How to Generate Brainrot Videos with an API

If you've been searching for a brainrot API — a way to generate short-form videos from code instead of clicking through an editor — this is the walkthrough. The Brainrot Shorts API exposes the same engine that powers the app over plain REST: AI voiceover, gameplay backgrounds, and word-by-word captions, all from a single POST.

By the end you'll have a script that turns a few lines of text into a finished, watermark-free vertical MP4, ready for TikTok, Reels, or YouTube Shorts.

Step 1 — Create an API key

Open the API dashboard and create a new REST key. The full key is shown once and is prefixed with brs_ — copy it somewhere safe. You'll send it in the X-API-Key header on every request.

Store it as an environment variable so it never lands in your code:

export BRS_API_KEY="brs_your_api_key"

Sanity-check that the key works by calling the /me endpoint:

curl https://www.brainrotshorts.com/api/v1/me \
  -H "X-API-Key: $BRS_API_KEY"

You should get back your account context:

{ "data": { "userId": "usr_123", "plan": "creator" }, "requestId": "req_5f3c0e9d" }

Every response uses the same envelope: a data object on success, an error object on failure, and always a requestId you can quote in support requests.

Step 2 — Create a project

The fastest workflow is AI Voice Over: you supply scenes of text and a background video, and the API narrates them with captions. Send a POST to /voiceover/projects.

Notice the Idempotency-Key header — if your request times out and you retry with the same key and body, the API replays the original response instead of creating a duplicate project. Always set one on writes.

curl https://www.brainrotshorts.com/api/v1/voiceover/projects \
  -H "X-API-Key: $BRS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: clip-001" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Daily AI news",
    "voiceId": "peter_griffin",
    "backgroundVideoUrl": "https://cdn.example.com/gameplay.mp4",
    "scenes": [
      { "text": "Everyone thinks AI replaces video editors." },
      { "text": "The real edge is shipping ten variants before lunch." }
    ]
  }'

The response hands back a project ID:

{ "data": { "project": { "id": "proj_a1b2c3", "kind": "ai-voice-over-video", "status": "draft" } }, "requestId": "req_5f3c0e9d" }

Here's the same call in JavaScript and Python:

const res = await fetch(
  "https://www.brainrotshorts.com/api/v1/voiceover/projects",
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      "X-API-Key": process.env.BRS_API_KEY,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
      "Idempotency-Key": "clip-001",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      title: "Daily AI news",
      voiceId: "peter_griffin",
      backgroundVideoUrl: "https://cdn.example.com/gameplay.mp4",
      scenes: [
        { text: "Everyone thinks AI replaces video editors." },
        { text: "The real edge is shipping ten variants before lunch." },
      ],
    }),
  },
);
const { data } = await res.json();
const projectId = data.project.id;

import os, requests

res = requests.post(
    "https://www.brainrotshorts.com/api/v1/voiceover/projects",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["BRS_API_KEY"], "Idempotency-Key": "clip-001"},
    json={
        "title": "Daily AI news",
        "voiceId": "peter_griffin",
        "backgroundVideoUrl": "https://cdn.example.com/gameplay.mp4",
        "scenes": [
            {"text": "Everyone thinks AI replaces video editors."},
            {"text": "The real edge is shipping ten variants before lunch."},
        ],
    },
)
project_id = res.json()["data"]["project"]["id"]

Step 3 — Start the render

A project is just a draft until you render it. Approve and kick off a render by posting to /projects/{projectId}/render:

curl https://www.brainrotshorts.com/api/v1/projects/proj_a1b2c3/render \
  -H "X-API-Key: $BRS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "approved": true }'

{ "data": { "render": { "id": "rnd_99", "status": "rendering", "progress": 0.0 } }, "requestId": "req_5f3c0e9d" }

Step 4 — Poll until it's done

The v1 API is polling-based, so check the render status until it reports done, then read the outputUrl:

curl https://www.brainrotshorts.com/api/v1/projects/proj_a1b2c3/render \
  -H "X-API-Key: $BRS_API_KEY"

{ "data": { "render": { "id": "rnd_99", "status": "done", "progress": 1, "outputUrl": "https://.../proj_a1b2c3.mp4" } }, "requestId": "req_5f3c0e9d" }

That's the entire loop: key → project → render → poll → MP4. The same four steps work for Reddit story videos (/reddit/videos/from-url even does create-and-render in one call) and AI brainrot dialogue videos.

Where to go next

• Wire this into a faceless-channel pipeline: read ideas from a sheet, loop the four steps, and post the output URLs on a schedule.
• Generate scripts via the API first (/voiceover/scripts/generate) if you want the model to write the scenes for you.
• Read the complete API documentation for every endpoint, the full error catalog, and idempotency details.

When you're ready, grab a key from the API dashboard and ship your first automated brainrot short today.