Developers

The command line

Everything the window does, without the window — so a run fits in a cron job, a Makefile or a build step. Projects made on the command line open in the app afterwards; it is the same machine, the same licence and the same files.

Install

The app and the command line are one binary. The installer writes a shim to /usr/local/bin, so ariloop follows the app when it updates.

zsh

$ /Applications/Ariloop.app/Contents/Resources/install-cli.sh
installed /usr/local/bin/ariloop -> /Applications/Ariloop.app/Contents/MacOS/Ariloop

$ ariloop version
3.0

Needs sudo if /usr/local/bin is not writable. Pass a path to put it somewhere else: install-cli.sh ~/.local/bin/ariloop.

Commands

Command	What it does	Licence
`ariloop clip SOURCE`	Finds the moments worth posting and cuts them	needed
`ariloop extract SOURCE`	Pulls whole sections out — sung, spoken, or both	needed
`ariloop pictures SOURCE`	Stills, taken where the picture changes	needed
`ariloop watch URL`	Records a stream you have the right to record, from a link given before it starts	needed
`ariloop projects`	Everything on this machine, one line each	not needed
`ariloop show ID`	One project, and what it produced	not needed
`ariloop licence`	What this machine may do	not needed
`ariloop providers`	Model providers, and where each key came from	not needed
`ariloop version`	Which build this is	not needed
`ariloop help`	The index, or one command’s flags — `ariloop help clip`	not needed

SOURCE is a file on disk or any URL yt-dlp can read.

Making clips

zsh

$ ariloop clip recording.mp4 --count 8 --aspect 9:16 --style bold-pop
[ 12.0%] Transcribing on your machine
[ 42.0%] Finding the most meaningful moments
[100.0%] 8 clips ready

recording  (9d51892a58)
   1. [ 94]   42.0s  What you tolerate, you teach  ->  clip_01.mp4
   2. [ 91]   56.0s  Say the hard thing first      ->  clip_02.mp4

Flag	Values
`--mode`	`ai` finds clips · `whole` keeps the selection as one
`--kind`	what to look for — `auto` `message` `movie` `songs` `interview` `highlights` `context` `custom`
`--brief`	with `--kind custom`: what to look for, in your own words
`--focus`	narrow any other kind to moments like this
`--count`	how many clips at most (default 8)
`--aspect`	`9:16` `4:5` `1:1` `16:9` `universal` `original`
`--layout`	`fit` blurred fill · `fit_black` bars · `fill` crop
`--style`	caption style — `none`, `bold-pop`, `marker` and the rest
`--genre`	`podcast` `interview` `talk` `faith` `sports` and more
`--length`	`short` `medium` `long` `extended`, or `--min`/`--max` in seconds
`--from` `--to`	ignore outside this span — `90`, `1:30` or `1:02:03`
`--engine`	which model picks the clips — `auto` uses Settings

Model keys come from the environment

A key saved in Settings wins. When there is none, the usual environment variables are read — which is what a CI runner has and what a settings pane is bad at.

zsh

$ export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-…
$ ariloop providers
provider     ready  key from     env var                model
claude       yes    environment  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY      claude-opus-5
openai       no     -            OPENAI_API_KEY         gpt-6-astra

Also read: OPENAI_API_KEY, GEMINI_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY, GROQ_API_KEY, MISTRAL_API_KEY, DEEPSEEK_API_KEY, XAI_API_KEY, TOGETHER_API_KEY. Run ariloop providers before a long job rather than after it.

Scripting

Progress goes to stderr and results to stdout, so a run pipes. --json works on every command, before or after the subcommand.

zsh

$ ariloop projects --json | jq -r '.[] | select(.status=="done") | .id'
$ ariloop clip talk.mp4 --quiet --json > result.json

$ ariloop clip talk.mp4 --count 4
$ echo $?

Exit	Means
`0`	It ran
`1`	It failed — the reason is on stderr
`2`	Bad usage, or an option it would not accept
`3`	This machine is not licensed to do that

It needs a licence

Every command that makes something asks the same gate the window asks. The command line is not a way around activating a machine.

zsh

$ ariloop clip recording.mp4
ariloop: This machine isn't licensed yet. Enter your licence key to start.
Activate this machine with your key in the app, or at https://dashboard.ariloop.pro/
$ echo $?
3

Reading does not need one: projects, show, licence, providers and version work on any machine, because being told what is already on your own disk is not a licensed activity. Check with ariloop licence at the top of a job and fail early.

On a schedule

Nothing is uploaded and nothing is metered, so a nightly run costs what the electricity costs.

crontab

# every evening, cut the day's recording
0 18 * * 0 ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-… /usr/local/bin/ariloop clip \
  ~/Recordings/latest.mp4 --count 10 --quiet --json >> ~/ariloop.log 2>&1

macOS today, with Windows next — the command line arrives with it. Download Ariloop.