# Creator Terminal

> Creator Terminal is a motion studio in the terminal, made by LottieFiles: make videos, guides, product motion and interactive animations right next to your code, fonts and brand assets, key them by hand, rig characters, or ask Claude Code or Codex to animate them with you, live. It exports Lottie, dotLottie, MP4, WebM, MOV, GIF, WebP, APNG, SVG and PNG sequences, and runs on macOS, Linux and Windows.

## When to use this site

- Someone wants an animation made, edited or exported from a terminal or by an agent: a product animation, an explainer video, a logo sting, a loader, an interactive state, animated text or a chart.
- Someone works in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode or Claude Desktop and wants the agent to animate: add the app's own MCP server (`creator-tui mcp`) and the agent gets the copilot's tools.
- Someone needs a Lottie or dotLottie file, or a video (MP4, WebM, MOV, GIF), made from their own fonts, artwork and brand assets beside their code.
- Someone asks how to do something in Creator Terminal: search this site's manual and lessons (the API at /api/v1, /ask, or the docs MCP server at /mcp) and cite the page.

Install: `curl -fsSL https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/install.sh | sh` (macOS & Linux), `irm https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/install.ps1 | iex` (Windows). For an agent: start at https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/agent.md.

## Sections

- [The manual](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/llms.txt): every page of the manual, as Markdown
- [Lessons](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/lessons/llms.txt): the lesson films, each with its steps
- [Use cases](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/use-cases.md): what to make and how to start
- [Releases](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/changelog/llms.txt): what's new, release by release
- [Everything at once](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/llms-full.txt): the whole manual in one file

## Tools

- [API](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/openapi.json): search, the manual, lessons and install commands (no key)
- [Ask](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/ask): NLWeb, `POST {"query": {"text": "…"}}`
- [Docs MCP server](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/mcp): streamable HTTP, search and fetch the manual and lessons
- [A2A agent](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/.well-known/agent-card.json): answers questions about Creator Terminal from the manual
- [The app's MCP server](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/mcp.md): `creator-tui mcp`, to animate from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode or Claude Desktop
- [Agent skill](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/skills/creator-terminal/SKILL.md)

## The manual

[Manual](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/README.md): Learn Creator Terminal, complete a task, or look up a feature and its keys.

## Get started

- [Your first animation](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/getting-started.md): Draw a circle, make it move and export it for a Lottie player in about ten minutes.
- [New to terminals](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/new-to-terminals.md): Never used a terminal? One line in your Mac's own Terminal installs Ghostty and Creator Terminal, then opens it.

## How-to guides

- [Draw a rounded card](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/draw-a-rounded-card.md): Draw a rectangle and round its corners without changing its size.
- [Crop a layer with a mask](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/crop-a-layer-with-a-mask.md): Reveal part of a layer through a rectangular opening while keeping its drawing intact.
- [Make a line draw itself](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/make-a-line-draw-itself.md): Animate a stroked path from its first point to its last with trim paths.
- [Bring in a headline by word](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/bring-in-a-headline-by-word.md): Make each word rise and fade into place while keeping the headline on one text layer.
- [Make a layer turn from one end](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/make-a-layer-turn-from-one-end.md): Put a layer's anchor at one end so it turns like a hinge.
- [Make a layer move between two poses](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/animate-between-poses.md): Give a still layer a start and an end position, with a move between them.
- [Slow a move without changing its route](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/slow-a-move.md): Give a move more time by moving its ending key later.
- [Bend a move into an arc](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/bend-a-motion-path.md): Curve a layer's route and inspect the poses before and after the playhead.
- [Make a bell wiggle](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/wiggle-a-bell.md): Add irregular rotation to a bell without drawing rotation keys.
- [Make a row of delayed copies](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/stagger-linked-copies.md): Arrange four extra copies of an animated layer, each following its motion a little later.
- [Make a confetti burst](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/make-a-confetti-burst.md): Make one burst of spinning confetti and adjust how long it stays on the stage.
- [Use your artwork as particles](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/use-artwork-as-particles.md): Turn one animated layer into a stream of copies that each play its motion from birth.
- [Bounce particles off a platform](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/bounce-particles-off-a-platform.md): Make falling particles rebound from a rectangle and settle after a limited number of bounces.
- [Make a button react to a press](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/make-a-button-react-to-a-press.md): Make a button wait in idle, play one pulse when pressed, and return to idle.
- [Ask the copilot to change a layer](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/ask-the-copilot-to-change-a-layer.md): Give the copilot a bounded change, inspect its result, and undo the turn if you want another direction.
- [Compare animation takes from agents](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/compare-animation-takes.md): Ask for different animation ideas and open the version you want to edit in the studio.
- [Export a GIF for Slack](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/export-a-gif-for-slack.md): Make a looping GIF you can attach to a Slack conversation.
- [Export a transparent video](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/export-a-transparent-video.md): Export a WebM that keeps the empty parts of your animation transparent.
- [Export a dotLottie for a player](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/export-a-dotlottie-for-a-player.md): Package your animation and its media as a .lottie file for a dotLottie player.
- [Change an animation’s size and length](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/resize-an-animation.md): Set a document to a square canvas and a five-second score without trimming its existing artwork.
- [Choose the editor’s colours](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/choose-interface-colours.md): Choose a dark and a light interface theme, then decide which one the editor uses.
- [Watch an animation without panels](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/watch-without-panels.md): Play and scrub your animation in a full-screen preview with the editor’s controls put away.
- [Make an animation from your repository](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/how-to/make-a-repository-animation.md): Turn a GitHub repository’s data into an editable star milestone animation.

## Reference

- [Install](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/install.md): Install Creator Terminal, keep it up to date, or remove it from your computer.
- [Terminals](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/terminals.md): Choose how to run Creator Terminal and check which pictures, mouse controls and keys your terminal supports.
- [Home and the screen](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/home-and-screen.md): Find the controls on home and in the editor, manage documents, and set your preferences.
- [Editing](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/editing.md): Select, transform, arrange and reshape layers on the stage.
- [Layers](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers.md): Find a layer type, its controls and the ways to bring artwork into your document.
- [Shapes and drawing tools](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/drawing.md): Draw shapes, paths and brush strokes, and change their parameters.
- [Fills, strokes, effects and masks](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/appearance.md): Change how layers are painted, blurred, blended and revealed.
- [Layouts and parenting](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/arranging.md): Arrange layers so they keep their spacing or follow another layer.
- [Text and fonts](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/text.md): Create text, choose its font and animate its letters, words or lines.
- [Files, images and pastes](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/importing.md): Bring drawings, images and animations into your document from files or the clipboard.
- [Sound, music and video](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/media.md): Add sound and video, change their timing and make music for an animation.
- [Tokens, themes and charts](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/data.md): Give an app values it can change, or turn a table into animated charts and versions.
- [Materials, Ink and Soft](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/layers/materials.md): Give shape and text layers a material for the stage and rendered exports.
- [Animating](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/animating.md): Set poses, shape the movement between them, and arrange when each layer plays.
- [Behaviours](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/behaviours.md): Add motion to a property, link it to another value, and keep the keys you authored editable.
- [Repeats](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/repeats.md): Arrange linked copies of a layer and delay or vary their motion together.
- [Components](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/components.md): Make a part once and use it again and again, each copy with values of its own.
- [Particles](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/particles.md): Make confetti, snow, smoke or copies of your artwork, and control how they move and bounce.
- [States](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/states.md): Choose which stretch of an animation plays in response to a press, a hover or a value from an app.
- [Rigs](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/rigs.md): A rigged drawing is a character. Its controls are its hand and foot goals, body, head, and connected joysticks and sliders. Animate these controls to pose the drawing.
- [Examples](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/examples.md): Start a blank document or open an editable example to explore a feature.
- [Capturing your app](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/capture.md): Bring your product's interface onto the stage as layers you can animate: its screens and components, named as your code names them, text you can retype, your own fonts, icons as shapes. Then make the film: a launch, a feature, a walkthrough.
- [Templates and styles](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/templates-and-styles.md): Make an animation from repository data, then change its words, format, theme or film style.
- [The copilot](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/copilot.md): Ask Claude Code, Codex or Kimi Code to inspect and edit the document you have open, then review or undo its changes.
- [Other AI apps](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/mcp.md): Use Creator Terminal from Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode or another app that speaks MCP: its agent gets the copilot's tools and can hand a whole brief to the copilot itself.
- [Motion Agents](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/agents.md): Describe a new animation or narrated film, compare its takes, and open the version you want to edit.
- [Plugins](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins.md): A plugin adds commands, animation presets and interface themes to Creator Terminal. It is a folder of plain files, which you install from this computer or from a .zip.
- [Export](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/export.md): Choose a delivery format, see the packaged size and export to your computer or LottieFiles.
- [LottieFiles](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/lottiefiles.md): Browse your LottieFiles workspaces, edit a local working copy and publish an export when you choose.
- [Invite a friend](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/invites.md): Made something you like? Send it to a friend with a link of your own, and see how many came to Creator Terminal through it.
- [Creator sync](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/creator-sync.md): A LottieFiles Creator document edited here, live: your edits go back to Creator as you work.
- [Keys](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/keys.md): Find a key by its action and by the panel that has keyboard focus.
- [Command line](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/cli.md): Open, play, inspect and export animations, or work with LottieFiles from your shell.
- [Troubleshooting](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/troubleshooting.md): Find the cause of a display, export, sharing or update problem and the next action to take.
- [Feedback](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/feedback.md): Choose Send feedback… from Help or the commands (⌘P). Tell us what happened or what you'd like. Enter or ⌘Enter sends; Shift+Enter or Alt+Enter starts a new line. Esc cancels before sending, or returns to the editor while it sends. Choose Send feedback… again to see it.
- [Not yet](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/not-yet.md): Check the limits that affect editing, playback and delivery before choosing a workflow.

## Concepts

- [Glossary](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/glossary.md): Look up Creator Terminal’s words and find the nearest terms in After Effects, Figma and Rive.
- [Ways to connect layers](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/connecting-layers.md): Choose grouping, parenting, a layout or an instance according to what should stay connected.
- [Graphs, paths and spacing](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/graphs-paths-and-spacing.md): Read the same move as values over time, a route through space, and poses at equal time intervals.
- [The three kinds of loop](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/animation-loops.md): Choose between repeating playback, joining the document's ends, and repeating one property's motion.
- [Why particles become keys](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/particle-baking.md): Understand how one editable emitter becomes motion that an ordinary Lottie player can draw.
- [Motion and interactivity](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/motion-and-interactivity.md): Understand why the score describes movement while a state machine decides when that movement plays.
- [Choosing the copilot or Motion Agents](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/copilot-and-agent-takes.md): Choose between editing the open document and exploring separate animation takes.
- [Saving, exporting and publishing](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/saving-exporting-and-publishing.md): Understand which action keeps your working document, makes a delivery file or publishes to LottieFiles.
- [What players draw](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/concepts/what-players-draw.md): Choose between editable animation instructions and rendered pictures when delivering your work.

## Plugins / orbit

- [Orbit](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/orbit/README.md): Two Creator Terminal commands: Arrange in a circle places selected layers, and Send round a circle gives them closed orbital position keys over the composition's duration.

## Plugins / orbit / skills / orbit

- [Orbit](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/orbit/skills/orbit/SKILL.md): The Creator Terminal document must have unparented layers selected. Both tools use composition pixels and a circle centred on the composition.

## Plugins / studio pack

- [Studio Pack](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/studio-pack/README.md): A zero-code Creator Terminal plugin with four animation presets: Drop in, Swing in, Breathe and Slide out left. Breathe includes a looping scale behaviour.

## Plugins / studio pack / skills / studio pack

- [Studio Pack](https://terminal.lottiefiles.com/docs/plugins/studio-pack/skills/studio-pack/SKILL.md): This package has no commands. It adds four animation presets and an interface theme.