Save a reusable caption draft

Save the captioned edit as a draft. Save a video edit as a reusable draft persists the timeline — clips, trims, texts, music, captions — via save_editor_project. Reload with get_editor_project. Render with edit_video. Next week you swap the middle clip and keep the look: 21 BASIC or 9 DYNAMIC, the same safe-area slot, the same bed duck. You do not re-describe “glass captions, white, above the username stack” in chat until the model picks a cousin.

This page is the captioned timeline as a reusable object. A saved workflow is the generate recipe (scenes, assets, model). Related, not the same file. This is the editor EDL.

The burn is not the reusable object

A finished MP4 with karaoke welded in is a delivery. Changing the product shot means recaptioning from scratch if that MP4 is all you kept. The reusable object is the project:

• Clip slots and trims.
• Caption style and position.
• Music slot and volumes.
• Title cards, if any.
• Aspect.

save_editor_project: omit id to create; pass id to update. list_editor_projects returns metadata only — id, title, duration_sec, clip_count, thumbnail_url, updated_at — newest first, no full EDL. That is the cheap way to find last week’s “Weekly product reel” before you load it.

get_editor_project returns the complete edl. The agent can swap a clip URL, keep the caption pass, save, render. The edl is the cloud editor’s format, not XML/AAF for Premiere. Do not promise your human editor an interchange file. Promise a re-render on this timeline.

Caption facts that should live in the draft, not in memory:

• add_veed_captions: 165 language codes.
• 21 BASIC looks at 1×; 9 DYNAMIC looks at 2×.
• Caption Studio: 45 CSS presets, 9 groups × 5 variants.

Pick once. Save. If you re-specify “something like last time” in chat, you will get a different preset and a recaption bill.

Add captions to video remains the burn step on a one-off. The draft is how the burn becomes a house style. Preview 480p on the first save until the lower-third clears chrome. Then stop fiddling with the look every Tuesday.

Weekly procedure

1. list_editor_projects — find the titled draft. Name it like a show, not “final_final2.”
2. get_editor_project — load the EDL.
3. Swap the middle (or the talking-head, or the pack hold). Do not rebuild the caption layer unless the language changed.
4. If the new take’s speech differs, re-run transcription on that clip and restamp in the same style. The words change. The look does not.
5. save_editor_project with the id — update, do not fork a third “Weekly product reel copy” unless you mean to.
6. edit_video render. Preview if the new clip’s framing threatens the safe area. Export once.

Cost: saving is project persistence. Rendering is editor_export (preview free at 480p with cooldown; final is the charged pass). Captioning a new speech take is a caption job on the new audio. You still avoid re-picking a DYNAMIC look at 2× because you were bored.

If the language changes, that is a new caption pass and maybe a dub. The draft still wins on position and style. Do not invent a new lower-third because the Spanish line is longer; shrink the copy or split the cue. Moving the block onto the SKU to fit a sentence is how house style dies.

If the aspect changes (feed square this week), the draft’s 9:16 caption layout is wrong. Duplicate the project for 1:1 rather than punching a captioned 9:16. Aspect first, type second — the draft should be per ratio, or the parent should be uncaptioned clips plus a caption step you re-run after crop. Honesty about how many canvases you ship.

What not to treat as a draft

• The last MP4 in Downloads. Not editable as a timeline.
• Chat history. A prompt is not an EDL.
• A public workflow card. That is a generate graph. Recreating it clones scenes and models, not last Tuesday’s caption timestamps.
• A Caption Studio screenshot. Pretty. Not loadable.

Brand kit is default colours. It is not the timeline. Batch generation is several jobs in one sitting. It is not a recipe you reopen. One-tap templates want a photo, not a caption EDL.

If two people on the team caption, the named draft is the agreement. “Use Weekly product reel” is cheaper than “make it pop.”

YouTube Shorts overlay (27 May 2026) still needs a safe slot. Save the slot in the project after you checked current chrome, not after you copied a 2024 Figma.

Name it, update it, render it

The test: can a teammate who was not in last week’s chat load the draft, swap a clip, and ship a file that looks like the series? If no, you saved an MP4 or you saved nothing.

Save after the first keeper that would pass a client review, not after a 480p experiment you will throw away. A draft of a bad lower-third becomes house style by accident: next week’s swap inherits the collision with TikTok chrome. Preview the captioned timeline on a phone once. Then save. Update when the style is still right and only the footage changed.

When the new clip is a different duration, the EDL trims still point at the old in/out. Open the clip slot. Set new trims. Leave the caption style. If the new take is three seconds longer, the karaoke must be regenerated from the new audio; the preset, the group, the variant, and the safe-area slot should not be a second conversation. That is the whole savings: 45 CSS presets exist so you can pick one, not so you can browse them every Monday.

If the series is bilingual, two drafts — same clips, different caption language — beat one draft you rewrite in chat. Name them. Do not overwrite the English id with Spanish and lose the English burn settings.

If you need a seat to save the captioned timeline and reopen it next week, sign up. Name the project. Update the same id.

FAQ

Is a saved editor draft the same as a saved workflow?

No. A saved workflow is a generate recipe — scenes, assets, model. An editor draft is the EDL: clips, captions, music, trims. You may want both. This page is the captioned timeline.

Does list_editor_projects load the captions?

No. It returns metadata. get_editor_project returns the full edl, including texts and caption state.

Do I create a new draft every week?

No. Pass the id to update. Create when the format is genuinely new (a new ratio, a new series). Copies named “final” are how you caption in three styles by accident.