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From draft to production

An agent is most useful while you design a video. Once the design is right, save it as a template, and your app can render it for every product, listing or customer without calling a model. Each video follows the design you approved.

1. Draft with an agent​

Ask your agent for the video and review it in Studio until it's right. See the quickstart.

2. Mark what changes per video​

Ask your agent to replace the parts that change with merge fields, such as {{ADDRESS}} or {{PHOTO}}:

{
    "asset": {
        "type": "rich-text",
        "text": "{{ADDRESS}}"
    },
    "start": 0,
    "length": 5
}

A merge field can go in any string: text, image and video URLs, colours, and the prompts of AI-generated assets. See Merging Data.

3. Save it as a template​

FromHow
An MCP clientAsk your agent. It uses the create_template tool.
The CLIshotstack template create edit.json --name "Listing video"
Your codePOST /templates with a name and the edit as template

Each returns the template's ID.

4. Render it for every record​

Send one request per record to POST /templates/render, with the template ID and that record's values:

{
    "id": "f5493c17-d01f-445c-bb49-535fae65f219",
    "merge": [
        { "find": "ADDRESS", "replace": "12 Harbour St" },
        { "find": "PHOTO", "replace": "https://example.com/photos/12-harbour-st.jpg" }
    ]
}
  • Send every field. The merge array in the request replaces any default values saved in the template.
  • Get a webhook. Save the template with a callback URL in its edit, and every render of it posts to that URL when it finishes. See Webhooks.
  • Renders run in parallel, so a batch doesn't wait on itself.

The n8n, Make and Zapier apps render templates the same way, with your data mapped to merge fields. See Automation tools.

5. Change the design without changing your code​

Open the template in Studio, or ask your agent to change it: shotstack template get <id>, edit, then shotstack template update <id> edit.json. Your app keeps sending the same request, and the next render uses the new design. Updating replaces the template, so try changes on a copy first.

When the agent stays in the loop​

Some videos need a different story every time. Then your agent writes a new edit for each request and renders it directly, with the MCP server's render_video tool or shotstack render. Use this when no single template fits, and plan for a model call on every video.