Renderly

Getting Started

Sign up, grab an API key, and render your first Renderly video — under five minutes end-to-end.

This walkthrough takes you from zero to a finished MP4. Pick the API path if you're integrating Renderly into your product, or the dashboard path if you just want to make a video by hand.

1. Create your account

  1. Go to renderly.video and click Sign in.
  2. Continue with Google or with a magic-link email.
  3. New accounts start with a small free credit balance — enough to test a render before topping up.

Credits don't expire. 1 credit = 1 minute of finished video at any resolution. A 30-second test render costs 1 credit (we round up to the nearest minute per job).

2. Pick your path

Path A — Render via API

Use this if you want Renderly to be a backend service in your own product.

Generate an API key

  1. Open the dashboard, go to Settings → API Keys.
  2. Click Generate Key. The key starts with rnd_ and is shown once — copy it now.
  3. Authenticate every request with Authorization: Bearer rnd_…. Full details in API keys.

Verify the key works

curl https://renderly.video/api/v1/auth/verify \
  -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rnd_your_api_key"

You should get back { "success": true, "data": { "userId": "...", "credits": ... } }.

Send your first render

curl -X POST https://renderly.video/api/v1/renders \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rnd_your_api_key" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "inputProps": {
      "backgroundColor": "#0a0e27",
      "overlays": [{
        "id": 0, "type": "text",
        "content": "Hello from the API",
        "from": 0, "durationInFrames": 90,
        "row": 0, "top": 800, "left": 60, "width": 960, "height": 200,
        "styles": {
          "fontSize": "4rem", "fontWeight": "900",
          "color": "#FFFFFF", "textAlign": "center",
          "animation": { "enter": "fade", "exit": "fade", "enterDuration": 0.4 }
        }
      }],
      "durationInFrames": 90, "fps": 30,
      "width": 1080, "height": 1920
    }
  }'

The response includes a jobId. Hold onto it.

Poll for completion

curl https://renderly.video/api/v1/renders/<jobId> \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rnd_your_api_key"

Repeat every 2–5 seconds until status is "COMPLETED". The response then includes outputUrl — that's your MP4.

Don't want to poll? Register a webhook and Renderly will POST to your endpoint when the job finishes.

Path B — Render via dashboard

Use this if you want to design a video by hand before automating it.

  1. From the dashboard, click New Project.
  2. Pick a starting point: a blank canvas, a template, or one of your existing projects.
  3. Use the visual editor to drag in overlays, set timing, tweak styles. See the Editor walkthrough for everything the editor can do.
  4. Click Export. The render queues up and lands in Renders when ready.

Once you've built a project you like, you can render variations of it via the API by sending projectId instead of inputProps — see Rendering.

3. Where to go next

If you want to…Read
Personalize one composition across many videosTemplates
Understand every overlay typeOverlays reference
Upload your own media filesUploading media
Be notified instead of pollingWebhooks
See every endpoint + fieldAPI reference