@pollinations/cli

The Pollinations CLI — for humans, AI agents, and everything in between.

Generate text, images, audio, video from the terminal. Backed by the Pollinations API.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/6b200d95-d734-469c-9fe5-3e63549778fe

npx @pollinations/cli gen image "a cat in space" --output cat.png

For AI agents

Point your coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex) at the skill file and it gets the full usage map — flags, stdin conventions, --json output shape, error codes, the lot:

Read https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pollinations/pollinations/main/packages/polli-cli/SKILL.md and follow the instructions to generate media with the polli CLI.

The skill also ships inside the package: node_modules/@pollinations/cli/SKILL.md.

Every command is agent-friendly:

• --json — structured stdout, human messages to stderr. Safe to parse.
• Exit code 0 on success, non-zero on error.
• When a call runs out of pollen, the first line of the error is the top-up link.
• polli auth status --json exposes everything about the current session.

Get started

npm install -g @pollinations/cli     # installs the `polli` binary
polli auth login                         # device-flow via enter.pollinations.ai
printf '%s' "$POLLINATIONS_API_KEY" | polli auth login --with-token

Credentials land at ~/.pollinations/credentials.json. For one-off runs pass --key sk_... or set POLLINATIONS_API_KEY. Get keys at enter.pollinations.ai.

Generate

polli gen text "Explain quantum tunneling in one sentence"
polli gen text "Summarize this" < notes.md          # stdin becomes context
echo "context" | polli gen text "question"

polli gen image "cyberpunk city at night" --model flux --output city.png
polli gen image "enhance this" --image https://media.pollinations.ai/abc --model gptimage

polli gen audio "Hello world" --voice nova --output speech.mp3
polli gen audio "read it to me" --play                # plays back after saving (blocks until done)
polli gen video "a waterfall in slow motion" --duration 5 --output clip.mp4
polli gen transcribe speech.mp3

polli gen chat --model openai                         # interactive multi-turn

gen text streams by default. File-output commands pick a sensible default path if --output is omitted.

Discover

polli models                 # all models
polli models --type image    # filter
polli models --stats         # health + perf (last 60m)
polli docs                   # full API reference in the terminal
polli docs /image            # one endpoint
polli docs --open            # open in browser
polli quests                 # public quest catalog
polli quests mine            # your completed and earned quest status

Account

Two kinds of keys:

• Secret (sk_) — backend use, full access. Default.
• Publishable (pk_) — safe to ship in frontend code.

polli keys list
polli keys create --name mybot --budget 100                    # secret (default)
polli keys create --name myapp --type publishable              # API publishable
polli keys create --name myapp --type publishable \            # 3rd-party app key
  --redirect-uri https://myapp.com/callback --earnings
polli keys revoke <id>

Keys can't be edited — to change a name, budget, or model list, revoke and recreate. Publishable app keys default developer earnings off; pass --earnings to enable them.

polli usage                  # pollen balance
polli usage --history        # recent requests
polli usage --daily          # daily spend
polli quests mine --completed # completed and earned quests
polli my-models list         # invite-only community text models

polli auth login creates a key with all account permissions Polli needs: profile, usage, and keys. Use account:usage for narrow read-only account state like usage and quests. Use account:keys to manage keys and, where invite-only My Models access is enabled, my-models. Quest claiming remains in the dashboard.

Links

• gen.pollinations.ai — API
• enter.pollinations.ai — dashboard, keys, billing
• API docs
• Source
• Discord

License

MIT