Run groups and variants

A run group is a set of runs that belong to the same piece of work: one video, refined over several attempts. Groups are what let you iterate on a video without paying to regenerate everything each time.

Where groups come from

You never have to create a group by hand.

Clicking ▶ Run on a template starts a new group, named after the run. This is how you start a fresh video.
Opening an existing group and running from there adds another run to that group, alongside the earlier attempts.

The Runs panel lists your groups newest first. Click one to open the run group editor: the same editor as the template, but scoped to this one video.

Why the distinction matters

Work that a step already did is kept per group. A brand new group starts with nothing to reuse, so every step runs from scratch. Running inside an existing group can reuse everything up to the step you changed.

That is the whole rule, and it is worth internalizing because generation costs real money:

Tip: To make another attempt at the same video, run from inside its run group, not from the template. Starting from the template deliberately begins from scratch.

See Reusing work between runs for the details.

Editing a group without touching the template

A group holds its own copy of the config. Changing a step inside a group changes that group's next run only, leaving the template as the clean starting point for the next video. When a group's config is worth keeping, use the Save as template button in the group editor's Runs panel.

Groups can also hold their own variables and service keys, which override the template's, which in turn override the workspace's. This is how you run the same template for two different products or presenters.

The group name is the output filename

The name you give a group is used as the filename for videos exported from runs in that group, so pick something you would be happy to see in your downloads folder.

Content variants: alternatives inside one video

Variants are a different idea from groups. A group is several attempts at a video; content variants are several options inside a single edit.

Set content_variants: N on a b-roll or drawings step and it produces N candidates for each slot instead of one. One is enabled and the rest are placed at the same position but switched off, so when you open the export in Final Cut Pro you can toggle between the options without re-running anything.

- id: web_broll
  processor: broll_websource
  input:
    - id: transcript
      step: transcribe
  params:
    content_variants: 3   # three options per gap, one enabled
  output:
    timeline: broll

auto_broll_placer accepts the same parameter, plus per-source overrides such as drawings_content_variants when you want more options for one kind of content than another.