Create AI marketing videos and images using your Arcads account, powered by AI agents in Claude Code or Cursor. Supports Sora 2, Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, and Nano Banana.
This repo handles the creative side. If you want the full system — scaling, ROAS, automation, and the AI workflows behind 8-figure ad accounts — come build with me inside The AI Ad Alchemists.
It's a private Skool community of 460+ media buyers managing 8-figure ad accounts, run by me (Caleb — aka "Mr. Paid Social") drawing on 12 years and $150M+ in ad spend. Inside you get:
- Meta Masterclass — the exact systems I use to scale Meta ads (valued at $1.2k)
- Custom GPTs for ad copywriting and compliance
- Ad swipe files + breakdowns of what's working right now
- Airtable & Google Sheets scaling systems — the operational backbone behind 8-fig accounts
- AI tool walkthroughs — including the Ad Agent (built in Claude Code) and the GenAI system in Airtable I'm shipping next
- Monthly group calls + guest speakers
- Direct access to me and the network
If you're using this repo to crank out creative, the community is where you learn to turn that creative into ROAS at scale.
→ Join The AI Ad Alchemists — $97/month
git clone <repo-url>
cd arcads-agent-skills./scripts/setup.shThis will:
- If you need an Arcads account first, sign up here: arcads.ai/?via=caleb
- Ask for your Arcads API key (find it at app.arcads.ai/settings/api)
- Save it securely in
.env(never committed to git) - Verify your connection to Arcads
- Create your personal
MASTER_CONTEXT.mdworkspace file
Claude Code: Open the folder. The agent loads the Arcads skill automatically.
Cursor: Open the folder. The skill is at .cursor/skills/arcads-external-api/.
The agent handles API calls, polling, prompt engineering, and file organization. Here are the main workflows:
"Create a new AI influencer — a 22-year-old college student with freckles"
The agent generates a full-body hero image for your approval, then creates 9 additional angles (3/4 views, profile, closeup, etc.) using the hero as a reference. All 10 images are saved to references/influencers/ for future use.
"Generate a UGC selfie of Sofia holding the Arcads Cola can in her bedroom"
Combines your character + product photo + style references from references/aesthetics/ugc-selfie/ into an authentic-looking iPhone selfie frame grab. Includes skin realism and camera imperfections to fight AI's polished default.
"Turn that image into a video — have her talk about the product"
Uses Veo 3.1 with startFrame to animate your approved UGC still. The video starts from that exact image with natural human motion (eye contact breaks, head tilts, body shifts) and dialogue.
"Generate a UGC video ad for this product" + drop a product photo
Uses Sora 2 with your product photo as a style reference to generate a video directly — no starting frame needed. Faster but less control over the person's appearance.
- "Recreate this influencer's look from a reference photo"
- "Make a Nano Banana product hero image"
- "Generate 5 different ad variations for this product"
| Path | What it does |
|---|---|
skills/arcads-external-api/ |
The skill: API reference, prompting guide, per-model prompt library |
MASTER_CONTEXT.template.md |
Template for your workspace context (credit costs, brand voice, learnings) |
MASTER_CONTEXT.md |
Your personalized copy (created by setup, not committed to git) |
.env |
Your API key (created by setup, never committed) |
scripts/setup.sh |
One-time setup |
scripts/sync-skill.sh |
Copies skill edits to .claude/ and .cursor/ directories |
scripts/check-arcads-env.sh |
Tests API connectivity |
references/ |
Drop reference images here (influencers, products, aesthetics) — gitignored |
Your key authenticates with the Arcads API. During setup you paste it once and the agent uses it from .env automatically. You never need to paste it into chat.
Need an Arcads account first? Create one here: https://arcads.ai/?via=caleb
Find your key: Arcads Dashboard > Settings > API
MASTER_CONTEXT.md is your workspace's living memory. The agent reads it at the start of every session and writes learnings back. It stores:
- Default product — auto-populated on first use so you're never asked "which product?" again
- Credit costs — you fill in once (or the agent asks), then every session has them
- Brand voice — optional tone, audience, and word preferences
- API learnings — universal Arcads quirks that help the agent work better
- Changelog — dated notes from each session
| Model | Type | Best for | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Veo 3.1 | Video | Animating a starting frame into ~8s video with dialogue. Best for UGC stills → video. | 1 |
| Sora 2 | Video | Longer videos (up to 20s) from text prompts. Product photo as style ref (no starting frame). | varies |
| Kling 3.0 | Video | B-roll and scene generation (via scene/b-roll endpoints) | varies |
| Nano Banana 2 | Image | UGC stills, character sheets, product shots, influencer recreation | 0.03 |
Drop images into the references/ folder and the agent will use them automatically:
references/influencers/— Photos of people to recreate as AI-generated contentreferences/products/— Product photos for showcase videos and hero imagesreferences/aesthetics/— Style references organized by vibe (ugc-selfie/,cinematic/, etc.)
Images stay local — the folder contents are gitignored.
The canonical skill source lives in skills/arcads-external-api/. After editing any file there, run:
./scripts/sync-skill.shThis copies your changes to .claude/skills/ and .cursor/skills/ (which are gitignored — they're generated copies).
.envis gitignored — never committedMASTER_CONTEXT.mdis gitignored — contains your product IDs and workspace data- Never paste API keys in GitHub issues or public chats
| Model | Guide |
|---|---|
| Sora 2 | OpenAI — Sora 2 prompting guide |
| Veo 3.1 | Google Cloud — Veo 3.1 |
| Kling 3.0 | Kling — user guide |
| Nano Banana | Google Cloud — Nano Banana |
Point your assistant at AGENTS.md and MASTER_CONTEXT.md + the skill path. See AGENTS.md for details.