A content pipeline is a brief with many steps, not one generate
create_content_pipeline plans a multi-step task from a brief. A single generate is a different job, and running it as a campaign wastes credits.
One brief. A full multi-step plan built around it. That is the job. Set up a full content pipeline is one named agent capability. create_content_pipeline takes a brief and a content_type (platforms, style, count, and auto_post are optional) and builds a tailored background task. Asking it for "one product still" is a pipeline tax on a job generate an image from text would have done. Asking a single generate to "do the Instagram campaign" is five implied steps you never budgeted.
Cost is the sum of each step's generation, shown before it starts.
What the pipeline actually plans
Describe the goal — content type and target platform(s). The agent plans the steps instead of you assembling them. It runs the plan and, if you asked, posts the results. Required fields are brief and content_type. That is the contract: you are describing a job, not a picture.
A prompt like "Create an Instagram campaign about our new coffee blend" or "Build a content pipeline for a TikTok launch push, 5 posts" is in-bounds. A prompt like "make this photo cinematic" is not. That is an edit. A prompt like "one 8-second clip of steam" is a generate. Do not launder those through a pipeline because the word "campaign" feels professional.
If you already know the exact steps, automate a multi-step content task (spawn_background_task) is the named job where you list the steps. The pipeline is for when you want the agent to design the chain from the brief. Using both in one breath is two planners.
What this job is not
One generate. A pipeline that contains one step is a generate with extra failure modes. You still pay the generate. You also pay for planning you did not need.
A saved scene workflow. Save and reuse a video workflow is a recipe you rerun. Run a recurring video series is that recipe on a cron. The pipeline is a brief-to-batch planner, not "every Monday forever."
A queue inspection. Manage my scheduled posts lists what is already going out. A pipeline with auto_post can add to that queue. Check the queue before you auto-post a five-pack into a week that is already full. Auto-post is optional on purpose.
A credit-free outline. The plan is not the product. Each step generates. Check credits before you start a multi-step flow that dies at step six after spending steps one through five. That last sentence is doing real work.
Brief a campaign. Generate a still.
The waste is scope. "Campaign" in a generate prompt still runs one model. "Quick clip" in a pipeline brief still plans a chain. Name the unit you are buying.
If you need five on-brief posts for a launch, this is the job. Put the product, the platforms, the count, and whether it may post in the brief. If you need one hero still to put in a slide, generate the still. If you need a reusable weekly show, save a workflow and schedule it.
Do not start a pipeline to "see what it would do" on a real credit balance. The cost is the sum of the steps. A dry read of the plan is useful; a surprise auto-post of five clips is a week you now have to cancel.
FAQ
Is a pipeline cheaper than running the steps myself?
It is priced as the sum of each step's generation, shown before it starts. You are not getting a pack discount by calling it a pipeline. The value is the plan. If you already have the plan, spawn the steps or run each named job. Do not pay five generates for a brief that was actually one still.
Does auto_post always fire?
Only if you asked for it. Default to off until you have seen a batch you would actually ship. Posting is post or schedule to social media. A pipeline that posts a miss is five public misses.
Can I use a pipeline as a weekly series?
Not as this tool's contract. Recurring series jobs exist. A pipeline is a planned batch from a brief. Saving and scheduling what it produced is a later named job. Mixing them is how Monday's content does not ship the way you remembered.
Why not just chat the agent through each step?
You can, for a one-off you want to inspect at every gate. The pipeline exists for the brief you do not want to babysit. If you will interrupt every step anyway, you wanted the individual capabilities — and you should not start a background plan you plan to fight.