Replicate is a platform for running open-source AI models through a single API. The Replicate connector lets your RShift Sites app run thousands of models for image, video, audio, and text generation. It’s designed for apps that need a specific open-source model beyond RShift Sites’ built-in AI, such as a particular FLUX fine-tune, a community video model, or a specific Whisper variant.
Replicate is available as an app + chat connector: one shared connection that works in the project chat while you build and in your published apps.
With Replicate, your app can:
- Generate images, video, and audio with open-source models such as FLUX and Stable Diffusion
- Transcribe speech with models such as Whisper
- Generate text with open language models
- Start from an uploaded image, for example to animate a product photo into a video
Replicate is a good fit when your app needs a specific model that isn’t available through RShift Sites’ built-in AI.
Common use cases and example apps
These examples show what you can build with Replicate, each with a prompt to start from.
| Example app | Example prompt | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Text-to-image generator | Use Replicate and build an app that turns text prompts into images with FLUX. | Generate images from text prompts on demand. The app sends prompts to a Replicate image model and shows the results. |
| Image-to-video tool | Use Replicate and build a tool that animates a product photo into a short video clip. | Turn still images into short video clips. The app uploads a source image, runs an image-to-video model, and plays back the generated clip. |
| Audio transcription app | Use Replicate and build an app that transcribes uploaded audio with Whisper. | Transcribe spoken audio into text. The app sends recordings to a transcription model and returns the transcript in the app. |
| Image editing tool | Use Replicate and build a tool that removes backgrounds from uploaded product photos. | Edit and enhance images automatically. The app runs an image-processing model and returns the edited file. |
| Avatar and sticker generator | Use Replicate and build an app that creates custom avatar stickers from a selfie. | Create personalized image content from uploads. The app feeds a photo to a generation model and produces styled results. |
| Custom model app | Use Replicate and build an app that runs our fine-tuned model on customer inputs. | Serve your own fine-tuned models inside your app. The app calls a model you’ve trained on Replicate and shows the output. |
How to connect Replicate
Who can create Replicate connections depends on your plan and workspace settings. App + chat connectors are available by default on Free, Pro, and Business plans. On Enterprise plans, they are effectively disabled at first: Who can create connections and clients defaults to No one until an admin changes it in Connectors → Admin settings → App + chat connectors.
You can create multiple Replicate connections using different API tokens, which is useful for separating environments (for example, development and production) or managing rate limits.
When the connection is created, you can link it to the projects where you want to use it. Anyone building in a project can ask RShift Sites in the project chat to link their project to it.
Prerequisites
Before connecting Replicate, make sure you have:
- A Replicate account
- A Replicate API token
- Permission to create connections in your RShift Sites workspace (see Who can create connections and clients)
Step 1: Get a Replicate API token
A Replicate API token lets your RShift Sites app authenticate with the Replicate API.
To create a Replicate API token:
Open your Replicate account
Sign in to Replicate.
Open API tokens
Go to Account settings → API tokens.
Create a token
Click Create token and give it a descriptive name, for example RShift Sites integration.
Copy the token
Copy the token (it starts with r8_) and store it securely.
See Replicate documentation for more: API tokens and security.
Step 2: Connect Replicate to RShift Sites
You can create multiple connections using different API tokens.
Open Replicate in Connectors
Open Connectors and select Replicate. For the other places to open the catalog from, see Where to find connectors.
Add a connection
Click Add connection.
Configure the connection
- Display name: name the connection, for example
Replicate Prod. This name is only used inside RShift Sites to identify the connection. 2. API token: paste your Replicate API token (it starts withr8_). Get value next to the field opens the Replicate API tokens page.
Choose who can use this connection
Under Sharing, the connection is private to you by default and shows a Private label. To share it, click Share with others. Then add workspace members by email, or click Invite entire workspace to make the connection available to everyone in your RShift Sites workspace.
See Who can use connections and clients for more information.
Connect
Click Connect. RShift Sites verifies the token against the Replicate API before saving the connection.
When connected, anyone building in a project can ask RShift Sites in the project chat to link their project to Replicate (based on configured connection-level access). Your RShift Sites apps can then generate images, video, audio, and text with Replicate models.
Limitations
The Replicate connector cannot:
- Keep generated files at the Replicate URL. Output URLs expire after about an hour, so the app must save generated images, video, and audio to its own storage. Ask RShift Sites to store outputs when you build the feature.
- Rotate API tokens automatically. To rotate, create a new token in Replicate and update the RShift Sites connection.
- Support per-end-user Replicate login. Each connection represents a single Replicate account shared across all projects linked to it.
Troubleshooting
If predictions fail, the section below covers the most common error and how to resolve it.
Predictions fail with 402 "Insufficient credit"
The Replicate account behind the connection has no credit. Add billing or credit at replicate.com/account/billing, then run the prediction again. The API token itself is still valid.
Manage your {connector_0} connection
Connections are managed from Connectors: select {connector_0}, then open the connection.
- Unlink projects to remove {connector_0} access from specific projects while keeping the connection available for others. See Unlink projects from a connection for the steps.
- Delete the connection to remove it from the workspace entirely. Deleting is permanent. It removes the credentials from all linked projects, and app features that use {connector_0} stop working until a new connection is added. See Delete a connection for the steps and who can delete.