Runway ML API

Overview

Runway's developer API (docs.dev.runwayml.com) exposes video, image, audio and upscaling models behind one task pattern: POST a generation request, receive a task id, poll the task until it is SUCCEEDED, then download the output. The older Gen-3 Alpha Turbo model (gen3a_turbo) is no longer in the model list; current video models include gen4.5, gen4_turbo, aleph2 (video editing), veo3.1, seedance2_5, hailuo3, wan3 and others. Model identifiers change, so check https://docs.dev.runwayml.com/guides/models before hard-coding one. Official SDKs: runwayml (Python) and @runwayml/sdk (Node.js).

Instructions

Setup

Create an API key in the Runway developer portal (dev.runway.com), buy credits, and export the key. The SDKs read RUNWAYML_API_SECRET automatically.

pip install runwayml          # or: npm install @runwayml/sdk
export RUNWAYML_API_SECRET="key_live_from_dev_portal"

REST base URL is https://api.dev.runwayml.com/v1; every request needs Authorization: Bearer $RUNWAYML_API_SECRET and X-Runway-Version: 2024-11-06.