Key in the keychain
macOS Keychain, or a 0600 file. Env vars need an explicit opt-in. Every byte of output goes through a redactor.
Open source · MIT · 0 runtime dependencies
Generatemedia.Keepyourkeys.
Your AI agent creates images and video on KIE.ai — without ever seeing the API key, and never spending more than you allow.
$ npm i -g @uxdata-co/kie
╭─●─╮ ╱ ╲ ╱ ╱╲ ╲ ╱ ╱ ╲ ╲ ╲ ╱ ╱────╲ ╲ ╲ ╱ ╱ ╲ ╲ ●───╯ ╱ ╲ ╲ ╰───● kie v0.5.0 · media generation for AI agents images · video · zero deps · spend-guarded $ kie credits ╭─ ▲ kie credits ───────────────────────────────╮ │ balance 980 credits ≈ US$4.90 │ │ today 16 / 200 ████████████ 8% │ │ remaining today 184 credits │ ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ $ kie image nano-banana-2 \ --prompt "isometric coffee shop" --aspect 16:9 ⠹ nano-banana-2 generating 40% task_c0ffee12 14s ╭─ ▲ kie generation complete ───────────────────╮ │ state success │ │ credits 8 │ │ files kie-media/nano-banana-2-c0ffee12.png │ ╰────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Why kie
Your key is money.
Media APIs are the most expensive credentials to leak. Most wrappers read the key from an env var, pull in hundreds of packages and ship a default webhook.
Hard spend cap
Per-task cap, daily budget and balance check — all before the request leaves your machine.
No third parties
Talks only to KIE's own hosts. No callbacks, no telemetry, no proxies.
Agent-native
JSON on stdout, exit codes you can branch on, and always file paths — never URLs that expire.
Install
Two minutes.
-
01
Install
Node ≥ 20. Published with npm provenance.
npm i -g @uxdata-co/kie -
02
Store the key
Input is hidden. It never appears in output again.
kie key set -
03
Install the skill
Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI.
kie skill install
Tutorials
Just ask.
Your coding agent makes the media, you keep the key.
- 1
New session — skills load from
~/.claude/skills/. - 2
Ask in plain language, or invoke
/kie-media.
youGenerate a 16:9 hero image of an isometric coffee shop with warm light, for the landing page.
Claude Code
Done — 8 credits. Saved to assets/hero-coffee.png (1920×1080). Want a night version?
$ kie credits --json$ kie image nano-banana-2 --prompt "isometric coffee shop, warm light" --aspect 16:9 --out ./assets --name hero-coffee --json
- 1
New session — skills load from
~/.agents/skills/. - 2
Ask naturally, or call
$kie-media. For video, say the cap out loud.
you$kie-media make a 5-second clip of the barista sliding a cup across the counter, soft dolly-in. Cap it at 80 credits.
Codex
Kling 3.0, 5 s with sound — 64 credits. Saved to assets/barista-slide.mp4. 120 credits left today.
$ kie upload ./assets/hero-coffee.png --json$ kie video kling-3.0 --prompt "barista slides a cup across the counter, soft dolly-in" --image <url> --duration 5 --sound --max-credits 80 --json
- 1
Cursor 2.4+ — skills load from
~/.cursor/skills/. - 2
Type
/and pick kie-media, or just ask.
you/kie-media I need three 1:1 product shots of a ceramic mug on linen, soft daylight, for the shop grid.
Cursor
Three images, 8 credits each — 24 total. Saved to public/shop/mug-1.png, mug-2.png, mug-3.png.
$ kie credits --json$ kie image nano-banana-2 --prompt "ceramic mug on linen, soft daylight" --aspect 1:1 --out ./public/shop --name mug-1 --json
- 1
Start gemini —
/skills listshows kie-media. - 2
Ask naturally; it calls
activate_skilland asks consent once.
youMake a 9:16 teaser image of a night market street with neon signs for our Instagram story.
Gemini CLI
nano-banana-2, 2K — 12 credits. Saved to assets/stories/night-market.png. 164 credits left today.
$ kie credits --json$ kie image nano-banana-2 --prompt "night market street, neon signs" --aspect 9:16 --resolution 2K --out ./assets/stories --name night-market --json
What the agent won't do
- ✕Jump to video — images first, then video with
--max-credits. - ✕Raise its own cap after a block (exit 3). It reports the reason.
- ✕Ask for, print or set the API key.
- ✕Hand you a KIE URL — you get a file path.
kie config set dailyBudget 300
Spend guard
Blocked means unsent.
Three independent checks run before any request leaves the machine. If one fails, you get exit code 3 and nothing was sent.
01
Per-task cap
Models without a verified price require an explicit --max-credits — the agent has to say out loud what it accepts to spend.
02
Daily budget
A local ledger records every task and writes back the real credits spent. Pending tasks count at their cap.
03
Balance
If the estimate exceeds what's left on the account, the request never leaves.
$ kie video kling-3.0 --prompt "drone shot" ✖ Spend guard blocked the request: this model has no known credit estimate. Re-run with --max-credits <n> to state the most you accept to spend on this task. Today: 16 credits used, 184 remaining. $ echo $? 3
Documentation
Every command, one page.
Commands and flags, the model catalog, spend guard and exit codes, configuration, the agent skill and security notes.
FAQ
Does it work on Linux or Windows?
Yes. Without a Keychain the key is stored in ~/.config/kie/key with 0600 permissions. Everything else is identical.
How is the npm package built?
Every release is published by GitHub Actions from a git tag, with npm provenance: the tarball is cryptographically linked to the commit that produced it. Zero runtime dependencies, so what you audit is what runs.
What if a model isn't in the catalog?
kie run <model-id> --input '{…}' --max-credits N sends any KIE Market model. Check the schema on docs.kie.ai first, or use --dry-run.
Can I use it without an agent?
Of course. In a terminal it renders tables, panels and a live spinner; pipe it and you get JSON.
Cheap,safeimageAI.
MIT licensed. Read the source before you trust it with a key — that's the point.
View on GitHub →