Generate text-to-video with the Imagine API

POST https://api.x.ai/v1/videos/generations with a prompt and model grok-imagine-video-1.5 is text-to-video. The call returns a request_id. Poll GET /v1/videos/{request_id} until status is done, expired, or failed. Get a key at console.x.ai.

On 1.5, text-to-video runs text-to-image then image-to-video internally. The intermediate frame is not returned.

Start and poll

REQUEST_ID=$(curl -s -X POST https://api.x.ai/v1/videos/generations \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "grok-imagine-video-1.5",
    "prompt": "A glowing crystal-powered rocket launching from the red dunes of Mars",
    "duration": 10,
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    "resolution": "720p"
  }' | jq -r '.request_id')

while true; do
  RESULT=$(curl -s https://api.x.ai/v1/videos/$REQUEST_ID \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $XAI_API_KEY")
  STATUS=$(echo "$RESULT" | jq -r '.status')
  if [ "$STATUS" = "done" ]; then
    echo "$RESULT" | jq -r '.video.url'
    break
  elif [ "$STATUS" = "failed" ] || [ "$STATUS" = "expired" ]; then
    echo "Request $STATUS"; echo "$RESULT" | jq .
    break
  fi
  sleep 5
done

duration is 1–15 seconds. aspect_ratio accepts 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 4:3, 3:4, 3:2, 2:3 (default 16:9). resolution is 480p (default), 720p, or 1080p. 1080p is available on 1.5 for text-to-video. Audio is on by default; set generate_audio: false for a silent clip.

SDK

client.video.generate(...) polls for you:

import os
import xai_sdk

client = xai_sdk.Client(api_key=os.getenv("XAI_API_KEY"))

response = client.video.generate(
    prompt="A glowing crystal-powered rocket launching from the red dunes of Mars",
    model="grok-imagine-video-1.5",
    duration=10,
    aspect_ratio="16:9",
    resolution="720p",
)
print(response.url)

Result URLs are temporary. Download the file if you need to keep it.

Pitfalls

• Stop the poll on done, expired, or failed. A pending body has no usable video.url.
• Output URLs expire. Save the bytes.
• Console API credits are a separate bill from SuperGrok's weekly pool on grok.com.