MiniMax API

Use the MiniMax API via direct curl calls for AI chat completion, text-to-speech, and video generation.

Official docs: https://platform.minimax.io/docs

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

Chat completion with Chinese-optimized LLM (MiniMax-M1/M2)
Text-to-speech with natural voices and emotion control
Video generation from text prompts (T2V)
Image-to-video conversion (I2V)

Prerequisites

Sign up at MiniMax Platform
Go to Account Management > API Keys to create an API key
Note: Global users should use api.minimaxi.chat (with extra "i")

export MINIMAX_API_KEY="your-api-key"

API Hosts

Region	Base URL
China	`https://api.minimax.io`
Global	`https://api.minimaxi.chat`

Important: When using $VAR in a command that pipes to another command, wrap the command containing $VAR in bash -c '...'. Due to a Claude Code bug, environment variables are silently cleared when pipes are used directly.
bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.example.com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"' | jq .

How to Use

All examples below assume you have MINIMAX_API_KEY set.

Authentication uses Bearer token in the Authorization header.

1. Basic Chat Completion

Send a chat message:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/text/chatcompletion_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "model": "MiniMax-Text-01",
  "messages": [
  {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
  {"role": "user", "content": "Hello, who are you?"}
  ]
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'.choices[0].message.content'"'"''

Available models:

MiniMax-M2: Reasoning model (best quality)
MiniMax-M1: Reasoning model (balanced)
MiniMax-Text-01: Standard model (fastest)

2. Chat with Temperature Control

Adjust creativity:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/text/chatcompletion_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "model": "MiniMax-Text-01",
  "messages": [
  {"role": "user", "content": "Write a short poem about AI."}
  ],
  "temperature": 0.7,
  "max_tokens": 200
  }'"'"' | jq '"'"'.choices[0].message.content'"'"''

Parameters:

temperature (0-1): Higher = more creative
top_p (0-1, default 0.95): Sampling diversity
max_tokens: Maximum output tokens

3. Streaming Response

Get real-time output:

curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/text/chatcompletion_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "model": "MiniMax-M1",
  "messages": [
  {"role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum computing."}
  ],
  "stream": true
  }'

Streaming is recommended for reasoning models (M1/M2).

4. Reasoning Model (M1/M2)

Use reasoning models for complex tasks:

curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/text/chatcompletion_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "model": "MiniMax-M1",
  "messages": [
  {"role": "user", "content": "Solve step by step: A train travels 120km in 2 hours. What is its average speed in m/s?"}
  ],
  "stream": true
  }'

Response includes reasoning_content field with thought process.

5. Text-to-Speech (Basic)

Convert text to speech:

curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/t2a_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "model": "speech-02-hd",
  "text": "Hello, this is a test of MiniMax text to speech.",
  "voice_id": "male-qn-qingse",
  "speed": 1.0,
  "format": "mp3"
  }' --output speech.mp3

6. TTS with Emotion

Add emotion to speech (speech-02 models):

curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/t2a_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "model": "speech-02-hd",
  "text": "I am so happy to meet you today!",
  "voice_id": "female-shaonv",
  "emotion": "happy",
  "speed": 1.0,
  "format": "mp3"
  }' --output happy_speech.mp3

Emotion options: happy, sad, angry, fearful, disgusted, surprised, neutral

7. TTS with Audio Settings

Fine-tune audio output:

curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/t2a_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "model": "speech-02-hd",
  "text": "High quality audio test.",
  "voice_id": "male-qn-qingse",
  "speed": 1.0,
  "vol": 1.0,
  "pitch": 0,
  "audio_sample_rate": 32000,
  "bitrate": 128000,
  "format": "mp3"
  }' --output hq_speech.mp3

TTS models:

speech-02-hd: High definition (best quality)
speech-02-turbo: Fast generation
speech-01-hd: Previous gen HD
speech-01-turbo: Previous gen fast

8. Text-to-Video (T2V)

Generate video from text prompt:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/video_generation" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "model": "T2V-01-Director",
  "prompt": "A cat playing with a ball of yarn [Static shot].",
  "duration": 6,
  "resolution": "1080P"
  }'"'"' | jq .'

Video generation is async - returns a task ID to poll for completion.

9. T2V with Camera Control

Control camera movement in videos:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/video_generation" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "model": "MiniMax-Hailuo-2.3",
  "prompt": "A person walking through a forest [Tracking shot], then stops to look at a bird [Push in].",
  "duration": 6,
  "resolution": "1080P"
  }'"'"' | jq .'

Camera commands (in brackets):

Movement: Truck left/right, Pan left/right, Push in/Pull out
Vertical: Pedestal up/down, Tilt up/down
Zoom: Zoom in/out
Special: Shake, Tracking shot, Static shot

Combine with [Pan left, Pedestal up] (max 3 simultaneous).

10. Image-to-Video (I2V)

Generate video from an image:

Note: For I2V, use MiniMax-Hailuo-2.3 or S2V-01 model which supports first_frame_image. The T2V-01-Director model is text-to-video only.

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/video_generation" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "model": "MiniMax-Hailuo-2.3",
  "prompt": "The scene comes to life with gentle movement [Static shot].",
  "first_frame_image": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
  "duration": 6,
  "resolution": "1080P"
  }'"'"' | jq .'

Provide first_frame_image as URL or base64-encoded image.

11. Function Calling (Tools)

Use tools with chat:

bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.minimax.io/v1/text/chatcompletion_v2" -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer ${MINIMAX_API_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{
  "model": "MiniMax-Text-01",
  "messages": [
  {"role": "user", "content": "What is the weather in Beijing?"}
  ],
  "tools": [
  {
  "type": "function",
  "function": {
  "name": "get_weather",
  "description": "Get weather for a location",
  "parameters": {
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
  "location": {"type": "string", "description": "City name"}
  },
  "required": ["location"]
  }
  }
  }
  ],
  "tool_choice": "auto"
  }'"'"' | jq .'

Response Format

Chat Completion

{
  "id": "string",
  "choices": [{
  "message": {
  "role": "assistant",
  "content": "Response text",
  "reasoning_content": "Thought process (M1/M2 only)"
  },
  "finish_reason": "stop"
  }],
  "usage": {
  "prompt_tokens": 10,
  "completion_tokens": 50,
  "total_tokens": 60
  }
}

Guidelines

Use correct host: China uses api.minimax.io, global uses api.minimaxi.chat
Streaming for reasoning: M1/M2 models work best with stream: true
Camera syntax: Video commands go in [brackets] within prompts
Emotion in TTS: Only works with speech-02-* and speech-01-* models
Async video: Video generation returns task ID - poll for completion
Chinese optimized: MiniMax excels at Chinese language tasks

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