---
title: "Quickstart"
description: "Clone the repo, open it in Claude Code, ask Claude to set you up, render your first video. About 10 minutes."
---

Ralphy turns a one-line brief into a rendered UGC video. The default install is dead simple: clone the repo, open Claude Code in it, ask Claude to set you up. From there you chat — Claude reads `AGENTS.md`, routes to the right playbook, and calls the `ralphy` CLI for every model call and render.

This quickstart gets you from a fresh machine to `final.mp4` in roughly ten minutes.

## The 30-second version

```bash
git clone https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy.git ugc-cli
cd ugc-cli
claude
```

Then in chat: **"set me up"** → keys, deps, doctor. Then: **"make a 15-second TikTok about \<X>"** → first render.

## The four steps in order

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Install" icon="download" href="/quickstart/install">
    Clone the repo, open Claude Code, ask Claude to set you up. About 3-5 minutes including grabbing two API keys.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Your first video" icon="film" href="/quickstart/first-video">
    Type a brief in chat. Ralphy runs intake, generates scenes, renders `final.mp4`. About 8 minutes cold-start.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Connect your editor" icon="plug" href="/quickstart/connect-editor">
    Using Cursor, Copilot, or Codex instead of Claude Code? One command wires the routing in.
  </Card>
  <Card title="What just happened" icon="map" href="/quickstart/what-happened">
    Walk through every file Ralphy wrote — `BRIEF.md`, `prompts.json`, `artifacts/`, `generations.jsonl`, `final.mp4`.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What you'll need

- A terminal on macOS or Linux. Windows works via WSL.
- [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) on your machine (Cursor / Copilot / Codex also work — see step 3).
- An [OpenRouter](https://openrouter.ai/keys) key — covers image, video, LLM, vision, transcription.
- An [ElevenLabs](https://elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys) key — covers voiceover and music.

You don't need Vercel, FAL, OpenAI direct, or any other provider. Two keys, one repo, one chat.

## How Ralphy works in one paragraph

You clone `ugc-cli` and open it in Claude Code. The repo ships `AGENTS.md`, a routing table the agent reads on every turn. You write a brief like `"15-second TikTok about my espresso bar, morning vibe, selfie POV"` in chat. Claude matches the brief to a [playbook](/concepts/architecture), asks 3-5 clarifying questions, then calls `ralphy` for every model invocation and render step. Each project lives under `.ralphy/workspaces/default/projects/<id>/` with an append-only [generation log](/concepts/generation-log), so you can replay, branch, and audit costs after the fact. The agent reviews scenes with you before paid generation; nothing burns budget without consent.

## Pick your path

If `which ralphy` returns nothing and you haven't cloned the repo yet, start at [Install](/quickstart/install). If `ralphy doctor` is already green, [skip to "Your first video"](/quickstart/first-video).

## Related

- [What is Ralphy?](/concepts/what-is-ralphy) — the vision in one page
- [Architecture](/concepts/architecture) — the deeper read after your first render
- [Talking to Ralphy](/working/talking-to-ralphy) — how to phrase briefs and follow-ups
- [Install playbook](https://github.com/alecs5am/ralphy/blob/main/docs/playbooks/ralphy-install.md) — canonical source
- [Prompt library](https://ralphy.dev/library) and [Skills gallery](https://ralphy.dev/skills) on the landing
