Wan 2.6 API

Introduction

Wan 2.6 Reference to video casts people, animals or objects from one to three short clips into a new scene you describe. The clips supply who or what appears; location, action, camera and light all come from the prompt. The result runs any whole number of seconds from 2 to 10, at 720p or 1080p, in one of five aspect ratios, as one continuous take or a multi-shot edit. The call is alibaba/wan-2.6/reference-to-video and it is asynchronous: create the task, then poll or take the callback.

Up to two still images can join the clips, or replace them, in the same request; together with the clips that is five references at most.

Choose a Wan 2.6 mode by starting material

Key features

Subjects travel, the setting is written

The reference clips decide who or what appears, and the prompt decides where they are, what they do and how the camera and light treat them. That is the difference from image-to-video, where the opening frame also fixes the set, the light and the proportions. Here, a presenter filmed once can be placed on a rooftop at dusk, in a different shape, without a second shoot.

Up to three clips in one scene

Send one clip when a single subject has to stay recognisable, or up to three when a scene needs several at once. Refer to the clips in the prompt by the order you sent them and say what each contributes, so the model knows which one is the presenter and which one is the dog. Busy clips with several people make it harder to know who should be cast.

Shape and size are parameters, not inherited

aspect_ratio is chosen per request: 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3 or 3:4, all available at both resolutions. 720p returns 1280×720, 720×1280, 960×960, 1088×832 or 832×1088; 1080p returns 1920×1080, 1080×1920, 1440×1440, 1632×1248 or 1248×1632. Nothing is taken from the reference footage, so a vertical delivery does not require vertical source clips, and one set of references can be delivered in several shapes.

Request parameters

Pricing

Prices are in credits, the same credits you use on the website (1 credit = $0.01). The hold is taken when the task is accepted and settled to the actual charge when it finishes; failed tasks are refunded.

Each task is rounded up to whole credits, so one run at the lowest tier costs 49 credits for a 5-second clip ($0.49).

For an exact number before you run, send the same body to POST /jobs/quote.

Use cases

Recast a presenter into a new location

One clip of the person, then a prompt for the room, the light and the camera move. The presenter's look comes from the reference while the set is written, so a single shoot can supply footage for locations that were never available on the day.

Put a product into seasonal staging

Send the packshot turn you already have and describe a new surface, a new season, a new light. The object keeps its shape and finish while the scene around it is rebuilt, so one product clip can serve several campaign settings without restaging the shot.

Bring two subjects together

A clip of a presenter and a clip of the animal or object that has to share the frame, then a prompt saying what each of them does. It resolves scenes that would otherwise need both subjects on set on the same day.

Reuse footage you cannot reshoot

An archive clip of a presenter who is no longer available, or a product sample that has gone back to the client, still carries the subject. Send it as the reference and write the new setting: the old footage supplies the subject, the prompt supplies the scene.

Prompt guide & pro tips

Pick clips the model can read

Short footage where the subject is large in frame, well lit and seen from more than one angle transfers best. A subject that stays small or backlit tends to come back only approximately. Trim before you upload rather than after: the seconds you send are billable, and the few seconds where the subject is clearest usually transfer better than a long take that wanders.

Write the scene, not the reference

Name what each clip contributes first, such as the woman from clip 1 and the dog from clip 2, then describe setting, action, camera and light the way you would for text-to-video, within 1,500 characters. Re-describing what the footage already shows spends that budget and sometimes competes with the clips. Use negative_prompt for what keeps turning up and should not: extra people, on-screen captions, or a prop from the reference clip that keeps following the subject into the new scene.

Budget the seconds before you submit

Billable seconds are the output duration plus the combined length of the reference clips, each rounded up to whole seconds, with the reference side counted up to five seconds in total.

Adapt the included example

Start from the published example using aspect_ratio: 16:9, duration_seconds: 5, resolution: 720p and one clip in reference_video_urls. Replace the subject and the staging while keeping that input contract intact.

Keep character1, the amber glass bottle, exactly - its shape, colour and the marble block it stands on. Move it to a sunlit kitchen windowsill in the morning, lemons and a linen cloth beside it. The camera circles it slowly the way the reference clip does. Soft birdsong outside.

One product clip as the reference, re-staged in a new room while the camera repeats its slow circle.

Check the likeness before iterating

Play the whole clip rather than the first second: likeness tends to drift towards the end of the longer durations, so check the last second before committing to that length. On 2 to 3 seconds there is rarely room for a cut, so multi mostly pays off from about 6 seconds upward. Hold the seed and swap one reference clip at a time while comparing; it keeps the random draw constant so the thing you changed is the only thing moving, without promising a frame-identical rerun.

API quick start

Call the Wan 2.6 API in three steps

1. Create an API key. Sign in to PopNow and create a key in the API console. Keys start with sk-popnow- and use the same credits as the website.
2. Send the request. POST /jobs/createTask with model alibaba/wan-2.6/reference-to-video and an input object that follows the parameter table. The response returns a task ID straight away.
3. Get the result. Poll GET /jobs/recordInfo with the task ID, or pass a callBackUrl and we post the result to it. Download the output links when the task succeeds.

# 1. Create the task. Keep the Idempotency-Key if you retry after a network error.
export IDEMPOTENCY_KEY="$(uuidgen)"
curl -X POST https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/jobs/createTask \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
  -d '{
  "model": "alibaba/wan-2.6/reference-to-video",
  "input": {
    "prompt": "A slow aerial shot drifting over a misty pine forest at sunrise",
    "reference_video_urls": [
      "https://media.popnow.ai/effects/flower-bloom-1abd6efb.mp4"
    ],
    "aspect_ratio": "16:9",
    "resolution": "720p",
    "duration_seconds": 5,
    "shot_type": "single"
  }
}'

# 2. Copy data.taskId from the response, then poll until state is succeeded, failed, canceled or expired.
TASK_ID="TASK_ID_FROM_RESPONSE"
curl "https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/jobs/recordInfo?taskId=$TASK_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY"

Replace the prompt and any links with your own. The API tab has the response, polling and callback reference.

Wan 2.6 API questions

All Wan models

Wan 2.6 Flash takes the same requests for less, with a little less fine detail. Wan 3.0 runs longer clips, up to 30 seconds.

• Wan 3.0 APIUp to 30-second clips with synced audioFrom 34 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 3.0 Prime APIQuicker Wan 3.0 renders, up to 30 seconds with audioFrom 46 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 3.0 Pro Prime APIQuicker Wan 3.0 Pro with 2K and 4K outputFrom 176 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 3.0 Pro APIWan 3.0 at 1080p, 2K or 4K, up to 30 secondsFrom 108 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 2.7 Pro APILarge 4K canvases and nine-image compositesFrom 12 credits per image
• Wan 2.7 APIThinks through the composition, then draws up to four imagesFrom 5 credits per image
• Wan 2.6 Flash APIQuick multi-shot clips from a single imageFrom 17 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 2.6 APIMulti-shot sequences with sound at up to 1080pFrom 49 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 2.5 API1080p clips with sound that can follow your own audioFrom 34 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 2.2 Animate APIDrive a character photo with a reference videoFrom 7.95 credits per second
• Wan 2.2 LoRA APIWan 2.2 video with your LoRAs on either expert passFrom 18 credits for a 5-second clip
• Wan 2.2 APISimple five-second clips at 480p or 720pFrom 36 credits per run
• Wan 2.2 5B LoRA APILight 720p Wan 2.2 clips that load your own LoRAsFrom 18 credits per run
• Wan 2.2 Image LoRA APIWan 2.2 stills with up to nine LoRAs across three slotsFrom 5 credits per image
• Wan 2.1 LoRA APIWan 2.1 video and edits with your own LoRAs, camera moves includedFrom 36 credits per run
• Wan 2.1 Image LoRA APIPhotoreal Wan 2.1 stills and restyles with your LoRAsFrom 5 credits per image

Other video APIs

• MiniMax H3 APIExpressive clips with audio, up to 2KFrom 28 credits for a 5-second clip
• Seedance 2.5 APIByteDance's newest: 30-second clips with native audioFrom 56 credits for a 5-second clip
• Kling 3.0 API4K clips, multi-shot cuts and motion controlFrom 51 credits for a 5-second clip
• Vidu Q4 Preview APIUp to 4K clips with sound and spoken dialogueFrom 34 credits for a 5-second clip
• Kling O3 APIKling’s unified model: create, animate, reference and edit up to 4KFrom 51 credits for a 5-second clip
• MiniMax H3 Max APIFast clips with ambience, effects and musicFrom 38 credits for a 5-second clip

More about Wan 2.6

Try it

Wan 2.6 AI Video Generator onlineCreate videos with Wan 2.6 in PopNow

Docs

Wan 2.6 model ID and input schema in the API docsPopNow API quickstart: your first request in five minutesImage to video guide for the PopNow APIWebhooks: get Wan 2.6 results without polling