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The Helios CLI provides commands for project initialization, rendering, component management, and deployment.

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Installation

Install the Helios CLI globally or use it in your project: 
npm install -g @helios-project/cli
Or use with npx: 
npx helios --version

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Command structure

All Helios commands follow the pattern: 
helios <command> [arguments] [options]

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Available commands

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Project initialization

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Rendering and video output

  • helios render - Render a composition to video
  • helios merge - Merge multiple video files into one
  • helios job - Manage distributed rendering jobs

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Development tools

  • helios studio - Launch the Helios Studio visual editor
  • helios build - Build the project for production
  • helios preview - Preview the production build locally

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Component management

  • helios components - List and search available components
  • helios add - Add a component to your project
  • helios list - List installed components
  • helios remove - Remove a component from your project
  • helios update - Update a component to the latest version
  • helios diff - Compare local component with registry version

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Deployment

  • helios deploy setup - Scaffold Docker configuration files
  • helios deploy gcp - Scaffold Google Cloud Run configuration
  • helios deploy aws - Scaffold AWS Lambda configuration

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Global options

Most commands support standard options: 
--help, -h    # Show help for a command
--version, -v # Show CLI version

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Environment variables

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Browser configuration

HELIOS_BROWSER_ARGS="--no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox"
PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH="/usr/bin/chromium"
These variables configure the browser used for rendering:
  • HELIOS_BROWSER_ARGS - Custom Chromium/Chrome command-line arguments
  • PUPPETEER_EXECUTABLE_PATH - Path to a custom browser executable

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Configuration file

Most commands require a helios.config.json file in your project root. See helios init for details on creating this file.

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Common workflows

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Creating a new project

helios init my-project
cd my-project
npm install
helios studio

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Rendering a video

helios render composition.html -o output.mp4 --width 1920 --height 1080

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Adding components

helios components        # Browse available components
helios add fade-in      # Add a component
helios list             # Verify installation

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Distributed rendering

# Generate a job specification
helios render composition.html --emit-job job.json --concurrency 4

# Execute the job
helios job run job.json

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