Console command

Русский · User guide · Operations · Wrappers · AI agent

Contents

Commands
Running an operation
The output
Outcome and exit codes
Where the result goes
Wrappers
Clearing the folders

media_cli.cmd in the root of the program runs what the buttons of the window run: an operation, with the same fields and the same presets. The window is the face of this command: whatever it starts, it starts through the command, and the first line of every run in its journal is a ready command that can be repeated in a console.

The command is for the cases where an operation is started not by a person at the window: a batch file, another tool, an AI agent, a long night of encodes.

Commands

Command	What it does
`describe`	The operations, their fields with choices and defaults, the presets and the layout of the window - one line of JSON.
`run`	Run an operation.
`wrapper NAME`	Run a wrapper of `Scripts\` by its name: `media_cli.cmd wrapper ff-x264-crf14`.
`map`	The map of the program from its data: sections, operations, fields, presets, wrappers, the texts in both languages. `--out FILE` writes it to a file; `--docs` writes the reference documents (`OPERATIONS_`, `SCRIPTS_` and the tables of this guide).
`components`	The versions of yt-dlp, Deno, mpv, FFmpeg, 7-Zip and the GPU driver; `--latest` adds the newest releases (asked of GitHub at most once a day).
`plan --operation install_ffmpeg`	What an installer would download: the files, their source and size. Nothing is downloaded.
`version`	The version of the program.

--root FOLDER before the command names another copy of the program; --language ru or en - the language of the journal (the language of the window when not named).

Running an operation

.\media_cli.cmd run --operation storage_run
.\media_cli.cmd run --operation editing_run --set editing_profile=prores_lt_mov
.\media_cli.cmd run --operation storage_run --set storage_profile=hevc10_crf14 --set encode_backend=cuda `
    --source "D:\Footage\Day 1" --target "D:\Encoded" --result D:\Encoded\outcome.json
.\media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set "youtube_url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..."

Key	Purpose
`--operation ID`	The id of the operation. The table below gives the id of every mode of the window; `describe` gives all of them.
`--set NAME=VALUE`	The value of one field; may be repeated. A flag is `true` or `false`, a row of ticks - its values separated by commas (`--set target_codecs=x264,hevc_x265`). A preset field (`storage_profile`, `editing_profile` …) sets the fields it names when it is named, and the other `--set` are laid over it; left unnamed, every field keeps its own default - the preset a form shows first is not applied by itself.
`--params FILE`	A JSON file "field: value". `--set` is laid over it.
`--source PATH`	A folder (its subfolders too) or one file. Without the key - `input` of the program.
`--target PATH`	A folder. Without the key - `output` of the program.
`--only KINDS`	The kinds of file to take from the Source: `mkv` or `mov,mxf`.
`--result FILE`	Where to write the outcome: a `.json` file outside the Source and outside `config\`. A full path, or call the command from the program folder.
`--cancel-file FILE`	The stop file: when it appears, FFmpeg is ended and a half-written file is taken away.
`--dry-run`	Run nothing: say the FFmpeg or yt-dlp commands the operation would start. An operation that cannot only say them is refused.

The names of the fields and their choices are those of describe and of the list of operations. A field that is not set goes with its default - as in a form of the window just opened. A relative --source or --target is counted from the folder of the program; a relative --result, --params or --cancel-file - from the folder the command is called from.

What each mode of the window is

| Section | Mode | Call | |---|---|---| | AUDIO | EXTRACT | media_cli.cmd run --operation audio_run --set audio_workflow=extract | | AUDIO | SOUND IN VIDEO | media_cli.cmd run --operation audio_run --set audio_workflow=in_video | | AUDIO | CONVERT | media_cli.cmd run --operation audio_run --set audio_workflow=audio_files | | ENCODE | ARCHIVE | media_cli.cmd run --operation archive_run | | ENCODE | EDITING | media_cli.cmd run --operation editing_run | | ENCODE | STORAGE | media_cli.cmd run --operation storage_run | | ENCODE | DELIVERY | media_cli.cmd run --operation delivery_run | | PACKAGE | VIDEO | media_cli.cmd run --operation remux_run --set remux_stream_mode=video | | PACKAGE | AUDIO | media_cli.cmd run --operation remux_run --set remux_stream_mode=audio | | PACKAGE | VIDEO AND AUDIO | media_cli.cmd run --operation remux_run --set remux_stream_mode=video_audio | | PACKAGE | SUBTITLES | media_cli.cmd run --operation subtitles_extract | | CUT | KEEP | media_cli.cmd run --operation trim_run --set trim_action=keep | | CUT | CUT OUT | media_cli.cmd run --operation trim_run --set trim_action=cut | | CUT | SPLIT | media_cli.cmd run --operation trim_run --set trim_action=split | | FRAME RATE | VARISPEED | media_cli.cmd run --operation fps_run --set fps_mode=varispeed | | FRAME RATE | CONFORM | media_cli.cmd run --operation fps_run --set fps_mode=conform | | COLOR | LUT | media_cli.cmd run --operation grading_run | | DOWNLOAD | BEST MP4 | media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set youtube_profile=best_mp4 | | DOWNLOAD | SAFE MP4 | media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set youtube_profile=safe_mp4 | | DOWNLOAD | OWN VIDEO | media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set youtube_profile=video_custom | | DOWNLOAD | FOR UPLOAD | media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set youtube_profile=upload_ready | | DOWNLOAD | OWN AUDIO | media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set youtube_profile=audio_custom | | DOWNLOAD | SUBTITLES | media_cli.cmd run --operation youtube_run --set youtube_profile=subs_only |

SOURCE INFO, SERVICE and the buttons beside a field:

| Operation | What it is | |---|---| | probe_source | Probe Source: Run ffprobe once for Source, print a compact table and update the media status line. | | source_info | Source Info: Run ffprobe for Source and print every audio stream: codec, sample format, sample rate, bit depth, channels, bitrate and tags. | | inventory | Inventory: Count project folders. | | selftest | Selftest: Check ffmpeg, ffprobe, yt-dlp and Deno. | | profile_doctor | Profile Doctor: Validate GUI operations, script wrappers and the shared preset catalog. | | hardware_capabilities | Hardware capabilities: Run short FFmpeg smoke tests for CPU, QSV/NVENC/AMF H.264 and HEVC, SVT-AV1 and dav1d. | | preset_test_matrix | Preset Test Matrix: Run portable 1-second smoke tests across audio, remux, FPS, LUT, archive, editing, storage and delivery presets. | | install_7zip | Install 7-Zip: Install or refresh portable 7-Zip; required before FFmpeg 7z payloads. | | install_ffmpeg | Install FFmpeg: Install or refresh portable FFmpeg Gyan GPL payload into Tools/ffmpeg. | | install_ytdlp | Install yt-dlp: Install or refresh portable yt-dlp and Deno into Tools. | | install_mpv | Install mpv: Install or refresh portable mpv into Tools/mpv: the player of the trim. | | youtube_formats | Formats of the link: What formats the link offers - resolution, codecs, size - listed in the journal, nothing downloaded. One of them is taken with the profile Own video. | | youtube_cookies_import | Take under DPAPI: The cookies file of the field Cookies file sealed with DPAPI for this account of Windows into config\cookies.dpapi: downloads with Cookies - File take this copy, and the open file is no longer needed. |

The output

The lines of the operation's journal, as in the window: [OK], [WARN], [ERR], [CMD] - the command FFmpeg was started with, [PREFLIGHT] - the checks before the run, [PROGRESS] clip.mp4 -> x264 [#####---] 42% 00:01:12/00:02:50 speed=3.4x with FFmpeg's own line frame= … fps= … time= … speed= under it, and FFmpeg's last word Lsize= at the end. The same lines go to the journal file in logs\, and the report of the run - to report\.

A program that reads the output by a pipe also gets service lines: ::media::{"started": …}, {"progress": 0.42}, {"activity": …}, {"finished": {"outcome": …}}. A console does not show them.

Outcome and exit codes

Code	Outcome	What it means
0	`done`	The operation finished.
1	`failed`	It ran and something broke, or a file failed or was refused: the journal says what.
2	- / `refused`	A wrong call - a field the operation has not, a value that is none of its choices, `--dry-run` of an operation that cannot only say its commands; or the checks before the run refused it - no file of its kind in the Source, no FFmpeg. Nothing was run.
130	`stopped`	Stopped by the stop file (`--cancel-file`), before the first file or during one.

The file of --result:

{
 "operation": "storage_run",
 "outcome": "done",
 "ok": true,
 "message": "Operation finished.",
 "data": {
  "processed": 1,
  "files": 1,
  "log_file": "...\\logs\\2026-10-15 22-34-54-804_storage_run.log",
  "batch_report_md": "...\\report\\2026-10-15 22-34-54-804_storage_run\\batch_report.md"
 },
 "parameters": { "storage_profile": "x264_crf14", "target_codecs": ["x264"], "crf": 14, "...": "..." },
 "source": "D:\\Footage\\Day 1",
 "target": "D:\\Encoded",
 "seconds": 2.1
}

parameters are all the values the operation ran with, the defaults included: the run can be repeated from them exactly. data is what the operation tells: a media operation processed (files written), skipped (passed by, the reason in the journal), files (files of the Source), failed where it goes on past a failed file and refused where it turned a file down; a download processed, downloaded - the paths of what it wrote - and existing, found there already.

Where the result goes

Into a folder of the operation in the Target, and inside it a folder of the settings - named by the target and its values, not by the preset: Storage\x264_crf14_slow\clip.mp4, Editing\prores422\clip.mov, Archive\…, Delivery\…, Audio\…, Remux\…, Trim\…, FPS\…, Color\…, Subtitles\…; the subfolders of the Source are kept below it. --dry-run prints the exact path. Downloads go to Download\<uploader>\<date> - <title> [<id>].<ext> (a playlist: Download\<number> - <title> [<id>].<ext>).

A file already there is not written over unless --set overwrite=true: the journal says [SKIP] NAME already exists and Overwrite is off, FFmpeg is not started for it, and the outcome counts it in skipped, not in processed.

Wrappers

95 files of Scripts\ - ff-*, audio-*, yt-* - each a ready task with its values, called by a double click, from a console or by name through the command: media_cli.cmd wrapper ff-prores-lt-mov. Each is listed with the same call through run in the list of wrappers. The wrappers of a trim take the file and the points from the variables AUDION_TRIM_FILE, AUDION_TRIM_START, AUDION_TRIM_END; the downloads - the links after the name, or input\urls.txt.

The menus launcher_project.cmd, launcher_tools.cmd and cli\launcher-*.cmd find a wrapper by typing (FZF).

Clearing the folders

The operations that clear the Source, the Target or the working folder delete for good and are not run from the command: the window clears them through the Recycle Bin.