---
title: "Export from the shell"
description: "Lesson 14.3 of Creator Terminal's lesson films (Agents and the command line): Export an animation from the command line, every format you need in one line, then check it, size it and script it."
canonical: "https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/export-from-the-shell/"
last_updated: 2026-11-08
---

# Export from the shell

> Lesson 14.3 of Creator Terminal's lesson films (Agents and the command line): Export an animation from the command line, every format you need in one line, then check it, size it and script it.

- The film (1:11): https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/a522170c877a/14.3-export-from-the-shell.mp4
- Vertical cut: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/9fb3765a7805/14.3-export-from-the-shell-vertical.mp4
- Captions: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/bd092ddae584/14.3-export-from-the-shell.vtt
- The page: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/export-from-the-shell/
- A file the film uses: https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/a2a7d53ad151/kinlo.zip

## Step by step

Every export Creator Terminal's panel makes, its command line makes too, without opening the
editor: several formats in one line, bigger pictures, a colour behind them, and a report a build
script can read. That makes it the quick way to hand an animation to everyone who needs it: a video
for social, a GIF for chat, Lottie for the web. In this tutorial you'll export Kinlo's loader, the
one Codex made in [Add it to your coding agent](/add-it-to-your-coding-agent/), and check it in the
terminal.

### Before you start

- Creator Terminal, installed ([Install Creator Terminal](/install/)), and a terminal open.
  Video and GIF need ffmpeg, which the install line offers to install.
- To follow along with the same loader, `kinlo.zip` from **Follow along** on this page: unzip it,
  and run the commands below from the `kinlo` folder. Any `.ctd`, Lottie JSON, `.lottie`, SVG or
  Rive file works the same way.

### 1. One line

`creator-tui export`, the file, and `-f` with the formats you need, separated by commas:

```sh
creator-tui export animations/loader.ctd -f mp4,gif,lottie
```

Each format is written beside the document, and a line says what it wrote: an MP4, a GIF, and
Lottie JSON (`loader.json`). The formats are `lottie`, `dotlottie`, `frolic`, `svg`, `mp4`,
`webm`, `mov`, `gif`, `webp`, `apng` and `png` (a folder of frames), or `all`. Without `-f`, it
writes a dotLottie.

![Three exports from one line: an MP4, a GIF and Lottie JSON, each beside the document.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/bace0612502c/export-from-the-shell-three-exports-from-one-line-an-mp4-a.webp)

An export never writes over a file that's already there: it adds `.export` to the new one's name
instead.

### 2. Look at it

To check a file without the editor, play it in the terminal:

```sh
creator-tui play animations/loader.json
```

It plays, looping. Click to pause, drag to scrub, and press `esc` to quit. It plays anything the
editor opens, and a dotLottie in one of its themes with `--theme`.

![The loader playing in the terminal.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/7ecb5e9a866b/export-from-the-shell-the-loader-playing-in-the-terminal.webp)

### 3. Bigger, on brand

Pictures and video are the document's size unless you say otherwise. `--scale` multiplies them,
`--background` puts a colour behind them (`white`, `black` or a hex colour), and `-o` names the
file:

```sh
creator-tui export animations/loader.ctd -f mp4 --scale 4 --background '#1E1B3A' -o loader-ink.mp4
```

The loader is 160 pixels square, so this writes a 640 × 640 MP4 on Kinlo's ink. Without
`--background`, a format that can be see-through is, and a video gets the document's background.

![A 640 × 640 MP4 written on Kinlo's ink.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/94f84fdc9516/export-from-the-shell-a-640-640-mp4-written-on-kinlo-s.webp)

### 4. For your scripts

In a build script or CI, add `--json`. You get one report instead of a line per file:

```sh
creator-tui export animations/loader.ctd -f dotlottie --json
```

`exports` lists each file written (`out`) and anything a format couldn't carry (`lost`), and
`failed` and `skipped` list formats that couldn't be written or were skipped (a video without
ffmpeg). The command ends in `0` when it did what was asked, `1` when something failed, and `2`
for a mistake in the command, so a script stops right there.

![The JSON report: the dotLottie written, nothing lost, nothing failed or skipped.](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/media/14.3-export-from-the-shell/1f45ef789287/export-from-the-shell-the-json-report-the-dotlottie-written-nothing-lost.webp)

### What you learned

- `creator-tui export FILE -f mp4,gif,lottie` writes several formats in one line, beside the
  file.
- `creator-tui play FILE` plays it in the terminal.
- `--scale`, `--background` and `-o` size it, back it and name it; `--json` and the exit codes
  are for scripts.

The manual's [Command line](/docs/cli/#export) page has every option, and [Export](/docs/export/)
what each format carries.

## In this lesson

### One line (0:08)

Here's Kinlo's loader, the one Codex made. Type creator-tui export, its name, and dash f, with the formats you need. A video for social, a GIF for chat, and Lottie for the web. Each lands beside the document.

### Look at it (0:25)

To check one without the editor, use creator-tui play. It plays right here in the terminal, looping, the sun bobbing over its waves. Click to pause, and press escape to quit.

### Bigger, on brand (0:38)

For a bigger video, add the scale option. Four times is six hundred and forty pixels. And the background option puts Kinlo's ink behind it, instead of nothing.

### For your scripts (0:49)

In a build script, add the json option, here for the dotLottie the app ships. You get one report, with every file written, and anything a format couldn't carry. And a failed export ends in an error code, so the script stops right there.