How to Install Remotion (Real Setup, Common Pitfalls)

The install command

npm start launches Remotion Studio, a local browser-based preview environment — this is where you'll build and preview your composition before rendering anything to a file.

Node version matters more than it seems

Remotion requires a reasonably current Node.js version, and using an old or unsupported version is one of the most common causes of confusing install-time errors that have nothing to do with Remotion itself — missing native module builds, unexpected syntax errors in dependencies. Check your version with node -v and update if it's more than a couple of major versions behind current.

The first render, not the install, is where problems usually appear

This is the actual render command, separate from Studio preview. The two most common first-render issues:

• FFmpeg not found. Remotion bundles its own FFmpeg binary in most setups, but on certain Linux distributions or CI environments, additional system dependencies are needed for the underlying browser-based rendering to work — check Remotion's platform-specific setup docs if the render fails immediately with a browser or FFmpeg-related error.
• Composition ID mismatch. The ID passed on the command line must exactly match the id prop of a <Composition> registered in your root file — a typo here produces a clear but easy-to-miss error.

Setting up for AI coding agent use

If you're planning to use Claude Code or Codex to fill in content for a template, install and verify a working render before involving the agent — confirming the base setup works removes one variable when debugging anything that goes wrong later.