diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index cd236be3..dd07dcb4 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ Edit your own talking-head footage. Generate a fully animated explainer from scr ## Supported Providers +> **Detailed setup instructions, pricing, and free tiers for every provider:** [`docs/PROVIDERS.md`](docs/PROVIDERS.md) + ### Video Generation (12 providers) | Provider | Type | Notes | |----------|------|-------| @@ -377,7 +379,7 @@ OpenMontage is built to be extended. The two most common contributions: 2. Create stage director skills in `skills/pipelines//` 3. Reference existing tools — or add new ones if needed -See `docs/ARCHITECTURE.md` for the full technical reference and `AGENT_GUIDE.md` for the agent contract. +See `docs/ARCHITECTURE.md` for the full technical reference, `docs/PROVIDERS.md` for the complete provider guide (setup, pricing, free tiers), and `AGENT_GUIDE.md` for the agent contract. --- diff --git a/docs/PROVIDERS.md b/docs/PROVIDERS.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..a275b7f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/PROVIDERS.md @@ -0,0 +1,566 @@ +# 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. + +### 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=` + +#### 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 (free, local). That's it. With just FFmpeg you can compose, stitch, trim, mix audio, and add subtitles. Add Piper TTS for free narration and Pexels/Pixabay for free stock footage. + +**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.