pod docs

Command reference

Every command pod understands, organized by what you're trying to do — though you never actually need to memorize any of them, because plain English always works.

Note: Once you type pod and you're inside the studio (the bordered box with the ❯), you never need the pod prefix — just type resume, not pod resume. And you can always skip commands entirely: say "make a 30-second teaser for my thriller — telugu, moody" and the front desk turns your words into the exact command, shows it to you, and waits. Enter runs it, e lets you edit it, n means never mind. Talking is the intended way; commands are here for when you want precision. More on this in Talking to pod.
Tip: Tab completes command words and your episode names, so you rarely have to type a full name. Up/down arrows browse your history only when the line is empty — they can never delete what you've typed.

Start something

pod

Opens the studio. This is the one command you type in your Terminal (the app where you type text and press Enter to run it); everything after that happens inside pod's own friendly input box.

❯ pod
  (the studio opens — talk, or type any command below)

pod "an idea"

You can also hand pod an idea straight from the Terminal — the front desk turns your plain language into the right command and shows it before running anything.

❯ pod "two robots fall in love at a bus stop"

produce "<brief or file>"

The main event: give pod an idea, a pasted script, or a screenplay file, and it writes, casts, designs, shoots, quality-checks and edits a finished film. It takes flags for everything you'd otherwise be asked in the upfront brief:

❯ produce "Show V4 EP 1-30.pdf" --episode 2 --series basti --duration 90 --aspect 9:16 --language telugu

You don't need most of these — pod asks for anything missing, once, upfront, and remembers "your usual" after a couple of productions.

explore "<subject>"

For when you don't have the idea yet. Pod pitches 4–5 distinct concepts with looks and formats; pick one and it goes straight to production.

❯ explore "brainstorm some ideas for a coffee brand ad"
  (4-5 concepts appear — pick one, pod produces it)

cast "idea"

A casting-and-price preview only — pod's casting director picks generation engines for the idea and shows what it would cost, without producing anything (about 1 credit).

❯ cast "moody telugu vertical teaser, 60 seconds"

presets

Shows pod's proven formats — ugc, explainer, trailer — ready-made shapes for common jobs.

demo

Renders a free 5-second clip entirely on your machine — no credits, no internet generation — to prove the setup works. Great right after install.

Continue something

episodes

Shows what's on the lot — every film you've started or finished.

resume [name]

Picks a film back up from its exact checkpoint — after a stop, a crash, a closed laptop, or just tomorrow morning. Approved work is never redone, and paid work is never paid for twice. You can switch modes as you resume:

❯ resume basti-ep2 --steer
  (continues mid-film, with you back at the wheel)

finalize <name>

Masters a drafts-only film at full resolution. This is the second half of the "d" choice at the cost gate: watch a cheap 480p cut first, then finalize when you're happy.

❯ finalize basti-ep2

Fix something

edit <name> "note"

Re-cuts the film from existing takes with a plain-language edit note — and edits are free, because nothing re-renders.

❯ edit basti-ep2 "cut the first 3 seconds, pacier"

redo <name>

Re-shoots a shot, or re-specs the film. Unlike edits, re-shoots cost credits — pod always shows the price and asks first.

❯ redo basti-ep2 --shot shot-07

fixclip <name> --shot …

Targeted surgery on one clip when only a piece of it needs attention.

takes <name>

Browses the alternative takes pod kept for each shot — sometimes the fix is a take you already have.

Audio & language

dub <name> --shot shot-03 --audio my.mp3

Swaps one shot's audio for a real recording — your actor's voice, your own — and re-stitches the film. The house workflow: ship first, watch, then dub the lines that deserve a human.

vo <name>

Regenerates the voice-over for a film.

localize <name> --language hindi

Makes a dubbed version of a finished film in another language — one telugu vertical becomes a hindi one without re-shooting a frame.

Money

credits

Your generation balance, right now.

estimate --runtime 120

A cost preview for a film of that length, before you commit to anything.

❯ estimate --runtime 90
  (price options appear — nothing is spent)

Remember: the cost gate always shows the exact estimate before any footage renders, drafts cost roughly a fifth of masters, and a bare "no" never spends money. Full picture in Money & credits.

Setup & housekeeping

doctor

Checks and fixes the whole setup, and renders two free local test clips. Run it whenever anything looks off — wrong-looking titles, missing tools, general weirdness.

login

Re-runs the friendly key wizard — license key, generation key (kie.ai/api-key for own-key users; managed accounts enter only a license key), and the optional ElevenLabs voice key. See Setting up your keys.

update

Fetches the latest pod. Every update is cryptographically signed — pod verifies the release came from its makers and refuses anything tampered, mismatched, or older than what you have. On Windows it finishes with one move command shown for you to run.

models

Advanced, and honestly optional: shows which AI does the thinking for each crew seat, and lets you reseat them (models writer=opus; aliases include opus, fable, sonnet, gpt-5.5, flash, gemini-pro; models reset restores defaults). Picks persist across restarts and updates, and pod refuses unsafe picks for seats that need to see images. The defaults are tuned — change them only if you know why.

feedback / report

feedback sends a thought to pod's makers; report sends a bug report with context attached. Fixes ship frequently — often the same week.

help / exit

help any time you're lost; exit leaves the studio. And Ctrl-C cancels a running job without kicking you out — progress is checkpointed, so nothing is lost.

New here? Start with the quickstart, then make your first film. When you're reviewing shots, the camera language page teaches you the vocabulary the crew speaks.