The three ways to work

pod can hand you every decision, pre-check the work before you see it, or run the whole production itself — and you can change your mind mid-film, in either direction.

Every production runs through the same pipeline — script, casting, characters, shots, keyframes, clips, final cut — with review stops along the way called gates. What the modes change is who stands at those gates: you, you with AI critics doing the first pass, or pod alone. When you start a film, pod asks how you want to work: press Enter for steer, q for assisted steer, or a for autopilot. (Pressing Enter just means "accept" — nothing scary.)

Steer — you are quality control

Steer is the default, and it's the mode for work that carries your name. pod stops at every gate — the script, the cast & look, the shot plan, the keyframes, each scene's clips, the final cut — shows you its work, and waits. Nothing moves until you say so.

You still get help: AI continuity checks run in the background and file advisories (a character's saree changed colour between cuts, a room mirror-flipped). But they're advisories. No AI image or video judgment ever overrides your call — in steer, you decide what's good enough.

At any gate the same simple answers work:

scene 2 clips ready for review — 3 clips
  Enter = approve · o = open the files · plain words = revision
  auto = hand pod the rest · x = stop (always resumable)
❯ shot-05: make it a POV, and the alley feels too clean

Review images and clips open automatically in your viewer, and if you step away, pod sends a desktop notification when it's waiting for you ("ready for review: scene 2 clips").

Assisted steer — critics inspect first, you still gate

Assisted steer keeps every one of those gates, but adds a layer of AI critics underneath you: every image and every clip is inspected by a critic before it reaches your desk. Obvious problems — a wrong face, mangled hands, motion that doesn't match the shot — get caught and retried without you ever seeing them. You review work that has already passed a critic, not raw first takes.

You get it by answering q at the how-do-you-want-to-work question, or by adding --assisted when you start:

❯ produce "90-second telugu teaser, vertical, moody" --assisted

It's the best of both: fewer bad takes cross your desk, but the final word on every gate is still yours.

Autopilot — pod runs the shoot

In autopilot pod runs and self-QCs the whole film. The critics judge every still and clip (stills get up to 3 attempts, clips 2; after that the best candidate ships flagged as best-effort), the continuity supervisor watches the cuts, and pod carries the film all the way to the wrap.

One stop is still mandatory: the cost gate. Money never leaves your account without you seeing the exact credit estimate first — even on autopilot. If you truly want to walk away and come back to a finished film, add --yes to pre-approve the cost gate too:

❯ produce "two robots fall in love at a bus stop" --auto
  stops once — at the cost gate — then runs to the end
❯ produce "two robots fall in love at a bus stop" --auto --yes
  fully hands-off: come back to a finished film

Careful: --auto --yes means real credits get spent with no pause. Use it when you already trust the brief — and consider a --budget cap, which pauses the run at a credit limit.

Side by side

	Steer	Assisted steer	Autopilot
How to pick it	`Enter` at the mode question (default), or `--steer`	`q` at the mode question, or `--assisted`	`a` at the mode question, or `--auto`
Who gates	You, at every gate	You, at every gate	Nobody — except the cost gate (skipped only with `--yes`)
Who judges images & clips	You (continuity checks file advisories only)	AI critics first, then you	AI critics alone
What you see	Raw takes, everything	Takes that already passed a critic	The finished film + report
When it shines	Client work, anything with your name on it	Client work at pace; longer films	Exploration, drafts, bulk runs

Switching mid-film — both directions

Modes aren't a contract you sign at the start. You can change your grip on the wheel at any point in the production.

Handing over: say "auto" at any gate

Type auto as your answer at any gate and pod takes the rest from there. A common rhythm: steer through the script, the cast and the shot plan — the decisions that shape the film — then hand over once you trust where it's going.

shot plan ready — 11 shots, review?
❯ auto
taking it from here — see you at the wrap

Taking back: resume in a stricter mode

The reverse works too. Stop an autopilot run (Ctrl-C is safe — progress is checkpointed and everything is resumable), then resume with the mode you want:

❯ resume basti-teaser --steer
  or in plain words: "resume it in steer, I'll take over"

--steer, --assisted and --auto all work on resume, and the switch applies mid-episode: pod picks up from the exact checkpoint, in the new mode, with all approved work kept. Nothing is redone and nothing is paid for twice.

Picking a mode for the job

A client's series episode, dialogue verbatim from their screenplay — steer, or assisted steer once the series look is locked. Every frame gets your eye before it ships.
A telugu vertical teaser you're iterating on — assisted steer: the critics burn through the obvious misses, you make the taste calls.
"Brainstorm looks for a coffee brand ad" territory — autopilot, ideally with drafts-only at the cost gate (d): a cheap 480p watch of the whole idea, mastered later with finalize only if you like it.
Overnight bulk runs of concepts — --auto --yes with a --budget cap.

Tip: whatever the mode, edit notes at the final screening ("cut the first 3 seconds", "pacier") are free — they recut from existing takes. Only re-shoots cost, and they always ask first with a price. See money.

Next: walk the gates one by one in gates, or learn the review vocabulary in camera language.

← Your first film The gates, step by step →