Use MiniCut in China mainland

Install MiniCut with the China mainland region, download tools from mirrors, set a proxy, and switch MiniCut to Chinese.

MiniCut has one setting for the region, region in settings.json, and it is global or cn. The region decides which download sites the install, minicut update and minicut setup use. A proxy and the language are two more settings you can change on your own.

Install with the cn region

1. Run the install line with --region cn. On Windows, use -Region cn. The lines are on Install in a terminal.
2. If you give no region, the install times both download sites for up to 5 seconds each and uses the faster one.

The install saves the region. minicut update and minicut setup read it from settings.json, so you do not repeat it.

Download tools from mirrors

With the cn region saved, minicut setup prints region: cn (settings.json), so every host uses its mirror, as with --china and uses a mirror for every download. On another region, add --china to get the same.

minicut setup --china

Without the flag or the cn region, setup times each download site first. It uses the mirror for any site that does not answer within 4 seconds.

To see every download, its source and its size first, add --dry-run. It downloads nothing and writes nothing.

minicut setup --china --dry-run

Setup does not bring Python 3.12 or ffmpeg. When one is missing, setup prints a line starting MISSING: with the download site for your region, then exits with code 4. Install it and run minicut setup again.

With --china, files from GitHub come through a third-party proxy, and MiniCut checks each file's SHA256 before it uses it.

Set a proxy

1. Save the proxy. Every minicut command and the MiniCut app then use it.

minicut network --proxy http://192.0.2.10:7890

Proxy saved: http://192.0.2.10:7890

2. Check what is saved.

minicut network

Proxy: http://192.0.2.10:7890

3. To stop using it, remove it.

minicut network --direct

No proxy: every command connects directly.

If your proxy needs a login, put it in the address: http://USER:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT. MiniCut saves the address and the user name in settings.json. It saves the password in the key store, never in a file.

If HTTPS_PROXY is set when you install MiniCut, the install saves that proxy for you. A proxy you set in HTTPS_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY or NO_PROXY in your shell is used as it is. The saved proxy is used only when HTTPS_PROXY is not set. Calls to the MiniCut app on your own computer (127.0.0.1 and localhost) skip the proxy.

If the saved proxy refuses the connection, the command connects directly once and prints this line on stderr. Run the command it names to stop using the proxy.

代理 HOST 连不上，已直接连接；运行 minicut network --direct 可以不再用它

An address that is not http://HOST:PORT prints Invalid URL or a proxy is http://host:port, got with what you typed, and exits with code 5.

Switch the language

The MiniCut app opens in Chinese until you choose a language. minicut lang shows the language and minicut lang en switches it. The open app picks the change up within a few seconds.

minicut lang en

English (ui_language en)

minicut lang zh

中文 (ui_language zh)

Any other value prints Usage: minicut lang [zh|en] [--json] and exits with code 2.

minicut login --lang zh saves the same setting and opens the sign-in page in Chinese. Without --lang and with no saved language, the sign-in page opens in English.

Reach minicut.ai

Sign-in, your account and every command that makes a picture, a voice or a video go through minicut.ai. If a command cannot reach it, it exits with code 7. A computer that signed in keeps working offline for 7 days, and each command prints one Offline: line on stderr. See Account.

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