Initiating Renders

Submit the Job

Submit the job with a simple POST request:

curl -X POST https://api.nexrender.com/api/v2/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template": {
      "id": "01JTGM9GCR71JV7EJYDF45QAFD",
      "composition": "main"
    },
    "assets": [
      {
        "type": "text",
        "layerName": "title",
        "value": "Hello World!"
      }
    ]
  }'

Job Request Expected Response

{
  "id": "01JTRDF7HCR8QAHYW8GPCP4S9Y",
  "status": "queued",
  "progress": 0,
  "stats": {
    "createdAt": "2025-05-14T12:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "outputUrl": "https://nx1-outputs-eu.nexrender.com/01K4B3YH2GP215NAWCZX42S2GH/outputs/01K4B3YH6H97ASTA8DS3MX8P8B.mp4"
}

Job Request Internals

Field	Type	Required	Description
`template.id`	string	🟢	ID of the template created earlier
`template.composition`	string	🟢	Composition to render (optional for .mogrt)
`assets`	array	🟢	List of asset overrides
`preview`	boolean	⚪	Set `true` for fast low-res preview
`fonts`	array	⚪	List of font file names to include in render environment
`webhook.url`	string	⚪	Callback endpoint for job status
`webhook.method`	string	⚪	Typically `POST`
`webhook.headers`	object	⚪	Extra HTTP headers to send with webhook
`webhook.data`	object	⚪	Custom JSON payload attached to webhook
`webhook.custom`	boolean	⚪	If `true`, webhook will send only custom data (no system metadata)
`settings.type`	string	⚪	Output type: `video`, `image` or `aep`
`settings.frames`	int/arr	⚪	Single frame (`int`) or frame range (`[start, end]`) for still/image render
`settings.quality`	string	⚪	Render quality: `draft` or `full`
`settings.codec`	string	⚪	Output codec (e.g. `h264_vbr_15mbps`, `prores_422`, `png`)
`upload.prefix`	string	⚪	Folder path prefix for uploaded outputs (e.g. `my-project/outputs/`)
`upload.outputUrl`	string	⚪	Custom base URL for accessing uploaded files
`upload.provider`	string	⚪	Storage provider (`s3` only at present)
`upload.params.endpoint`	string	⚪	S3-compatible endpoint (default: `https://s3.amazonaws.com`)
`upload.params.region`	string	🟢*	Cloud storage region
`upload.params.bucket`	string	🟢*	Target bucket name for file uploads
`upload.params.acl`	string	⚪	Access control (`public-read`, `private`)
`upload.params.accessKeyId`	string	🟢*	Access key ID for storage provider
`upload.params.accessKeySecret`	string	🟢*	Secret key for storage provider

🟢 = Required parameter ⚪ = Optional parameter * Required only if you provide a custom upload block. Each asset object must have:

type: one of (data, text, image, audio, video, essential, function)
layerName: exact layer name from the template
property: like "Source Text" or "Source Name"
value or src: depending on asset type

You can inspect available layerName using GET /templates/:id

Render Settings

Render settings and Preview mode are mutually exclusive.

The settings object allows you to specify the render output:

type: “video”, “image” or “aep”
frames: single frame number or [start, end] array (required for image)
quality: “draft” or “full”
codec: string identifier (e.g., “h264_vbr_15mbps”, “prores_422”, “png”, “jpeg”).

Supported quality list:

draft
full

Supported codecs:

video_h264_vbr_1mbps
video_h264_vbr_5mbps
video_h264_vbr_15mbps
video_h264_vbr_40mbps
video_h264_cbr_1mbps
video_h264_cbr_5mbps
video_h264_cbr_15mbps
video_h264_cbr_40mbps
video_prores_422
video_prores_4444
image_jpeg
image_png

Examples

{
  "template": { 
    "id": "01JTGM9GCR71JV7EJYDF45QAFD", 
    "composition": "main" 
  },
  "settings": {
    "type": "video",
    "quality": "draft",
    "codec": "h264_vbr_15mbps"
  }
}

Preview Mode vs Final Render

Render settings and Preview mode are mutually exclusive.

Nexrender Cloud supports the ability to render videos in preview mode. A fast, low-resolution render is helpful when debugging new templates or job payload changes. Use preview mode when:

Verifying that layerName overrides are correct
Testing a new template or composition
Integrating webhooks or downstream automation
You want to run a batch sanity check before scaling

{
  "template": { 
    "id": "01JTGM9GCR71JV7EJYDF45QAFD", 
    "composition": "main" 
  },
  "preview": true
}

Previews render faster and are cheaper on infrastructure resources. If your template is broken (bad expression, missing font, wrong composition), it’s better to catch it here.

You can build an internal CI pipeline that runs preview renders against all newly uploaded templates.

Uploading Rendering Results

By default, outputs are stored in Nexrender Cloud storage. With the upload object, you can push rendered outputs directly to your S3-compatible storage.

Render Upload

{
  "template": { 
    "id": "01JTGM9GCR71JV7EJYDF45QAFD", 
    "composition": "main" 
  },
  "upload": {
    "provider": "s3",
    "prefix": "marketing/campaign-42/",
    "outputUrl": "https://cdn.example.com/media",
    "params": {
      "endpoint": "https://s3.amazonaws.com",
      "region": "us-east-1",
      "bucket": "nexrender-outputs",
      "acl": "public-read",
      "accessKeyId": "${secrets.AWS_KEY_ID}",
      "accessKeySecret": "${secrets.AWS_KEY_SECRET}"
    }
  }
}

Don’t embed raw keys in client-side requests. Use the Secrets API to manage credentials securely.

Webhooks

You can extend your rendering job with a webhook:

Webhook Configuration

{
  "template": {
    "id": "01JTGM9GCR71JV7EJYDF45QAFD",
    "composition": "main"
  },
  "webhook": {
    "url": "https://yourdomain.com/webhooks/render-complete",
    "data": {
      "customField": "someValue"
    }
  }
}

Targeting Layers in Alternate Compositions

By default, assets are injected into the composition defined in the template.composition field. However, you can override this on a per-asset basis using the composition key inside the asset definition. This is useful when you want to render a specific comp (like main), but modify a layer in a supporting comp (like main2).

Example

{
  "template": {
    "id": "01JTGM9GCR71JV7EJYDF45QAFD",
    "composition": "main"
  },
  "assets": [
    {
      "type": "data",
      "layerName": "title",
      "composition": "main2",
      "property": "Source Text",
      "value": "Hello World!"
    }
  ]
}

Validate the Assets Before Submitting

Before rendering, always validate:

composition name exists (from template introspection)
layerName matches exactly
URLs for assets return a 200 OK
Font dependencies have been preloaded

Full API Reference

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

Bearer token authentication using API tokens for team-based access control.

You can generate your own API token at: https://app.nexrender.com/team/settings

Body

application/json

Configuration object for creating a new render job with template, assets, and options

template

object

required

Template configuration defining the After Effects project and composition to render

Show child attributes

preview

boolean

default:false

Generate a low-quality preview render instead of full quality output

fonts

string[]

List of font file names to include in the render environment

assets

object[]

Collection of media assets (images, videos, audio, scripts, text, ...) to use in the render

Show child attributes

settings

object

Render configuration settings for output format, quality, and frame selection

Show child attributes

upload

object

Custom upload configuration for output files to external storage providers

Show child attributes

webhook

object

Webhook configuration for job status notifications and callbacks

Show child attributes

Response

Job successfully created and queued for processing

Render job with current status, progress, and detailed statistics

string

Unique job identifier used for tracking and API operations

templateId

string | null

Reference to the template used for this job (null if template was not used)

status

string

Current job status (queued, render:dorender, finished, error, etc.)

progress

number<float>

Render progress as a percentage (0.0 to 100.0)

stats

object

Detailed timing and metadata statistics for the job

Show child attributes

outputUrl

string | null

URL to the rendered content

Essentials

Managing Templates

Rendering Jobs

Fonts Management

Troubleshooting

Submit the Job

Job Request Expected Response

Job Request Internals

Render Settings

Examples

Preview Mode vs Final Render

Uploading Rendering Results

Webhooks

Targeting Layers in Alternate Compositions

Example

Validate the Assets Before Submitting

Full API Reference

Authorizations

Body

Response

Essentials

Managing Templates

Rendering Jobs

Fonts Management

Troubleshooting

​Submit the Job

​Job Request Expected Response

​Job Request Internals

​Render Settings

​Examples

​Preview Mode vs Final Render

​Uploading Rendering Results

​Webhooks

​Targeting Layers in Alternate Compositions

​Example

​Validate the Assets Before Submitting

​Full API Reference

Authorizations

Body

Response

Submit the Job

Job Request Expected Response

Job Request Internals

Render Settings

Examples

Preview Mode vs Final Render

Uploading Rendering Results

Webhooks

Targeting Layers in Alternate Compositions

Example

Validate the Assets Before Submitting

Full API Reference