Quickstart

This page takes you from nothing to a rendered file. It assumes a video file exists and that ffmpeg is installed.

Install

npm install -g splice-cli
splice doctor

doctor prints one JSON object. If ok is false, fix that first — every render would otherwise fail on a filter, not on your edit.

Create a project

splice init --size 1080x1920 --fps 30
splice add intro.mp4

init writes splice.json. add appends the clip and prints its id.

Make an edit

splice trim clip_1 --to 4s
splice text "Ship faster" --from 0.5 --to 4 --pos top-left

Every mutation prints {"ok":true,...} and, when something will not do what you asked, a warnings[] array. Read it.

Iterate cheaply

splice render --preview -o preview.mp4
splice frames --at 1,2.5 -o stills

--preview renders a small proxy with its own cache. frames writes PNGs so you can look at the result without watching the whole file.

Render the real thing

splice render -o out.mp4

The response reports steps.total, steps.ran and steps.reused, plus the duration, size and fps that were actually produced.

Read the JSON, never the logs. stdout is one object; stderr carries progress and a short failure tail.

Where to go next