ai-ffmpeg-cli 0.2.0

AI-powered CLI that translates natural language to safe, previewable ffmpeg commands with comprehensive testing and clean architecture

🎬 aiclip

Stop Googling ffmpeg commands. Just describe what you want.

aiclip is an AI-powered CLI that translates natural language into safe, previewable ffmpeg commands. Built for developers, content creators, and anyone who works with media files but doesn't want to memorize complex syntax.

✨ Why aiclip?

• 🤖 AI-Native: Translate plain English to perfect ffmpeg commands
• 🔒 Safety First: Preview every command before execution
• ⚡ 10x Faster: Skip the documentation, Stack Overflow, and trial-and-error
• 🎯 Battle-Tested: Generates reliable, production-ready commands
• 🔄 Smart Defaults: Sensible codec and quality settings out of the box
• 🧪 Well-Tested: 87%+ test coverage with comprehensive error handling
• 🏗️ Clean Architecture: Modular design with clear separation of concerns

# Instead of this...
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1280:720" -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -b:v 2000k output.mp4

# Just say this...
aiclip "convert input.mp4 to 720p with good quality"

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

# Install from PyPI
pip install ai-ffmpeg-cli

# Or with Homebrew (coming soon)
brew install aiclip

Setup

# Set your OpenAI API key
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"

# Or create a .env file
echo "OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-key-here" > .env

First Command

Interactive mode (type your request after launching):

aiclip

convert this video to 720p
┌───┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ # │ Command                                                  │
├───┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 1 │ ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf scale=1280:720 -c:v libx264...   │
└───┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Run these commands? [Y/n]

Or run a one-shot command (no interactive prompt):

aiclip --dry-run "convert input.mp4 to 720p with good quality"

📖 Usage Examples

Video Processing

# Convert formats
aiclip "convert input.mov to mp4 with h264 and aac"

# Resize videos  
aiclip "downscale video.mp4 to 720p"
aiclip "make input.mp4 1080p resolution"

# Compress files
aiclip "compress large-video.mp4 to smaller size"
aiclip "reduce file size with CRF 23"

Audio Operations

# Extract audio
aiclip "extract audio from movie.mp4 to mp3"
aiclip "get audio track from video as wav"

# Remove audio
aiclip "remove audio from video.mp4"

Trimming & Cutting

# Time-based cutting
aiclip "trim first 30 seconds from video.mp4"
aiclip "keep segment from 2:15 to 3:45 in input.mp4"
aiclip "cut out middle 5 minutes"

Image Extraction

# Thumbnails
aiclip "create thumbnail at 10 seconds from video.mp4"
aiclip "extract frame at 2:30 as PNG"

# Frame sequences
aiclip "extract one frame every 5 seconds"
aiclip "get all frames from video as images"

Advanced Operations

# Overlays
aiclip "add watermark logo.png to top-right of video.mp4"  
aiclip "overlay text on video at position 10:10"

# Batch processing
aiclip "convert all .mov files to .mp4"

🎛️ Command Line Options

# One-shot mode (no interaction)
aiclip "your command here"

# Skip confirmation prompts  
aiclip --yes "convert video.mp4 to 720p"

# Preview only (don't execute)
aiclip --dry-run "compress input.mp4"

# Use different AI model
aiclip --model gpt-4o-mini "extract audio"

# Increase timeout for complex requests
aiclip --timeout 120 "complex processing task"

# Verbose logging for troubleshooting
aiclip --verbose "your command"

Subcommands and option placement

You can also use the explicit nl subcommand. Put global options before the subcommand:

aiclip --yes nl "thumbnail at 10s from test.mp4"
aiclip --dry-run --model gpt-4o-mini nl "compress input.mp4"

Do not invoke the binary twice:

# Incorrect
aiclip aiclip --yes nl "..."

🔧 Configuration

aiclip uses environment variables and .env files for configuration:

# Required
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-api-key

# Optional
AICLIP_MODEL=gpt-4o              # AI model to use
AICLIP_DRY_RUN=false            # Preview commands by default
AICLIP_TIMEOUT=60               # LLM timeout in seconds
AICLIP_MAX_FILE_SIZE=524288000  # Max file size (500MB)
AICLIP_RATE_LIMIT=60            # Rate limit requests per minute

🎯 Smart Defaults & Safety

• Preview First: Every command is shown before execution
• Overwrite Protection: Warns before overwriting existing files
• Sensible Codecs: Automatically chooses h264+aac for MP4, libx265 for compression
• Stream Copy: Uses -c copy for trimming when possible (faster, lossless)
• Context Aware: Scans your directory to suggest input files and durations
• Input Validation: Sanitizes all inputs to prevent command injection
• Error Recovery: Graceful handling of network timeouts and API failures

📊 Supported Operations

Operation	Examples	ffmpeg Equivalent
Convert	"convert to mp4", "make it h264"	-c:v libx264 -c:a aac
Resize	"720p", "1920x1080", "scale to 50%"	-vf scale=1280:720
Compress	"make smaller", "CRF 28"	-c:v libx265 -crf 28
Extract Audio	"get audio as mp3"	-q:a 0 -map a
Trim	"first 30 seconds", "2:15 to 3:45"	-ss 00:02:15 -to 00:03:45
Thumbnail	"frame at 10s"	-ss 00:00:10 -vframes 1
Overlay	"watermark top-right"	-filter_complex overlay=W-w-10:10
Batch	"all *.mov files"	Shell loops with glob patterns

🛠️ Development

# Clone and setup
git clone https://github.com/d-k-patel/ai-ffmpeg-cli.git
cd ai-ffmpeg-cli
make setup

# Run tests
make test

# Check code quality  
make lint

# Format code
make format

# Try demo commands
make demo

# Run with coverage
make test-cov

Development Commands

# Full development setup
make setup          # Create virtual environment and install dependencies
make install        # Install package in development mode
make test           # Run test suite
make test-cov       # Run tests with coverage report
make lint           # Check code quality
make format         # Format code
make security       # Run security checks
make demo           # Run demonstration commands
make docs           # Generate and serve documentation
make clean          # Remove build artifacts

📋 Requirements

• Python 3.10+ (uses modern type hints)
• ffmpeg installed and available in PATH
  • macOS: brew install ffmpeg
  • Ubuntu: sudo apt install ffmpeg
  • Windows: Download from ffmpeg.org
• OpenAI API key for natural language processing

🆘 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"OPENAI_API_KEY is required"

# Set your API key
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here"
# Or add it to .env file

"ffmpeg not found in PATH"

# Install ffmpeg
brew install ffmpeg          # macOS
sudo apt install ffmpeg      # Ubuntu
# Windows: download from ffmpeg.org

"Failed to parse natural language prompt"

• Try being more specific in your request
• Use --model gpt-4o for better accuracy
• Increase timeout with --timeout 120
• Check your internet connection

"No input files found"

• Ensure files exist in current directory
• Check file extensions match your request
• Use ls to verify available files

Getting Help

• 📖 Documentation: Full guides at https://d-k-patel.github.io/ai-ffmpeg-cli/
• 💬 Discord: Join our community for real-time help
• 🐛 Issues: Report bugs on GitHub Issues
• 💡 Discussions: Feature requests and Q&A on GitHub Discussions

🤝 Contributing

We love contributions! Whether it's:

• 🐛 Bug reports and feature requests
• 📖 Documentation improvements
• 🧪 Test cases for edge scenarios
• 💻 Code contributions for new features
• 🎨 Examples and tutorials

See our Contributing Guide to get started.

Development Setup

# Fork and clone
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/ai-ffmpeg-cli.git
cd ai-ffmpeg-cli

# Setup development environment
make setup

# Run pre-commit checks
make pre-commit

# Run full pipeline
make all

📈 What's Next?

• 🔄 Batch Templates: Save and reuse complex workflows
• 🎛️ GUI Mode: Visual interface for non-CLI users
• ⚡ Local Models: Run without internet using local AI
• 🏢 Team Features: Shared commands and analytics
• 🔌 Integrations: GitHub Actions, Docker, CI/CD pipelines
• 📊 Analytics: Usage statistics and performance insights

📅 Release Information

Current Version: 0.2.0
Release Date: August 19, 2025
Python Support: 3.10+
License: MIT

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

⭐ Support

If aiclip saves you time, please:

• ⭐ Star this repository
• 🐦 Share on social media
• 📝 Write a review or blog post
• 💬 Tell your developer friends

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Made with ❤️ by developers who got tired of Googling ffmpeg commands
_{🎬 Turn your words into perfect video commands}