Installation

VEA is open source! Get it from GitHub:

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/Memories-ai-labs/vea-open-source.git
cd vea-open-source

# Install uv package manager
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Install dependencies
uv sync
source .venv/bin/activate

# Copy config and add your API keys
cp config.example.json config.json

📄 Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.16811 💻 Code: https://github.com/Memories-ai-labs/vea-open-source

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• FFmpeg - Must be installed on system
• uv - Package manager (installed above)
• API Keys (in config.json):
  • MEMORIES_API_KEY (required) - Video indexing & comprehension - Get at https://memories.ai/app/service/key
  • GOOGLE_API_KEY (required) - Script generation - Google Cloud Console
  • ELEVENLABS_API_KEY (required) - TTS narration & subtitles
  • SOUNDSTRIPE_KEY (optional) - Background music selection

Install FFmpeg

Start Server

gcloud auth application-default login  # Authenticate GCP
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m src.app

Server runs at http://localhost:8000

Privacy Note

• Videos processed locally by VEA server
• Video frames sent to Memories.ai for AI comprehension
• ElevenLabs receives text for TTS narration
• All intermediate files stored locally in data/outputs/

Video Editing Agent (VEA)

Local video editing service at http://localhost:8000. Runs from ~/vea.

⚠️ User Interaction Flow (MUST FOLLOW)

Before processing any video edit request, show config options and wait for confirmation:

📹 VEA Video Edit Configuration

🎬 Source Video: [video path/name]
📝 Edit Request: [user's prompt]

Please confirm the following settings:
┌─────────────────┬────────┬─────────────────────────┐
│ Setting         │ Value  │ Description             │
├─────────────────┼────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ 🔊 Original Audio        │ ❌ OFF │ Keep original video sound    │
│ 🎤 Narration             │ ✅ ON  │ AI-generated voiceover       │
│ 🎵 Background Music      │ ✅ ON  │ Auto-select from Soundstripe │
│ 📝 Subtitles             │ ✅ ON  │ Auto-generate and burn-in    │
│ 📐 Aspect Ratio          │ 16:9   │ 16:9 / 9:16 vertical / 1:1   │
│ 🎼 Snap to Beat          │ ❌ OFF │ Sync cuts to music beats     │
└─────────────────┴────────┴─────────────────────────┘

Reply "confirm" to start editing, or tell me which settings to adjust.

Default Settings:

• original_audio: false (mute original, use narration instead)
• narration: true (enable AI voiceover)
• music: true (enable background music)
• subtitles: true (enable subtitles)
• aspect_ratio: 1.78 (16:9 landscape)
• snap_to_beat: false (no beat sync)

Aspect Ratio Options:

• 16:9 (1.78) — Landscape, YouTube
• 9:16 (0.5625) — Vertical, TikTok/Reels
• 1:1 (1.0) — Square, Instagram

Quick Start

# Start VEA server (use tmux for long tasks)
cd ~/vea && source .venv/bin/activate && python src/app.py

Core Workflows

1. Index a Video (Required First Step)

Before any editing, index the video to enable AI comprehension:

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/video-edit/v1/index" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"blob_path": "data/videos/PROJECT_NAME/video.mp4"}'

Creates ~/vea/data/indexing/PROJECT_NAME/media_indexing.json.

2. Generate Highlight Reel

curl -X POST "http://localhost:8000/video-edit/v1/flexible_respond" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "blob_path": "data/videos/PROJECT_NAME/video.mp4",
    "prompt": "Create a 1-minute highlight reel of the best moments",
    "video_response": true,
    "original_audio": false,
    "music": true,
    "narration": true,
    "aspect_ratio": 1.78,
    "subtitles": true
  }'

Parameters:

• video_response: true — Generate video output (vs text-only)
• original_audio: false — Mute original audio, use narration
• music: true — Add background music (requires Soundstripe API)
• narration: true — Generate AI voiceover (ElevenLabs)
• subtitles: true — Burn subtitles into video
• aspect_ratio — 1.78 (16:9), 1.0 (square), 0.5625 (9:16 vertical)

3. Manual Video Assembly

For more control, use the helper scripts:

# Add background music to existing video
python ~/vea/scripts/add_soundstripe_music.py

# Generate video with subtitles
python ~/vea/scripts/add_music_subtitles.py

Directory Structure

~/vea/
├── data/
│   ├── videos/PROJECT_NAME/      # Source videos
│   ├── indexing/PROJECT_NAME/    # media_indexing.json
│   └── outputs/PROJECT_NAME/     # Final outputs
│       ├── PROJECT_NAME.mp4      # Final video
│       ├── clip_plan.json        # Clip timestamps + narration
│       ├── narrations/           # TTS audio files
│       ├── subtitles/            # SRT files
│       └── music/                # Background music
├── config.json                   # API keys configuration
└── src/app.py                    # FastAPI server

API Keys (in config.json)

Common Issues

"ViNet assets not found" — Dynamic cropping disabled. Set enable_dynamic_cropping: false in config.json.

Subprocess fails from API but works manually — Run server in tmux to preserve environment.

Music download 401/403 — Check Soundstripe API key validity.

Clip timestamps wrong — Ensure original_audio: true to enable timestamp refinement via transcription.

Manual Music Addition

When Soundstripe fails, manually download and mix:

# Download from Soundstripe API
SOUNDSTRIPE_KEY=$(jq -r '.api_keys.SOUNDSTRIPE_KEY' ~/vea/config.json)
curl -s "https://api.soundstripe.com/v1/songs/TRACK_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Token $SOUNDSTRIPE_KEY" | jq '.included[0].attributes.versions.mp3'

# Mix with ffmpeg (15-20% music volume)
ffmpeg -y -i video.mp4 -i music.mp3 \
  -filter_complex "[1:a]volume=0.18,afade=t=out:st=70:d=4[m];[0:a][m]amix=inputs=2:duration=first[a]" \
  -map 0:v -map "[a]" -c:v copy -c:a aac output.mp4

References

• API Documentation — Full endpoint specs
• Config Schema — Configuration options