Content Generation Commands

Generate text, images, videos, speech, and transcriptions.

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/

Command Structure

lh generate (alias: gen)
├── text <prompt>                          # Text generation
├── image <prompt>                         # Image generation
├── video <prompt>                         # Video generation
├── tts <text>                             # Text-to-speech
├── asr <audioFile>                        # Audio-to-text (speech recognition)
├── download <generationId> <asyncTaskId>  # Wait & download generation result
├── status <generationId> <asyncTaskId>    # Check async task status
└── list                                   # List generation topics

⚠️ Important: status and download require an asyncTaskId (UUID format, e.g. 7ad0eb13-e9a5-4403-8070-1f7fe95b2f95), not the generation ID (gen_xxx). The asyncTaskId is printed after "→ Task" in the video / image command output.

lh generate text <prompt> / lh gen text <prompt>

Generate text completion.

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/text.ts

lh gen text "Explain quantum computing" [options]
echo "context" | lh gen text "summarize" --pipe

Pipe Mode

When --pipe is used, reads stdin and prepends it to the prompt. Useful for piping file contents:

cat README.md | lh gen text "summarize this" --pipe

lh generate image <prompt> / lh gen image <prompt>

Generate images from text prompt. This is an async operation — the command submits the task and returns a generation ID + async task ID for tracking.

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/image.ts

lh gen image "A sunset over mountains" [options]
lh gen image "A cute cat" --model dall-e-3 --provider openai --json

Output (non-JSON):

✓ Image generation started
  Batch ID: gb_xxx
  1 image(s) queued
  Generation gen_xxx → Task 7ad0eb13-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                            This is the asyncTaskId — use this for status/download

Use "lh generate status <generationId> <asyncTaskId>" to check progress.

Typical workflow:

# 1. Submit generation — note down BOTH IDs from the output
lh gen image "A cute cat"
#   Generation gen_abc123 → Task 7ad0eb13-e9a5-4403-8070-1f7fe95b2f95

# 2. Wait & download using generationId + asyncTaskId (the UUID)
lh gen download gen_abc123 7ad0eb13-e9a5-4403-8070-1f7fe95b2f95 -o cat.png

lh generate video <prompt> / lh gen video <prompt>

Generate video from text prompt. This is an async operation.

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/video.ts

lh gen video "A cat playing piano" -m <model> -p <provider> [options]

Note: Unlike image, video requires -m and -p (no defaults). Use lh model list <provider> --type video to find available video models.

Output (non-JSON):

✓ Video generation started
  Batch ID: gb_xxx
  Generation gen_xxx → Task 7ad0eb13-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                            This is the asyncTaskId — use this for status/download

Use "lh generate status <generationId> <asyncTaskId>" to check progress.

Typical workflow:

# 1. Find available video models for a provider
lh model list volcengine --json | grep -i seedance

# 2. Submit generation — note down BOTH IDs from the output
lh gen video "A cat on a runway" -m doubao-seedance-2-0-260128 -p volcengine \
  --aspect-ratio 9:16 --duration 5 --resolution 1080p
#   Generation gen_abc123 → Task 7ad0eb13-e9a5-4403-8070-1f7fe95b2f95

# 3. Wait & download using generationId + asyncTaskId (the UUID)
lh gen download gen_abc123 7ad0eb13-e9a5-4403-8070-1f7fe95b2f95 -o result.mp4 --timeout 600

lh generate tts <text> / lh gen tts <text>

Text-to-speech generation.

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/tts.ts

lh gen tts "Hello, world!" [options]

lh generate asr <audioFile> / lh gen asr <audioFile>

Audio-to-text transcription (Automatic Speech Recognition).

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/asr.ts

lh gen asr recording.wav [options]

lh generate download <generationId> <asyncTaskId>

Wait for an async generation task to complete and download the result file.

Source: apps/cli/src/commands/generate/index.ts

⚠️ <asyncTaskId> is the UUID printed after "→ Task" in the video/image output. Do not pass the generation ID (gen_xxx) here — that will cause a server error.

lh gen download <generationId> <asyncTaskId> [-o output.png]
lh gen download gen_xxx 7ad0eb13-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx -o ~/Desktop/result.mp4 --timeout 600

Behavior:

1. Polls generation.getGenerationStatus at the specified interval
2. Shows live progress: ⋯ Status: processing... (42s)
3. On success: downloads asset URL to local file
4. On error / wrong ID: displays a clear message pointing to the correct ID format
5. On timeout: suggests using lh gen status to check later

lh generate status <generationId> <asyncTaskId>

Check the status of an async generation task.

⚠️ <asyncTaskId> is the UUID printed after "→ Task" in the video/image output. Do not pass the generation ID (gen_xxx) here — that will cause a server error.

lh gen status <generationId> <asyncTaskId> [--json]
lh gen status gen_xxx 7ad0eb13-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

Displays:

• Status (color-coded): success (green), error (red), processing (yellow), pending (cyan)
• Error message (if failed)
• Asset URL and thumbnail URL (if completed)

lh generate list

List all generation topics.

lh gen list [--json [fields]]

Table columns: ID, TITLE, TYPE, UPDATED

Backend Architecture

Image and video generation use an async task pattern:

1. Create topic → generationTopic.createTopic
2. Submit generation → image.createImage / video.createVideo
   • Creates batch + generation + asyncTask records in a DB transaction
   • Triggers async background task (image via createAsyncCaller, video via initModelRuntimeFromDB)
   • Returns { data: { batch, generations }, success } with asyncTaskId in each generation
3. Poll status → generation.getGenerationStatus
   • Input: { generationId, asyncTaskId } — both are required, and asyncTaskId must be the UUID from the async_tasks table, not gen_xxx
   • Returns { status, error, generation } (generation includes asset URLs on success)
   • Before querying, calls checkTimeoutTasks which marks tasks as error if they have been pending or processing for more than ~5 minutes (ASYNC_TASK_TIMEOUT = 298s)

Server routes:

• src/server/routers/lambda/image/index.ts — image creation (uses authedProcedure + serverDatabase)
• src/server/routers/lambda/video/index.ts — video creation (uses authedProcedure + serverDatabase)
• src/server/routers/lambda/generation.ts — status checking
• packages/database/src/models/asyncTask.ts — AsyncTaskModel including checkTimeoutTasks

Note: Image/video routes do NOT use the keyVaults middleware — they read API keys from the database via initModelRuntimeFromDB or createAsyncCaller.