frames/skills/frames-cli/references/cloud.md

cloud — hosted rendering (zero-infra)

frames cloud render renders a composition on Hanzo Cloud. The CLI zips the project, uploads it, runs the render (Chromium + FFmpeg) there, and downloads the finished video. Nothing to deploy, and no Chrome/FFmpeg/AWS to manage; the render is metered against the org's balance.

export HANZO_API_KEY=...          # from Hanzo KMS
npx @hanzo/frames cloud render           # zip, upload, render, download

When to use managed cloud, Lambda, Cloud Run, or local

• frames render (local): fastest iteration loop, use while authoring.
• frames cloud render: zero-infra. Hanzo Cloud runs the render, metered against the org's balance. This is the default answer to "render in the cloud" when you don't want to manage Chrome/FFmpeg/AWS.
• frames lambda render: bring-your-own-AWS distributed rendering with chunked parallelism. Only worth it when you've already invested in AWS (see lambda.md).
• frames cloudrun render: bring-your-own-GCP distributed rendering through Cloud Run and Workflows. Use only when GCP ownership is explicit (see cloudrun.md).

Authentication

Cloud rendering uses the same credential as everything else: a Hanzo IAM token in $HANZO_API_KEY, read from Hanzo KMS (kms.hanzo.ai). There is no separate sign-in, no credential file, and no per-repo .env — one token, every surface.

export HANZO_API_KEY=...           # from Hanzo KMS; in CI, injected by the pipeline
npx @hanzo/frames auth status             # which credential is in use, identity, balance
                                   #   exit 0 = usable; exit 1 = absent or rejected.
                                   #   Exit 1 is the normal no-credential state
                                   #   (scripts: `auth status || echo offline`), not a
                                   #   command failure.

HANZO_BASE_URL points the CLI at a different deployment (default https://api.hanzo.ai).

The render pipeline

cloud render runs end-to-end:

1. Resolve the project: a local directory (default .), or skip the upload with --asset-id / --url.
2. Auto-detect aspect ratio from the entry HTML's data-width/data-height.
3. Zip the project (same ignore set as frames publish, including .framesignore).
4. Upload the zip through the direct-to-S3 asset flow, yielding an asset_id.
5. Submit the render, yielding a render_id.
6. Poll that render until it completes or fails (skip with --no-wait).
7. Download the signed video URL to disk.

Archive size and .framesignore

The direct-upload limit is 200 MB. Frames automatically excludes root-level renders/ and snapshots/, along with its existing development exclusions such as .git, node_modules, dist, .next, coverage, and dotfiles. Add project-specific gitignore-style rules to <project>/.framesignore when other generated or intermediate assets are not required at render time. The same rules affect frames publish.

Inspect the exact archive without authenticating, uploading, spending credits, or starting a render:

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render <project> --dry-run --json

The result reports compressed size_bytes, file_count, the 200 MB limit, and the ten largest included files.

When a cloud upload reports a size-limit error, agents must use this workflow:

1. Run the dry-run command and inspect the largest included files and directories.
2. Classify obvious generated outputs first: old renders, extra snapshot/contact-sheet directories, caches, exported previews, and source media used only to produce final assets.
3. Before excluding anything else, search src, href, url(), data-composition-src, JavaScript strings, manifests, and variable-driven paths across every HTML, CSS, and JavaScript entry.
4. Preserve existing .framesignore comments and rules. Add the narrowest verified-unneeded root-relative paths; prefer an exact directory or file over a broad wildcard.
5. Never ignore index.html, the selected composition, mounted sub-compositions, fonts, images, audio, video, scripts, or manifests merely because they are large. Never ignore all of assets/.
6. Rerun dry-run until the archive is below the limit, then run npx @hanzo/frames check. Remember that check sees the source directory, so it cannot prove a dynamically computed asset path remains in the filtered archive; the reference audit is still required.

Example:

# Additional generated verification passes
/snapshots2/
/snapshots3/

# Master used only to produce the final background clips
/assets/bg-pattern.mp4

Rules support comments, globs, and negation. A later rule can override a default, for example !/snapshots/ when that directory intentionally contains render inputs.

Render options

Flag	Default	Meaning
--fps	30	Frames per second, 1–240.
--quality	standard	draft, standard, or high.
--format	mp4	mp4, webm, or mov (webm/mov carry alpha).
--resolution	1080p	1080p or 4k (4k billed at 1.5×).
--aspect-ratio	auto	16:9, 9:16, or 1:1. Auto from a local project's data-width/data-height; defaults to 16:9 for --asset-id/--url.
--composition / -c	index.html	Entry HTML file inside the zip.
--output / -o	renders/<render_id>.<ext>	Local download destination.
--dry-run	off	Build and inspect a local project zip without authenticating, uploading, or rendering.

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render . \
  --composition compositions/intro.html \
  --output ./renders/intro.mp4

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --quality high --fps 60

--resolution 4k cannot combine with --format webm/mov: the 4k supersampling path has no alpha channel. Render 4k as mp4, or render alpha at native resolution.

Templates and variables

Cloud rendering supports composition variables: declare data-composition-variables on the composition, then fill them at render time.

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --variables '{"title":"Q4 Recap","theme":"dark"}'
npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --variables-file ./vars.json
npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --variables '{"title":"Q4 Recap"}' --strict-variables

For a local project the CLI validates --variables against the declared schema before uploading. For --asset-id/--url the schema lives server-side, so mismatches surface as a frames_project_invalid API error.

Upload once, re-render many is the idiomatic template loop: render a local project to get its asset_id, then re-submit against that asset with new values (no re-zip, no re-upload).

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render ./card-template                              # note the asset_id printed on upload
npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --asset-id asst_abc123 --variables '{"name":"Ada"}'
npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --asset-id asst_abc123 --variables '{"name":"Linus"}'

For high-volume personalized batches, both self-managed paths provide JSONL fan-out: AWS Lambda (lambda.md) and Google Cloud Run (cloudrun.md). The full variables schema (types, declarative bindings, sub-composition overrides, precedence) lives in the frames-core skill.

Fire-and-forget and webhooks

By default the CLI blocks, polls, and downloads. Combine --no-wait (submit and exit with just the render_id) with --callback-url (HTTPS webhook on terminal status) for true fire-and-forget:

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render --callback-url https://example.com/hf-hook --no-wait
#    Poll later with: frames cloud get hfr_def456

Flag	Meaning
--no-wait	Submit and exit immediately; print the render_id.
--callback-url	HTTPS webhook fired when the render terminates.
--callback-id	Opaque tracking ID echoed in webhook payloads.
--poll-interval	Poll cadence in seconds (default 10).
--max-wait	Max poll duration in minutes (default 60).

Managing renders

npx @hanzo/frames cloud list                 # recent renders (--limit, --token, --all)
npx @hanzo/frames cloud get hfr_def456       # full detail + short-lived signed video_url
npx @hanzo/frames cloud delete hfr_def456    # soft-delete (--no-confirm to skip the prompt)

video_url and thumbnail_url are short-lived presigned URLs, so re-fetch with cloud get rather than caching them.

Safe retries

A retry is harmless for reads, but the zip upload is not idempotent: a blind retry creates a duplicate asset and meters twice. Pass --idempotency-key so retries are safe:

npx @hanzo/frames cloud render . --idempotency-key "$(uuidgen)"

The key is forwarded to both upload and submit (the server scopes idempotency per-endpoint, so reusing one value is safe). Use any opaque string in [A-Za-z0-9_:.-], 1–255 chars.

Full flag reference: docs /deploy/cloud and /packages/cli#frames-cloud.