xAI expands Grok Imagine API with Files integration, persistent storage, and video generation preview

xAI has shipped a series of updates to its Grok Imagine API in June 2026, adding deep integration with the Files API, public URL sharing for stored assets, and a new image-to-video model — Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Preview — that can turn still images into cinematic clips at up to 720p.

What's new

The updates, documented in xAI's release notes, address three developer pain points: moving assets between the Files API and Imagine, making generated content shareable, and adding video output as a native capability.

Files API + Imagine integration: Developers can now pass stored files directly into Imagine endpoints using image_file_id, video_file_id, or reference_image_file_ids instead of re-uploading content on every request. Conversely, generated images and video can be saved back to Files storage automatically by setting storage_options on any Imagine request.

Public URLs for Files: Any file in xAI's Files API storage can now be converted to a permanent, unauthenticated URL — accessible without API credentials — with configurable expiry (1 hour to 30 days) and revocable access. The release notes describe it as the ability to "turn any file in your Files API storage into a permanent, unauthenticated URL that anyone can open, embed, or share."

Grok Imagine Video 1.5 Preview: A new image-to-video model is available via the xAI API in preview. It accepts still images as input, applies natural-language motion control prompts, and outputs video at 480p or 720p. Pricing is $0.05 per second at 480p and $0.07 per second at 720p. The text-to-image endpoint remains $0.02 per image; image editing is $0.022 per image.

Priority Processing: A new service_tier: "priority" parameter is available across text, image, and video endpoints. Billing applies only when the priority tier is actually used.

The Grok Imagine 1.5 Preview image generation model launched earlier in June (announced June 3), building on the Aurora-2 engine foundation with improved quality and prompt adherence.

Context

xAI has been steadily expanding the Grok API beyond conversational AI. The Imagine endpoints give developers programmatic access to image and video generation under the same API key as Grok text models. The Files API integration closes a workflow gap that previously required developers to re-upload reference images on every call — adding latency and egress cost.

The video capability positions xAI against Runway, Luma, and Pika in the AI video-from-image space, all of which have offered similar preview capabilities to developers. Unlike some competitors, xAI prices per second of output rather than per generation or per credit tier.

Why it matters

For developers building multimodal applications on the Grok API, the Files API integration simplifies reference-image workflows significantly — one-time uploads can now persist across multiple generation requests. Public URLs make sharing and embedding AI-generated assets directly from the API straightforward without separate hosting.

The video preview extends xAI's creative API surface at the same time the company is scaling its image generation capabilities. With priority processing now available across all modalities, production workloads that need consistent latency have a direct path without switching providers.