For those who do not know the tool: SwitchX is Beeble’s image and video transformation system for prompt-driven and reference-driven visual changes such as lighting adjustment, background replacement and related compositing-style alterations. Until now, that workflow lived primarily in the web application.

Beeble has launched the SwitchX API in public beta, taking its browser-based image and video transformation tool and turning it into something developers and pipeline teams can actually integrate into production systems. That is the useful part of this release. The familiar launch language about cinematic transformation is there, of course, but the more relevant shift is structural: SwitchX is now available via a documented REST API rather than only through a web interface.

From web app to pipeline component

SwitchX API follows a fairly standard service model. Users authenticate via x-api-key, upload source media, start a generation job, then either poll the result endpoint or use a callback URL for webhook-based completion handling. In other words, it behaves like an API, which should not be remarkable, but in this market it sometimes still is.

That matters because it moves SwitchX from a browser-first tool toward something that can sit inside internal apps, automated workflows, or technical artist tooling. For teams trying to reduce manual handling between editorial, compositing, review and delivery, that is a more meaningful step than the launch itself.

What the API actually supports

The generation endpoint accepts both image and video jobs. Source material can be supplied from Beeble-hosted upload URLs, external HTTPS URLs, or inline base64 payloads up to 50 MB. Supported image formats include PNG, JPEG and WebP. Supported video formats include MP4 and MOV using H.264 or HEVC, with a maximum of 240 frames per job.

Output is (currently) limited to 720p and 1080p, with 1080p being the default. That does not place SwitchX in final-finishing territory, but it does make it usable for iteration, look development, internal tool integration, and some fairly direct production use where speed and automation matter more than absolute output scale.

Alpha handling

SwitchX supports four alpha modes: auto, fill, custom and select. Auto handles subject separation automatically. Fill keeps the full frame. Custom accepts a supplied alpha asset. Select allows users to define a first-frame alpha keyframe that the system then propagates across the shot.

Background replacement, relighting and subject isolation all sound smooth until edges, motion blur, hair and semi-transparent detail arrive and start asking difficult questions. The API exposes enough control to make the workflow more testable and less opaque.

Webhooks, retries and other unglamorous useful things

Beeble has also included a few details that make the SwitchX API more realistic for technical workflows. The start-generation endpoint supports callback_url for webhook-based completion and idempotency_key for safer retries. This suggests Beeble is not only targeting solo browser users but also teams that want to integrate SwitchX into repeatable systems. That does not automatically make it production-proven, but it does mean the API is designed with awareness of how production systems tend to break.

Pricing is prepaid and usage-based

Beeble is positioning the SwitchX API as a pay-as-you-go service with prepaid USD credits. The public pricing page lists Build-tier pricing at $0.10 per 30 frames for 720p video and $0.30 per 30 frames for 1080p video. Images are priced at the same two levels. The minimum top-up is listed at $50, and the default monthly spending cap is $5,000. At launch, the API appears to focus specifically on SwitchX. Other Beeble tools, including SwitchLight, are not currently presented as API-accessible products in the same way. We’ll see what happens :)

What this means in practice

The interesting part of the SwitchX API launch is not the promise of cinematic transformation without manual VFX work. The interesting part is that Beeble now offers a well-documented service with uploads, generation jobs, polling, callbacks, account controls and usage-based billing. That moves SwitchX from a browser feature to a pipeline candidate.

Whether it becomes a serious production tool will depend on output consistency, edge quality, latency, and how much cleanup still lands back on artists after the automated step has finished. That question remains open, which is normal. The difference now is that developers and technical teams can test it directly inside their own workflows instead of evaluating it from the sidelines through a browser demo.

https://developer.beeble.ai/

The post SwitchX API for video transformations in YOUR pipeline first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.