video-translate

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Translates a talking-head take (or a finished video) into another language with the creator's own cloned voice through ElevenLabs Dubbing, using their ElevenLabs API key - sets the key up, trims the take first so no stutter is paid for, estimates the minutes, sends it after a yes, waits, lays the dubbed voice back on the image, then hands the translated take to video-edit for captions in the new language. Use when the user says translate, dub, dubbing, English version, Spanish version, traduis, version anglaise, doublage, ElevenLabs, or wants a second account in another language.

3installs

Sourcemelvynx/video-agent-skills

Added on2026-10-14

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add melvynx/video-agent-skills video-translate

SKILL.md Content

View Translation Comparison →

Video Translate

One take in, the same take in another language out, in the creator's own voice (ElevenLabs clones it from the take itself). The image stays the original: no lip-sync. Then

/video-edit

edits the translated take like any other, with captions in the new language.

Talk to them in their language.

<slug>

: the take's slug;

<lang>

: the target language code (

en

,

es

,

fr

,

de

,

pt

,

it

,

ja

...),

<from>

: the source one.

1. The ElevenLabs key (once)

The key lives in

video-agent/.env

, never in a chat message, a script or a commit:

bash

grep -c ELEVENLABS_API_KEY video-agent/.env 2>/dev/null

or no file:

They create a key at elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys (an ElevenLabs account; dubbing uses the credits of their plan, the free plan adds a watermark).
They paste it into
```
video-agent/.env
```
themselves, as one line:
```
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=sk_...
```
. Offer to create the empty file and open it. Never ask them to paste the key in the chat; if they do anyway, write it to the file and tell them they can regenerate it.
```
video-agent/.env
```
must be in the project's
```
.gitignore
```
(add the line
```
video-agent/.env
```
if it isn't).

Every command below loads it with

set -a; . video-agent/.env; set +a

and never prints it.

2. What to translate

Translate the take, not a finished video: a finished video has captions burned in the old language. Then video-edit cuts, captions and times everything on the new voice.

A take already edited (

video-agent/edits/<slug>/edit.json

exists): send only the kept parts, so no silence, stutter or retake is paid for. Make the plain cut with video-edit's ranges (from

video-agent/studio/

):

bash

SEL=$(node -e 'const e=require("./public/<slug>.edit.json");console.log(e.ranges.map(r=>`between(t,${r.fromMs/1000},${r.toMs/1000})`).join("+"))')
ffmpeg -y -i public/<slug>.mp4 -vf "select='$SEL',setpts=N/FRAME_RATE/TB" -af "aselect='$SEL',asetpts=N/SR/TB" -c:v libx264 -crf 18 -c:a aac -b:a 192k ../.tmp/<slug>-cut.mp4

The source is

video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-cut.mp4

.

A raw take: offer to run
```
/video-edit
```
up to its cut list first (steps 1 to 4) for the same reason. In a hurry: send the raw take as it is.

3. Estimate, then send

bash

ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of csv=p=0 "<source>"

Show one line and wait for a yes:

Dub <slug> fr → en · 0:52 of video · billed on your ElevenLabs credits for about 1 minute (check your plan's dubbing price on elevenlabs.io/pricing) · no lip-sync

.

Then send it (about 10 s per minute of upload):

bash

mkdir -p video-agent/.tmp
set -a; . video-agent/.env; set +a
curl -sS --fail-with-body -X POST https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/dubbing \
  -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" \
  -F "file=@<source>" -F "target_lang=<lang>" -F "source_lang=<from or auto>" \
  -F "num_speakers=1" -F "watermark=false" -F "name=<slug>-<lang>" \
  > video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-<lang>.job.json
cat video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-<lang>.job.json

It returns

{"dubbing_id": "...", "expected_duration_sec": ...}

. Keep the id: if anything stops, polling again with it costs nothing. A 401 is a wrong key; a 402 or "quota" means no credits left on their plan;

watermark

refused: send it again without that field.

4. Wait, then download

Poll every 15 s until

status

is

dubbed

(

failed

: show the error and stop). Usually 1 to 5 minutes for a short; run it in the background:

bash

set -a; . video-agent/.env; set +a
curl -sS --fail-with-body -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/dubbing/<dubbing_id>

Then the dubbed file:

bash

set -a; . video-agent/.env; set +a
curl -sS --fail-with-body -H "xi-api-key: $ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" -o video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-<lang>.dub https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/dubbing/<dubbing_id>/audio/<lang>
ffprobe -v error -show_entries stream=codec_type -of csv=p=0 video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-<lang>.dub

It has a
```
video
```
stream: it is already the dubbed video, move it to
```
video-agent/takes/<slug>-<lang>.mp4
```
.

Audio only: lay it back on the original image:

bash

ffmpeg -y -i "<source>" -i video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-<lang>.dub -map 0:v -map 1:a -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 192k -shortest video-agent/takes/<slug>-<lang>.mp4

Check it: same length as the source (within a second). Then ask them to listen to the first 10 seconds before editing (voice, accent, a wrong word).

5. Edit the translated take

/video-edit <slug>-<lang>

, and tell it:

The language changed: in
```
video-agent/studio/whisper-config.mjs
```
, set
```
WHISPER_LANG
```
to
```
<lang>
```
for this transcription (English:
```
WHISPER_MODEL = "medium.en"
```
works best; any other language:
```
"medium"
```
), and put it back after. The hook card, callouts and
```
post.md
```
are written in
```
<lang>
```
.
Same edit as the original when there is one: same hook card and callouts (translated), placed on the matching words of the new transcript.
The ask (CTA) in
```
<lang>
```
: ask them once for its translation, or translate the one in voice.md and show it.

Name everything

<slug>-<lang>

so both versions sit side by side. Then

/video-publish <slug>-<lang>

on the account for that language.

Delete

video-agent/.tmp/<slug>-*

at the end, except the job file if they may want to download the dub again.

Honest limits

No lip-sync: the lips move in the original language. Fine with a lot of motion, a small face or quick cuts; noticeable on a long close-up.
The voice clone comes from the take: a noisy take or music under the voice gives a worse clone.
Machine translation: names, jargon and jokes can come out wrong. Ask them (or a native speaker) to check the transcript of the dubbed take before posting.
Dubbing costs ElevenLabs credits per minute, and the price depends on their plan. Trimming the take first is the cheapest saving.

video-translate

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Video Translate

1. The ElevenLabs key (once)

2. What to translate

3. Estimate, then send

4. Wait, then download

5. Edit the translated take

Honest limits