CLI commands

Complete reference for all Helios CLI commands

The Helios CLI provides commands for project initialization, rendering, component management, and deployment.

Installation

Install the Helios CLI globally or use it in your project:

npm install -g @helios-project/cli

Or use with npx:

npx helios --version

Command structure

All Helios commands follow the pattern:

helios <command> [arguments] [options]

Available commands

Project initialization

• helios init - Initialize a new Helios project

Rendering and video output

• helios render - Render a composition to video
• helios merge - Merge multiple video files into one
• helios job - Manage distributed rendering jobs

Development tools

• helios studio - Launch the Helios Studio visual editor
• helios build - Build the project for production
• helios preview - Preview the production build locally

Component management

• helios components - List and search available components
• helios add - Add a component to your project
• helios list - List installed components
• helios remove - Remove a component from your project
• helios update - Update a component to the latest version
• helios diff - Compare local component with registry version

Deployment

• helios deploy setup - Scaffold Docker configuration files
• helios deploy gcp - Scaffold Google Cloud Run configuration
• helios deploy aws - Scaffold AWS Lambda configuration

Global options

Most commands support standard options:

--help, -h    # Show help for a command
--version, -v # Show CLI version

Environment variables

Browser configuration

HELIOS_BROWSER_ARGS="--no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox"
PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH="/usr/bin/chromium"

These variables configure the browser used for rendering:

• HELIOS_BROWSER_ARGS - Custom Chromium/Chrome command-line arguments
• PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH - Path to a custom browser executable

Configuration file

Most commands require a helios.config.json file in your project root. See helios init for details on creating this file.

Common workflows

Creating a new project

helios init my-project
cd my-project
npm install
helios studio

Rendering a video

helios render composition.html -o output.mp4 --width 1920 --height 1080

Adding components

helios components        # Browse available components
helios add fade-in      # Add a component
helios list             # Verify installation

Distributed rendering

# Generate a job specification
helios render composition.html --emit-job job.json --concurrency 4

# Execute the job
helios job run job.json