The three ways to work

Pod was built with three modes: you decide everything, AI critics pre-check the work, or pod runs the whole production alone. Today only the first is switched on, and it's the one you get automatically.

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.

Right now: full control only, and pod doesn't ask. Autopilot and assisted steer are temporarily benched while we make them worthy of real productions. Early studios found the AI quality-checkers spent time and credits on retakes a director would have judged in seconds. So there is no "how do you want to work?" question when a film starts: every film goes straight into steer. You approve every step, you are the QC, and nothing renders or re-renders without your say. Typing auto at a gate politely declines. The two sections below describe how the other modes will work when they return. They are not available today.

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 = looks good · o = open · or just say what to change · x = stop
❯ 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"). These same gates also appear in Pod Studio, the browser view (a red "waiting for you" pill and a chat box with Looks good / Stop), so you can steer from the page just as well as the Terminal.

Assisted steer: critics inspect first, you still gate (benched)

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 get caught and retried without you ever seeing them: a wrong face, mangled hands, motion that doesn't match the shot. You review work that has already passed a critic, not raw first takes.

It's the best of both: fewer bad takes cross your desk, but the final word on every gate is still yours. It is not available today.

Autopilot: pod runs the shoot (benched)

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 stays mandatory even then: the cost gate. It runs on every production and always prints the exact credit estimate before a frame renders. No mode switches it off. What --yes does is pre-approve it: the number is still shown, but pod doesn't wait for you to say go.

Autopilot is not available today. When it returns it will come with a --budget cap, which pauses a run at a credit limit you set, and that flag works right now, in steer, too.

Side by side

	Steer	Assisted steer	Autopilot
Available today	Yes, and it's automatic. Every film runs in steer; pod doesn't ask.	No, benched	No, benched
Who gates	You, at every gate	You, at every gate	Nobody, except the cost gate, which still stops and waits unless you passed `--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

Handing over mid-film, not today

Older versions of pod let you type auto at any gate to hand the rest of the production to the AI. With the hands-off modes benched, that answer is politely declined instead:

shot plan ready — 11 shots, review?
❯ auto
autopilot is in the shop for now — you're in full control;
  Enter to approve, or say what to change

Nothing is lost by it: you keep the wheel, and every other answer at the gate works exactly as before. Stopping is always safe too. Ctrl-C or x checkpoints the production, and resume picks up from the exact point with all approved work kept. Nothing is redone and nothing is paid for twice.

Getting cheap first, then good

The dial that actually saves you money today isn't a mode. It's the cost gate. Two answers there change the economics of a whole film:

d for drafts only. The whole film renders as cheap 480p drafts so you can watch a full cut before committing. If you like it, finalize masters it at delivery resolution. If you don't, you spent a fraction.
A pilot render. Say "start shots 1,3,5 with seedance" and pod renders just those, shows them, and lets your verdict decide the rest.

And a --budget cap pauses any run at a credit limit you name. It's resumable, and nothing is wasted.

Tip: 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 →