JSON2VIDEO Documentation Editor overview
The Editor lives at json2video.com/editor. It is a standalone application: it is not part of the dashboard, and it has its own document, its own menu and its own render button.
What it is for
The Editor reads and writes the same movie JSON the API renders. That single fact explains most of what it is good at:
| You want to… | The Editor helps because… |
|---|---|
| Design a movie without writing JSON | Every property is a form field, and the preview updates as you edit |
| Turn a design into an automated render | Export JSON, or copy the equivalent API request from the render dialog |
| Understand a movie somebody else wrote | Open the JSON, then inspect it visually scene by scene |
| Build a reusable template | Declare variables and save it as a template |
| Check a movie before spending credits | The pre-flight checks run before the render is submitted |
Opening a movie
There are four ways to get a document into the Editor:
- New — start from a blank movie (
Template → New). - Open template… — pick one of the templates saved in your account. Requires signing in.
- Import JSON… — load a
.jsonfile from your computer. Works offline, with no account. - A link — see below.
Links that open a project
Two query parameters open the Editor with something already loaded. Both are read once, when the page loads.
| Link | Opens |
|---|---|
json2video.com/editor/?template=<id> |
One of your saved templates, by ID |
json2video.com/editor/?example=<path> |
A published example movie |
?template= is what the dashboard's Edit buttons use, so a template opened
from Templates lands in the Editor ready to work
on. It needs a session: if you are not signed in, the Editor asks you to sign in
rather than showing an empty document.
?example= accepts a path such as /basic/image-slideshow.json, which resolves
against the published examples, or a full json2video.com URL. URLs on other
hosts are refused.
If a link names a project and the browser is holding unsaved work from a previous session, the Editor asks which one you want before loading anything:
Nothing is fetched and nothing is discarded until you answer. See Saving your work for how the local draft behaves.
Signing in
The Editor never asks you for a session ID or an API key. Open a document, edit it, preview it and export it without an account.
An account is only needed for the four actions that talk to the API: opening a saved template, saving one, browsing your own media, and rendering. The first time you reach for one of those, a Sign in required dialog appears with a link to the login page, and you come back to the Editor signed in.
What the Editor does not do
- It does not render video itself. The preview runs in your browser; the final file is produced on the server. See preview versus render.
- It does not save to the server on its own. Saving a template is always an explicit action — see Saving your work.
- It edits one document at a time. There is no multi-document workspace.