** at [app.runwayml.com/settings/api-keys](https://app.runwayml.com/settings/api-keys)
4. Click **Create API Key**, copy it
5. Add to `.env`: `RUNWAY_API_KEY=key_...`

#### Pricing

| Plan | Price | Credits/month | Video capacity |
|------|-------|---------------|----------------|
| **Free** | $0 | 125 one-time | ~5 seconds Gen-4 |
| Standard | $12/mo | 625 | ~25 seconds Gen-4 |
| Pro | $28/mo | 2,250 | ~90 seconds Gen-4 |
| Unlimited | $76/mo | Unlimited (Explore Mode) | Unlimited Gen-4 Turbo |

**API pricing (approximate):**

| Model | Price per second |
|-------|-----------------|
| Gen-4 Turbo | ~$0.05 |
| Gen-4 | ~$0.10 |
| Gen-4.5 | ~$0.25 |

**Free tier:** 125 one-time credits (no monthly renewal). Enough for about 5 seconds of Gen-4 video. API access requires a paid subscription.

---

### HeyGen — Avatar Video Gateway

> **Multi-model video gateway.** Access VEO, Sora, Runway, Kling, and Seedance through a single API.

**Tools unlocked:** `heygen_video`
**Env var:** `HEYGEN_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [app.heygen.com/register](https://app.heygen.com/register) and create an account
2. Navigate to the API section in settings
3. Generate your API key
4. Add API balance (prepaid, separate from web plan credits)
5. Add to `.env`: `HEYGEN_API_KEY=your-key-here`

#### Pricing

| Service | Price |
|---------|-------|
| Avatar video (Engine III) | $0.017/sec |
| Avatar video (Engine IV) | $0.10/sec |
| Prompt to Video | $0.033/sec |
| Video Translation (Speed) | $0.05/sec |
| Video Translation (Precision) | $0.10/sec |

**Web plans:**

| Plan | Price | Notes |
|------|-------|-------|
| Free | $0 | 1 credit (demo) |
| Creator | $24/mo | Limited credits |
| Business | $72/mo | API access, more credits |

**Free tier:** 1 credit on web platform. API is pay-as-you-go with prepaid balance.

---

### Suno — AI Music Generation

> **Full songs with vocals and lyrics.** Any genre, up to 8 minutes. Instrumentals or vocal tracks.

**Tools unlocked:** `suno_music`
**Env var:** `SUNO_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [suno.com](https://suno.com) and create a Suno account
2. For API access, go to [sunoapi.org](https://sunoapi.org) and create an account
3. Navigate to the dashboard and copy your API key
4. Add credits (1 credit = $0.005 USD)
5. Add to `.env`: `SUNO_API_KEY=your-key-here`

#### Pricing

**Suno platform:**

| Plan | Price | Credits | Notes |
|------|-------|---------|-------|
| Free | $0 | 50/day | ~10 songs/day, non-commercial only |
| Pro | $10/mo | 2,500/mo | Commercial license |
| Premier | $30/mo | 10,000/mo | Commercial license |

**API (via sunoapi.org):** Pay-as-you-go, 1 credit = $0.005. Each generation produces 2 tracks.

---

### Pexels — Free Stock Media

> **Completely free.** No cost, no attribution required, commercial use allowed.

**Tools unlocked:** `pexels_image`, `pexels_video`
**Env var:** `PEXELS_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [pexels.com/join](https://www.pexels.com/join/) and create a free account
2. Navigate to [pexels.com/api](https://www.pexels.com/api/)
3. Click **Your API Key** or request API access
4. Copy your key from the dashboard
5. Add to `.env`: `PEXELS_API_KEY=your-key-here`

#### Pricing

**Completely free.** No paid tiers. No attribution required. Commercial use allowed.

- 200 requests/hour
- 20,000 requests/month
- Photo and video search + download

---

### Pixabay — Free Stock Media

> **Completely free.** 5M+ royalty-free images and videos.

**Tools unlocked:** `pixabay_image`, `pixabay_video`
**Env var:** `PIXABAY_API_KEY`

#### Setup

1. Go to [pixabay.com/accounts/register](https://pixabay.com/accounts/register/) and create a free account
2. Navigate to [pixabay.com/api/docs](https://pixabay.com/api/docs/)
3. Your API key is displayed at the top of the docs page (after login)
4. Copy the key
5. Add to `.env`: `PIXABAY_API_KEY=your-key-here`

#### Pricing

**Completely free.** No paid tiers. No attribution required. Commercial use allowed.

- ~100 requests/minute
- 5,000 requests/hour
- Photo and video search + download
- Standard API limited to 1280px images (full resolution requires editorial API)

---

## Local Providers (Free, No API Key)

These providers run entirely on your machine. No network, no API key, no cost. Some require a GPU.

### Remotion — Programmatic Video Composition

> **React-based video rendering.** Turns still images into animated video with spring physics, animated text cards, stat cards, charts, and transitions. **This is the key fallback when no video generation providers are configured** — the agent generates images and Remotion animates them into professional-looking video.

**Tool:** `video_compose` (with `operation="render"` — auto-routes to Remotion when needed)
**Runtime:** CPU (Node.js required)
**Env var:** None

#### Setup

```bash
# Included in make setup, or install manually:
cd remotion-composer && npm install && cd ..
```

Requires **Node.js 18+** and `npx`. The `remotion-composer/` project is included in the repo.

#### What Remotion Renders

| Component | What it produces |
|-----------|-----------------|
| **TextCard** | Animated title/body text with spring physics entrance |
| **StatCard** | Animated statistics with count-up animations |
| **ProgressBar** | Animated progress indicators |
| **CalloutBox** | Highlighted callout panels with icon animations |
| **ComparisonCard** | Side-by-side comparison layouts |
| **BarChart / LineChart / PieChart** | Animated data visualizations |
| **KPIGrid** | Multi-metric dashboard cards |
| **Image scenes** | Still images with spring-animated motion (replaces Ken Burns) |

#### When Does Remotion Activate?

The `video_compose` tool's `render` operation auto-detects when Remotion is needed:
- Cuts contain still images (`.png`, `.jpg`, etc.)
- Cuts have `type` set to `text_card`, `stat_card`, `chart`, etc.
- Cuts specify `animation` or `transition_in`/`transition_out`

If Remotion is not installed, compositions fall back to FFmpeg Ken Burns pan-and-zoom — functional but less engaging.

**Cost:** Free. Always local.

---

### Piper TTS — Offline Text-to-Speech

> **Completely free, fully offline TTS.** No network required. Good quality for drafts and budget-constrained projects.

**Tool:** `piper_tts`
**Runtime:** CPU (no GPU needed)
**Env var:** None

#### Setup

```bash
# Install via pip
pip install piper-tts

# Or download the binary from GitHub
# https://github.com/rhasspy/piper/releases

# Download a voice model (first run downloads automatically)
piper --download-dir ~/.piper/models --model en_US-lessac-medium
```

**Available voices:** ~30 English voices plus voices for German, French, Spanish, Italian, and other languages. Lower variety than cloud providers but completely free and offline.

**Quality:** Good for drafts, internal videos, and budget projects. For client-facing narration, use ElevenLabs or Google TTS.

---

### Local Video Generation (GPU Required)

> **Free AI video generation.** Requires an NVIDIA GPU with sufficient VRAM.

**Tools:** `wan_video`, `hunyuan_video`, `cogvideo_video`, `ltx_video_local`
**Runtime:** Local GPU (CUDA required)
**Env vars:** `VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_ENABLED=true`, `VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=<model>`

#### Setup

```bash
# 1. Install the GPU stack
make install-gpu
# Or manually:
pip install diffusers transformers accelerate torch pillow requests

# 2. Enable local generation in .env
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_ENABLED=true

# 3. Choose a model based on your GPU VRAM
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=wan2.1-1.3b      # 6GB+ VRAM (entry-level)
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=wan2.1-14b       # 24GB+ VRAM (best local quality)
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=hunyuan-1.5      # 12GB+ VRAM
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=ltx2-local       # 8GB+ VRAM (fastest)
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=cogvideo-5b      # 10GB+ VRAM
VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_MODEL=cogvideo-2b      # 6GB+ VRAM (lightest)
```

#### Model Comparison

| Model | VRAM | Quality | Speed | Best for |
|-------|------|---------|-------|----------|
| **WAN 2.1 (1.3B)** | 6GB | Good | Fast | Entry-level GPU, quick iteration |
| **WAN 2.1 (14B)** | 24GB | Excellent | Slow | Best quality-to-VRAM ratio |
| **Hunyuan 1.5** | 12GB | Very good | Medium | Mid-range GPUs |
| **LTX-2** | 8GB | Good | Fastest | Quick drafts, lowest latency |
| **CogVideo (5B)** | 10GB | Good | Medium | Balanced option |
| **CogVideo (2B)** | 6GB | Fair | Fast | Low-VRAM experimentation |

**All local models support:** Image-to-video, text-to-video, offline generation, seeded reproducibility.

---

### Local Diffusion — Offline Image Generation (GPU Required)

> **Free Stable Diffusion image generation.** No API cost, fully offline.

**Tool:** `local_diffusion`
**Runtime:** Local GPU (CUDA required)
**Env var:** None (enable by installing dependencies)

#### Setup

```bash
pip install diffusers transformers accelerate torch
```

First run downloads the model (~4GB). Subsequent runs use the cached model.

**VRAM requirement:** 4GB+ (8GB recommended for 1024x1024 images)

**Supports:** Negative prompts, seeds, custom sizes. Quality is lower than FLUX or DALL-E 3 but completely free and offline.

---

### LTX-2 on Modal — Self-Hosted Cloud GPU

> **Run LTX-2 on Modal's cloud GPUs.** Your own endpoint, your own scale. More consistent than local GPU, cheaper than commercial APIs.

**Tool:** `ltx_video_modal`
**Runtime:** Cloud (self-hosted)
**Env var:** `MODAL_LTX2_ENDPOINT_URL`

#### Setup

1. Create a [Modal](https://modal.com) account
2. Deploy the LTX-2 endpoint (see Modal docs)
3. Set the endpoint URL in `.env`: `MODAL_LTX2_ENDPOINT_URL=https://your-modal-endpoint`

**Modal pricing:** ~$0.99/hour for A100 GPU time. Cost per video depends on generation time.

---

### Other Local Tools (Always Available)

These tools require only FFmpeg or Python packages — no GPU, no API key.

| Tool | Install | What it does |
|------|---------|-------------|
| **FFmpeg tools** (video_compose, video_stitch, video_trimmer, audio_mixer, audio_enhance, color_grade, face_enhance, frame_sampler, scene_detect) | `brew install ffmpeg` / `sudo apt install ffmpeg` / `winget install FFmpeg` | Video editing, audio processing, color grading, analysis |
| **Transcriber** | `pip install faster-whisper` | Speech-to-text with word-level timestamps |
| **Background Remove** | `pip install rembg` (CPU) or `pip install rembg[gpu]` | Remove image/video backgrounds |
| **Upscale** | `pip install realesrgan` (requires PyTorch + CUDA) | Real-ESRGAN image/video upscaling |
| **Face Restore** | `pip install gfpgan` (requires PyTorch) | CodeFormer/GFPGAN face restoration |
| **Code Snippet** | `pip install Pygments Pillow` | Syntax-highlighted code images |
| **Diagram Gen** | `npm install -g @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli` | Mermaid diagram rendering |
| **Math Animate** | `pip install manim` | ManimCE mathematical animations |
| **Subtitle Gen** | No install needed | SRT/VTT subtitle file generation |
| **Video Understand** | `pip install transformers torch` | CLIP/BLIP-2 visual analysis |
| **Talking Head** | Clone [SadTalker](https://github.com/OpenTalker/SadTalker) | Avatar animation from photo + audio |
| **Lip Sync** | Clone [Wav2Lip](https://github.com/Rudrabha/Wav2Lip) | Audio-driven lip synchronization |

---

## Provider-to-Tool Mapping

| Provider | Env Var | Tools Unlocked | Cost |
|----------|---------|---------------|------|
| **Pexels** | `PEXELS_API_KEY` | `pexels_image`, `pexels_video` | Free |
| **Pixabay** | `PIXABAY_API_KEY` | `pixabay_image`, `pixabay_video` | Free |
| **Piper** | — (install only) | `piper_tts` | Free |
| **Google** | `GOOGLE_API_KEY` | `google_tts`, `google_imagen` | Free tier + paid |
| **ElevenLabs** | `ELEVENLABS_API_KEY` | `elevenlabs_tts`, `music_gen` | Free tier + paid |
| **fal.ai** | `FAL_KEY` | `flux_image`, `recraft_image`, `kling_video`, `veo_video`, `minimax_video` | Pay-as-you-go |
| **OpenAI** | `OPENAI_API_KEY` | `openai_tts`, `openai_image` | Paid only |
| **Runway** | `RUNWAY_API_KEY` | `runway_video` | Free trial + paid |
| **HeyGen** | `HEYGEN_API_KEY` | `heygen_video` | Pay-as-you-go |
| **Suno** | `SUNO_API_KEY` | `suno_music` | Pay-as-you-go |
| **Local GPU** | `VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_ENABLED` | `wan_video`, `hunyuan_video`, `cogvideo_video`, `ltx_video_local` | Free (GPU required) |
| **Local Diffusion** | — (install only) | `local_diffusion` | Free (GPU required) |
| **Modal** | `MODAL_LTX2_ENDPOINT_URL` | `ltx_video_modal` | Self-hosted cloud |

---

## Capability Coverage

How many providers cover each capability:

| Capability | Cloud Providers | Local Providers | Free Options |
|-----------|----------------|-----------------|--------------|
| **Image Generation** | FLUX, Google Imagen, DALL-E 3, Recraft | Local Diffusion | Pexels, Pixabay (stock) |
| **Video Generation** | Kling, Runway, Veo, MiniMax, HeyGen | WAN, Hunyuan, CogVideo, LTX | Pexels, Pixabay (stock) |
| **Text-to-Speech** | ElevenLabs, Google TTS, OpenAI | Piper | Piper, Google free tier, ElevenLabs free tier |
| **Music Generation** | ElevenLabs, Suno | — | ElevenLabs free tier |
| **Post-Production** | — | FFmpeg (compose, stitch, trim, mix, enhance, grade) | All free |
| **Analysis** | — | WhisperX, Scene Detect, Frame Sampler, CLIP/BLIP-2 | All free |
| **Enhancement** | — | Upscale, BG Remove, Face Enhance, Face Restore | All free |
| **Avatar** | — | SadTalker, Wav2Lip | All free |

---

## FAQ

**Q: What's the absolute minimum I need to produce a video?**
A: FFmpeg + Node.js (both free, local). FFmpeg handles video assembly, audio mixing, and subtitles. With Node.js, Remotion renders still images into animated video — so even without any video generation API, the agent generates images and Remotion turns them into professional-looking video with spring animations, text cards, and transitions. Add Piper TTS for free narration and Pexels/Pixabay for free stock footage.

**Q: I don't have any video generation providers. Can I still make videos?**
A: Yes. The agent generates still images (via any image provider — even free stock from Pexels/Pixabay) and Remotion composes them into animated video with spring physics transitions, text cards, stat cards, and charts. This is the default path for explainer and animation pipelines when no video gen is configured.

**Q: What's the cheapest way to get AI-generated images and video?**
A: fal.ai (`FAL_KEY`). One key unlocks FLUX images at ~$0.03/image and multiple video providers. No subscription — pay only for what you generate.

**Q: I have a GPU. What can I run locally for free?**
A: Set `VIDEO_GEN_LOCAL_ENABLED=true` and install `diffusers`. You get WAN 2.1, Hunyuan, CogVideo, and LTX video generation plus Stable Diffusion image generation — all free, all offline.

**Q: Which TTS provider should I use?**
A: For quality → ElevenLabs. For localization (50+ languages) → Google TTS. For budget → Google free tier (1M chars/month). For offline → Piper.

**Q: Do I need all these providers?**
A: No. Start with what you have. The selector pattern auto-routes to whatever's available. Missing a provider? The system falls through to the next one automatically.
