Bannerbear V5 just landed with a major redesign — and the headline feature is Workflows, letting you chain images, animations, and videos together in one automated pipeline. No code, no juggling tools, no rebuilding ffmpeg scripts from scratch.
In this feature guide, we cover:
• Creating and configuring image templates (from scratch, pre-built library, or AI-generated)
• Responsive design + the adaptive preview tool for testing multiple sizes
• Rendering images via Zapier, Make, direct integrations (Slack, Airtable, Coda), or the REST API
• Generating and iterating on images conversationally using Bannerbear's MCP with ChatGPT/Claude
• Building a full multi-step Workflow: title animation → resize → branded overlay → transition — all in one place
Whether you're generating a single image or scaling to hundreds, Bannerbear V5 gives you the tools to do it all without code.
Video Transcription
[00:00:00] Bannerbear just got a major redesign the interface is cleaner but it doesn't stop there we've added workflows and that means you can now chain together images animations and videos all in one place without code if you've ever wanted to create a polished multi-step automated video framework without learning ffmpeg or building every frame from scratch this is for you In this feature guide, we'll walk you through setting up templates, generating images the new way, and building your first workflow.
A Bannerbear template turns your design into an API, so you can hook it up to fresh input and generate unique results whenever you need it. Whether you want certificates, video previews,
[00:01:00] or posters, you can combine scale with design consistency. You can design from scratch, pick one from our pre-built library, or use AI to set you up with a starting point.
Setting up a template is straightforward. Log into your dashboard, go to Create, and select Image Templates.
Give it a name and choose your size
Once you're on the canvas, add objects, text, images, shapes, QR codes, and more, and modify them as needed. Each object can be set to responsive, so it'll adjust to different sizes without breaking your design
If you've got a responsive template,
[00:02:00] check out the adaptive preview page to see how it handles nine random sizes. That way, you don't have to design multiple versions every time you need a slightly different size
When you're ready to render, you've got options. Workflow automation platforms like Zapier and Make, direct integrations like Slack, Airtable, and Coda, or the restful API to hook Bannerbear into your own systems Workflow automation platforms like Zapier allow you to connect the programs that might not have a direct integration and build multi-app workflows that normally would require custom code.
Using it with Bannerbear means that you can
[00:03:00] set up a trigger, like a form submission or database update, and automatically generate images in response Here's how it works. Start with your trigger. This can be anything, a form submission, a new row in a spreadsheet, a webhook, whatever makes sense to kick off your workflow
Next comes the Bannerbear action. After your trigger fires and your data is ready, add a Create image action
You'll need to connect your account first Use an API key from the developer section of your dashboard
Once connected, select your template Then
[00:04:00] it's time to configure your image. Adjust the size, change the background, swap in text, whatever your template allows
You can also choose your output format, including PDFs if you need them
Test it to see the results
And that's it your image is ready to save or share however you need With Bannerbear's MCP, you can generate images directly in ChatGPT or Claude, but here's what makes it different from Zapier. You can iterate in real time. Whether you're changing colors, tweaking layouts, generating a few variations,
[00:05:00] you can handle all of this conversationally without rebuilding anything.
You can also use chat to help craft your input data. Need copy for your template? Let AI help you clean it up. Need a bunch of variations? Ask for them. Let's see what an image rendering conversation might look like. Once you've connected Bannerbear to your chat assistant, it's straightforward Give it your template, provide your data and ask it to render
From there, you can keep talking to it. Perhaps you want to switch up some of the colors or generate five variations with different titles. Each request generates a new output without you having to touch anything
[00:06:00]
That's the real power of Chat. You're designing and iterating in the same place you're generating The most powerful feature update in V5 is Workflows, which lets you chain together images, animations, and videos in a single automation. But here's what really matters: everything happens in one place with one set of inputs using tools built for scale.
Compare that to the old way. Multiple templates, several different platforms, stitching it all together manually with tools that weren't necessarily built to prioritize beautiful automated media. Workflows cuts that down to one coherent process right in your dashboard. Workflows are built directly in Bannerbear.
Set it up once,
[00:07:00] connect your input data, and let it run. You don't have to jump between tools or rebuild steps in multiple platforms every time there's a slight change. The utilities built in video resizing, image overlays, transcriptions, transitions, and more are purpose-built for this kind of work, which means you get capabilities you might not find elsewhere.
This is especially powerful when you need to scale multi-step processes that can handle responsive templates, transitions from segment to segment, and burned-in subtitles. Workflows can handle it all. Let's look at an example. I want to automatically generate a video with two main segments: a title animation, and then a short framed video clip.
[00:08:00]
This is a branded framework I can reuse every time we release a new video on YouTube. The old way would look like multiple templates, make scenarios, utility tools strung together. The new way, one workflow does it all. Here's what the final output looks like
Now let's build it. Start by creating a new workflow. Go to Automate, click Workflows, and give it a name and description
Next, define your inputs. These are the data fields that would feed into your workflow. Video URL, title, overlay image, episode number,
[00:09:00] whatever you need. Be sure to also specify the types for each one. String, URL, number, or Boolean value
Now add your steps Start with an animation action to generate your title segment. Map in your inputs. Static info goes directly in the field, and dynamic data comes from your inputs list
Let's chain in a tool step to resize the video to the right aspect ratio
Add another tool step to overlay a static image on top for some branded framing
Finally, join everything
[00:10:00] together with a tool step that combines both segments and adds a transition
Save it, test it, and you've got a complete multi-step video automation, no code, no context switching between tools
From here, you can keep building. There are plenty of ways to go. Add subtitles, layer in more segments, make it responsive so you can generate at any size. Possibilities scale with your needs You've now seen the full picture. Templates, rendering via Zapier and chat, and the power of workflows. Whether you're generating one image or scaling to hundreds, iterating in chat
[00:11:00] or automating with triggers, BannerBear V5 gives you the tools to do it, all without code.
Now go forth and build.
