Pin a brand kit after you know the look, not while tasting presets
set_brand_kit stores caption style, fonts, and colors as defaults. Pinning a DYNAMIC look too early doubles the caption bill on every later clip, including misses.
A brand kit is a default, not a generate. set_brand_kit stores caption style, fonts, colors, logo, and a default aspect ratio so the next caption pass inherits them. Saving the kit does not burn type. The leak is what it governs: every later add_veed_captions run. Pin a DYNAMIC preset as the house look while you are still tasting, and you have doubled the caption meter on every clip that follows — keepers and misses alike.
Keep captions on-brand is the settings page. get_brand_kit reads it. clear_brand_kit_field removes one field. list_caption_fonts is how you put a real font id in the kit instead of a vibe.
Defaults multiply
BASIC caption presets bill at 1×. The nine DYNAMIC looks bill at 2×. The kit is a partial upsert: only the fields you send change, and colors/fonts key-merge. That is useful. It is also how a "just try glass this week" becomes the silent default on a month of clips.
The kit is per-account, not per-client. It is not a lock. A single request can still override it. What it is is inertia. Whoever captions next will not re-litigate the look. If that look was chosen on a throwaway UGC take, you now have a house style you never approved, at a rate you never priced.
Do not set the kit as a way to "see it on everything." See it with preview_caption_style on a few seconds of a keeper. Then write the kit.
Taste on samples. Write defaults on signed looks.
The right first step is still the take. Generate. Review. Caption one locked file with a BASIC look, or preview DYNAMIC on a short sample. When the same style has survived three keepers, save it.
Until then, a kit is premature standardization. You will either live with a look you picked in a hurry, or you will keep rewriting the kit and captioning the same catalogue again.
Credits are spent by the caption renders the kit later governs, not by set_brand_kit itself. That is why this feels free and then is not. A DYNAMIC default on a pipeline that still regenerates half its takes is a rate leak with a friendly name.
The AI video editor is where those later burns happen. The kit is the memory those burns read. Memory should be earned.
What not to put in yet
Do not pin a default 9:16 until you know the account actually ships vertical. A kit that forces aspect on every job is how a YouTube cut gets born cropped.
Do not treat the kit as a client profile you swap mid-session. It is not. If you run multiple brands in one account, you will overwrite the last write. That is a process problem, not a reason to skip the kit — it is a reason not to set it until the account has one look.
FAQ
Does saving a kit caption my old videos?
No. It sets defaults for future caption renders. Old files stay as they were. That is why pinning early does not "fix the archive." It taxes the next batch.
How do I undo a field without wiping the logo?
clear_brand_kit_field for the one key. Do not send a half-empty set_brand_kit and hope. Fields you omit are preserved.
Can I keep a BASIC default and still use glass once?
Yes. The kit is a default, not a lock. Override per request. Do not invert that: a DYNAMIC default with BASIC as the exception is how the expensive look becomes the habit.
Should a new account set a kit on day one?
Set colors if they are already in the brand book. Do not set a caption preset until you have previewed it on real keepers. Day-one glass is how you buy a look you have never read on your own plate.