xAI has opened public access to Grok Imagine, unveiling a new API designed to unify text-to-video generation, image-to-video creation, and prompt-based video editing with synchronized audio. The release marks a significant expansion of xAI’s developer-facing tools, positioning the company as a direct competitor in the rapidly evolving generative video market.
Understanding requires imagining. Grok Imagine lets you bring what’s in your brain to life, and now it’s available via the world’s fastest, and most powerful video API: https://t.co/tqQwQVgCEI
Try it out and let your Imagination run wild. pic.twitter.com/Bn6Z70Ual6
— xAI (@xai) January 29, 2026
The API is aimed at a broad range of users, including software developers building creative products, marketing teams producing advertisements and social media content, and enterprises that require fast iteration across multiple video variants. By consolidating generation and editing into a single stack, xAI is betting on simplicity and flexibility as key differentiators.
Deferred Job Model and Flexible Controls
Grok Imagine operates using a deferred job system. Users submit a request for video generation or editing and receive a request ID, which can later be used to retrieve the completed asset once processing finishes. For developers, SDKs with automatic polling are available, reducing the need to manage job status manually.
Grok Imagine API provides precise control for video generation and editing:
Resolution: 720p, 480p
Aspect ratios: 20:9, 16:9, 4:3, 3:2, 1:1
Video duration: Up to 15 seconds pic.twitter.com/P0AwFYulRX— Ethan He (@EthanHe_42) January 31, 2026
For video generation, creators can define clip lengths from 1 to 15 seconds. Resolution options currently include 480p and 720p, while aspect ratios span a wide range: 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 9:16, 3:4, 3:2, and 2:3. This flexibility supports use cases from traditional widescreen video to vertical and square formats commonly used on social platforms.
Editing workflows preserve the original video’s duration and focus on visual transformation rather than structural changes. The API supports restyling footage, adding or removing objects, and refining motion behavior through text prompts, allowing creators to iterate on existing assets without regenerating clips from scratch.
Focus on Quality, Speed, and Cost
xAI has emphasized three priorities for Grok Imagine: output quality, processing latency, and overall cost efficiency. To support these claims, the company points to results from third-party evaluations and internal rater studies. According to xAI, Grok Imagine currently holds the top position in Artificial Analysis text-to-video rankings.
The company also cites human preference tests conducted on IVEBench at 1280×720 resolution, where Grok Imagine was reportedly favored overall when compared side by side with competing models such as Kling o1 and Runway Aleph. These results are being used to position the API as not only technically competitive, but also subjectively preferred in visual quality.
Integration Across Creator Platforms
Distribution of Grok Imagine is not limited to xAI’s own ecosystem. Several third-party platforms are already integrating the API into their creative workflows, including Fal, ComfyUI, InVideo, Flora, and HeyGen. These integrations allow creators to access Grok Imagine’s generation and prompt-based editing capabilities directly within established pipelines.
From a technical standpoint, the API is described as OpenAI-compatible, lowering the barrier for teams already familiar with existing generative AI APIs. Video generation and video editing are exposed through dedicated endpoints under the http://api.x.ai base URL, enabling developers to adopt the service without reworking their entire infrastructure.
A Growing Presence in Generative Video
With the launch of Grok Imagine as a public API, xAI is making a clear push into the generative video space at a time when demand for short-form, customizable video content continues to rise. By targeting developers, creative teams, and enterprises simultaneously, the company is positioning Grok Imagine as a foundational tool rather than a niche experiment.
As competition intensifies among AI video platforms, adoption and real-world performance will ultimately determine whether Grok Imagine can maintain its early momentum. For now, the public API release signals xAI’s intent to be a long-term player in AI-driven video creation and editing.
