git:20261007.25d1dca to git:20261008.12b8fee

---

name: stock-images

description: Find, download (with permission) and place licensed stock photos and stock video (Pexels) and vector icons (Iconify, as transparent PNG stickers) in a BashCut edit as clearly labelled illustration, or use a blurred copy of the user's own footage as a background. Use when the edit needs a picture or icon the footage lacks, or the user says "ảnh minh hoạ", "video minh hoạ", "ảnh stock", "pexels", "lấy ảnh trên mạng", "thêm hình mô tả", "icon", "biểu tượng", "sticker minh hoạ".

---

# Stock photos and video

Reply in the user's language.

## 0. Library first

`bashcut library list --kind sticker --query "pot"` may already hold the picture (with its source and licence). A

plugin may search stock for you: `bashcut library search "clay pot" --kind sticker` (job; candidates carry source

and licence). Place a library picture with `bashcut library place ID --at-frame F --size 0.6 --base-rev N`.

## 1. Search

- **Pexels API** (free key at pexels.com/api, 200 requests/hour): with `PEXELS_API_KEY` set,

`curl -H "Authorization: $PEXELS_API_KEY" "https://api.pexels.com/v1/search?query=<q>&orientation=portrait&per_page=15"`

(videos: `https://api.pexels.com/videos/search?...`).

- **No key** is not a reason to skip: open `https://www.pexels.com/search/<q>/?orientation=portrait` (videos:

`/search/videos/<q>/`) in a browser tool, read each result's link and alt text, and look at the thumbnails

before choosing. Vietnamese queries work.

- Photo ID = the trailing number of `/photo/<slug>-<id>/`. Download URL:

`https://images.pexels.com/photos/<id>/pexels-photo-<id>.jpeg?auto=compress&w=1080`.

picture worth reusing goes to the library with its licence:

```sh

bashcut library add --kind sticker --name "Clay pot" --file /abs/media/stock/x.jpg --source URL --license "Pexels License" --tags food

```

Save the label as a text preset too (`bashcut library save-selection --kind text-preset --name "Stock label"`).

## 3. Place

- **Credits are optional.** Never write a licence, source or credit onto the video or into its description unless

the user asks. When the user wants credits tracked, import with `--origin stock --license "Pexels License"

--source URL --author "Name"` (stored as given; pass a JSON object such as `{"text":"Pexels License",

"redistribute":false}` to record what it allows; a second `media import` adds them to a file already in).

`project credits` gives the raw facts per used media (licence, provenance, frames on top, AI share): write the

credit lines from them when the user asks.

- **Stock video** imports like any clip: `media import /abs/media/stock/x.mp4 --base-rev N`, then `media place`

on the main layer (it replaces a moment) or an overlay layer (it illustrates one).

- **Still photos** import directly: `media import /abs/media/stock/photo.jpg --place --track OVERLAY --at-frame F

--base-rev N` (kind `image`; JPEG, PNG with transparency, HEIC). An image is placed for 3 s; trim it to the words

it illustrates. Frame it with `transform` (zoom below 1 for a card, pan/tilt to place it), and give it life with

`clip motion ITEM --preset zoom-in` (or `pan-left`/`pan-right`): a still that does not move looks frozen.

Never convert photos to video files.

- **Generated B-roll** (only when a provider serves it: `capabilities get library.generate --kind clip`; none is

not a reason to skip stock): `library generate "<shot, framing, light>" --kind clip --request-id broll-1

[--params '{...}']` (paid providers: `--dry-run` first and say the price; model options such as length and aspect

are the provider's, read them from its options). Save the one the user picks with `library add --from-result

JOB:N`, then `library place ID --track OVERLAY --at-frame F --duration N --base-rev N`. It is AI picture: the

rules below apply as for stock, and `project credits` counts it in the AI share.

## 4. Rules

- **Never pass stock off as the real place.** Keep the real footage as the main picture; stock goes on top or

in between with a label "Ảnh minh hoạ · Pexels" / "Video minh hoạ · Pexels" (`keyword-sticker` or

`place-card` text item), placed where it doesn't collide with other labels.

- Tie each picture to the words it illustrates ("nồi đất" → clay pot); 1.4–2 s each, a soft pop sound.

- 2–3 illustrations per video at most, off faces.

## Icons (Iconify)

For a small illustration (money, location pin, clock, check mark, arrow), an icon reads better than a photo and

needs no "minh hoạ" label. Iconify serves 200k+ vector icons through a free API (no key, ~0.2 s per call, tested

October 2026):

```sh

curl -s "https://api.iconify.design/search?query=cash&limit=20" # → icons ["mdi:cash", "solar:wallet-bold", …]

curl -s "https://api.iconify.design/collections?prefixes=mdi,solar" # → each set's licence

curl -s -o cash.svg "https://api.iconify.design/mdi/cash.svg?color=%23FFD400&height=512"

rsvg-convert -w 512 -h 512 cash.svg -o cash.png # transparent PNG; or: magick -background none -density 1536 cash.svg -resize 512x512 cash.png

```

- BashCut imports PNG, not SVG: convert first. Never use `qlmanage` for this: it paints a white background.

- Prefer filled sets (names with `solid`, `fill`, `bold`, or `fluent-emoji-flat` for colour emoji): thin outline

icons disappear on a phone. `?color=` recolours one-colour icons; colour emoji keep their own colours.

- Licence per set: MIT, Apache 2.0, CC0 and OFL need nothing in the video; CC BY needs a credit line in the

(`media import … --place --track OVERLAY`), 512 px, small (`transform` zoom ~0.25–0.4), with a pop sound, and

keep the good ones: `bashcut library add --kind sticker --name "Cash" --file /abs/media/stock/icons/cash.png --source "https://icon-sets.iconify.design/mdi/cash/" --license "Apache-2.0" --tags money`.

## Free fallback: blurred own footage

For a background (a horizontal clip in a vertical frame, a split moment, an info card), put a copy of the same

clip on the layer below, zoomed until it fills the frame, and darken and soften it with an adjustment until the

subject in front reads clearly. There is no right value: footage, text and grade all change it. As an example

only, zoom ~1.8 with `exposure` −1 and `saturation` 0.7 has worked; a bright, busy background needs more, a dark

one less. Check with `ui frame F` and `ui frame F --phone` (text and edges at the size a viewer sees them) and

adjust. Same colours, no licence question.