Generate a short video with sound from one sentence with MiniMax H3 via the AppleToken API (free until Nov 6)

#python #api #ai #tutorial

This walkthrough shows how to turn one text prompt into a short video with sound through an API, using MiniMax's H3 video model on AppleToken.

Until 23:59 on November 6, 2026 (Taipei time) / 15:59 UTC / 0:59 on November 7 (Japan time), the "H3 HappyDay" campaign makes generation with gputw/minimax-h3 free, with no limit on total uses (limits apply to concurrent jobs and submissions per minute).

What we will do

Sign up on AppleToken and create an API key
Request a video with POST /v2/videos/generations
Poll GET /v2/videos/{id} until it is done
Download the mp4 from GET /v2/videos/{id}/content

1. Sign up and get a key

Sign up at appletoken.app and create an API key (it starts with at_live_) in the dashboard. During the campaign you can generate without a top-up; we confirmed a new account with a $0 balance can generate.

2. Try it with curl

export APPLETOKEN_API_KEY=at_live_xxxxxxxx   # your key

# 1) Request a video
curl -s https://appletoken.app/v2/videos/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APPLETOKEN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "User-Agent: h3-demo/1.0" \
  -d '{"model":"gputw/minimax-h3","prompt":"A Shiba Inu flying a small plane over Mount Fuji","seconds":5,"resolution":"720p","aspect_ratio":"9:16"}'
# => {"id":"job_xxx","status":"processing", ...}

# 2) Poll every 10 s until status is completed
curl -s https://appletoken.app/v2/videos/job_xxx \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APPLETOKEN_API_KEY" -H "User-Agent: h3-demo/1.0"

# 3) Download the mp4
curl -s -o h3.mp4 https://appletoken.app/v2/videos/job_xxx/content \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APPLETOKEN_API_KEY" -H "User-Agent: h3-demo/1.0"

3. Python (standard library only)

On 429 (busy) or 503 (paused), wait the retry_after seconds in the response, then retry. We set a User-Agent explicitly because urllib with its default User-Agent sometimes got a 403.

import json, os, time, urllib.request, urllib.error

API = "https://appletoken.app/v2"
KEY = os.environ["APPLETOKEN_API_KEY"]  # at_live_...
HEADERS = {
    "Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}",
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "User-Agent": "h3-demo/1.0",  # the default Python UA can get a 403
}

def call(method, path, body=None):
    while True:
        req = urllib.request.Request(API + path, method=method, headers=HEADERS,
                                     data=json.dumps(body).encode() if body else None)
        try:
            with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as r:
                return r.read() if path.endswith("/content") else json.load(r)
        except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
            if e.code in (429, 503):
                wait = int(json.loads(e.read() or b"{}").get("retry_after") or e.headers.get("Retry-After") or 30)
                print(f"{e.code}: retrying in {wait}s")
                time.sleep(wait)
                continue
            raise

job = call("POST", "/videos/generations", {
    "model": "gputw/minimax-h3",
    "prompt": "A Shiba Inu flying a small plane over Mount Fuji",
    "seconds": 5, "resolution": "720p", "aspect_ratio": "9:16",
})
print("job:", job["id"], job["status"])
while job["status"] not in ("completed", "failed"):
    time.sleep(10)
    job = call("GET", f"/videos/{job['id']}")
print("status:", job["status"], "price:", job.get("price_charged"))
if job["status"] == "completed":
    open("h3.mp4", "wb").write(call("GET", f"/videos/{job['id']}/content"))
    print("saved h3.mp4")

It saves h3.mp4. In our own runs, a video took 104 to 441 seconds from submit to finish. At campaign peak a job can stay queued for 10 minutes or more (measured around 23:00 JST on Nov 5); the response shows the wait in queue.waited_seconds.

4. Example output

The campaign video, "Dream". Every scene in it was generated by H3 (AI-generated).

Specs and limits

Item	Value
Model	`gputw/minimax-h3` (other models keep regular prices)
Length	1–5 seconds
Resolution	480p / 720p
Aspect ratio	16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 3:4
Audio	included automatically
Reference images	not supported
Concurrency	up to 32 jobs per account (per GPUtw.ai); 120 submissions per minute
Regular price	0.017 points/s at 720p, 0.007 points/s at 480p
Free until	23:59 Nov 6, 2026 Taipei time (15:59 UTC). Jobs finishing after that are charged at the regular price

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