Pika · Image to Video

Pikaffects

Playful physics effects applied to a still image.

image video
pika/pikaffects/image-to-video

Capabilities

Best for

  • Cinematic text-to-video shots
  • Short social and ad clips
  • Consistent multi-shot sequences
  • Look-dev and style exploration

Not for

  • Frame-exact rotoscoping
  • Feature-length renders
  • Pixel-perfect compositing
  • Precise on-screen text

Authentication

api key header

The Pika API uses API keys to authenticate requests. Send your key in the X-API-Keyheader. Your API key is a secret. Don't expose it in browsers or other client-side code. Instead, call the API from your server. The signed-in playground uses a portal session and never sends your API key.

header
X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY

Endpoint

asynchronous · poll for the result

POSThttps://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/pika/pikaffects/image-to-videogenerate endpoint
GEThttps://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/jobs/{request_id}poll until completed
GEThttps://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/jobs/{request_id}/contentget the result URL

Reference Uploads

media inputs

Media inputs accept any public URL. To use a local file, POST its content_type and size_bytes to /v1/media/uploads, PUT the file to the returned upload_url, then pass the url.

upload
# 1. Request a presigned upload URL. Send the file's content
# type and its exact size in bytes.
curl -X POST https://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/uploads \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"content_type": "image/png", "size_bytes": 12345}'
# The response returns two URLs:
# upload_url: a temporary URL to upload the file to. Expires in 5 minutes.
# url: the permanent Pika URL. Pass it to the model as the input.
# {
# "upload_url": "https://upload.r2.pika.art/...?X-Amz-Signature=...",
# "url": "https://cdn.pika.art/v2/media/uploads/org_abc/9f8e7d.png"
# }
# 2. Upload the file to upload_url, then pass url to the model.
curl -X PUT "<upload_url>" \
-H "Content-Type: image/png" \
--data-binary @input.png

Generate

POST /v1/media/pika/pikaffects/image-to-video

Request

curl -X POST https://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/pika/pikaffects/image-to-video \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"pikaffect": "90s Me",
"image": "https://cdn.pika.art/v1/files/c796166540df1ecc48283357f17175a156a5dcfb8a8ab3e09da4b3acbc4b3d5b/image_0.png"
}'

Response

{
"id": "media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0",
"status": "queued"
}

Request body

pikaffectenumrequired
Name of the effect to apply to the image.
imagestringrequired
URL of the source image to apply the effect to.
seedinteger
Seed for reproducible output. Defaults to a random seed.

Accepted values

pikaffect

Input modes

Imageimage

Use a public URL directly, or POST { content_type, size_bytes } to /v1/media/uploads, PUT the image to the returned upload_url, then pass the url.

Returns

Returns a job object with status , not the final output. Store the id from the response and poll the job until it completes.

Poll status

GET /v1/media/jobs/{request_id}

Request

curl https://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/jobs/{request_id} \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Response

{
"id": "media_8f3a2c91-5b7d-4e0a-9c26-31d4f2a8e6b0",
"status": "running"
}

Poll the job by id until it reaches a terminal state: completed or failed.

The job object

idstring
Unique identifier for the job.
statusenum
The status of the job.One of:
object
The generation output. Present once the job completes.
errorstring
If the job failed, the reason for the failure.

Get result

GET /v1/media/jobs/{request_id}/content

Request

curl https://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/media/jobs/{request_id}/content \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"

Response

{
"url": "https://089e99349ace.pikalabs.app/v1/files/video_8f3a2c91.mp4"
}

Once the job completes, fetch a download URL for the generated media.

Returns

urlstring
Download URL for the generated file.

Errors

shared across calls

Errors use conventional HTTP status codes with a JSON body of the shape {"message": "..."}. The one exception is validation: a request body that fails validation returns 422 with a plain-text body.

StatusWhenBody
401 UnauthorizedThe API key is missing or invalid.{"message":"Invalid API key"}
403 ForbiddenThe key is not active, or the org balance cannot cover the request.{"message":"Insufficient org balance"}
404 Not FoundNo job with that id exists in your org.{"message":"media job not found"}
409 ConflictThe result was requested before the job completed, or an Idempotency-Key header was reused with a different body.{"message":"media job is not ready"}
422 Unprocessable EntityThe request body failed validation: an invalid enum value, a missing required field, a wrong type, or malformed JSON. Returned as plain text, not JSON. A schema-valid parameter combination that cannot be priced returns the same status with a JSON message.Unprocessable entity
429 Too Many RequestsOrg limit reached: requests per minute or day, or concurrent jobs. Check the Retry-After header.{"message":"rate limit exceeded: rpm"}
503 Service UnavailableThe model rail or a backend dependency is temporarily unavailable. Retry with backoff.{"message":"media dispatch unavailable"}

Pricing

only successful runs are charged

TierPrice
default$0.050 / request

Per-model pricing

Transparent, usage-based rates for every Pika model.

Pika 3.0 Fast Text to Video

from $0.015 / sec
Text to Video

Pika 3.0 Fast Image to Video

from $0.015 / sec
Image to Video

Pika 3.0 Text to Video

from $0.03 / sec
Text to Video

Pika 3.0 Image to Video

from $0.03 / sec
Image to Video

Pikadditions

$0.03 / request
Video to Video

Pikaswaps

$0.03 / request
Video to Video

Pika 2.5

from $0.04 / sec
Image to Video

Pika 2.5

from $0.04 / sec
Text to Video

Pika 3.0 Reference to Video

from $0.04 / sec
Reference to Video

Pikaffects

Current
$0.05 / request
Image to Video

Pikaffects

$0.05 / request
Video to Video