Workflow Templates and Step Types

A workflow template is a reusable recipe that defines exactly what StarZero Agents should do, step by step. Once you've built a template, you can run it as many times as you like — with different videos, different settings, or different variables each time.

Anatomy of a Template

Every template is a sequence of steps. Steps run in order from top to bottom, unless a Clone step splits the workflow into parallel branches. Each step has a type that determines what it does.

Instance Naming

When you launch a workflow, you can give the instance a custom name to help you identify it later — for example, "Q2 Podcast Batch" or "Episode 42 Cutdowns." If you don't provide a name, the instance inherits the template's name. The name appears in your instance list and is included in callback payloads.

Step Types

Message Step

Sends a text message into the AI chat session, just as if you typed it yourself.

Use it to: Set context, provide background information, or give the AI instructions before a task.

"You are working with Episode 42 of the Marketing Podcast. The guest is Jane Smith, CEO of Acme Corp."

"The target audience for this content is small business owners interested in growth strategies."

Message steps don't ask the AI to do anything — they just provide information. Think of them as briefing the AI before you give it a job.

Task Step

Dispatches a structured task to the AI agent. The agent works through it autonomously, just like the /task command in chat.

Use it to: Perform real work — searching, editing, rendering, analysis.

"Find the 5 most engaging moments in this episode and create a 60-second cutdown with word-by-word captions. Render in 9:16 at low quality."

"Analyze the episode and create a summary of the top 3 discussion topics with timestamps."

Task steps are where the heavy lifting happens. The AI will search your content, build a timeline, add captions, render — whatever the task requires.

Clone Step

Creates multiple parallel branches of the workflow. Each branch runs independently and at the same time.

Use it to: Process multiple videos simultaneously, or create multiple variations from the same source.

Clone into 5 branches — one for each episode — to create cutdowns from all 5 episodes at the same time.

Clone into 3 branches to create 3 different cutdowns (different topics) from the same episode.

Each branch can receive different variable values, so branch 1 might process Episode 10 while branch 2 processes Episode 11. All branches run simultaneously, which can dramatically speed up batch processing.

You can create between 2 and 20 branches per Clone step.

Set Agent Settings Step

Changes the AI model or behavior settings in the middle of a workflow.

Use it to: Switch to a faster model for simple steps, or a more capable model for complex creative tasks.

Switch to a faster model for the search step, then switch to a more capable model for the editing step.

This is useful for optimizing speed and cost. Simple tasks like searching don't always need the most powerful model, while creative tasks like assembling a compelling cutdown benefit from a stronger one.

Conditional Task Step

Runs a different task depending on the value of a variable. You define one or more branches, each with a condition (like "equals," "contains," or "greater than"), and a task to run if that condition matches. If none of the branches match, a default task runs instead.

Use it to: Customize what the AI does based on the content it receives, without needing separate templates.

If contentType equals "interview," run a task that creates interview-style cutdowns. If it equals "keynote," run a task optimized for keynote highlights. Otherwise, run a general-purpose cutdown task.

If duration is greater than 1800 (30 minutes), run a long-form summarization task. Otherwise, run a short-form highlights task.

Each branch checks the variable using one of these comparisons: equals, does not equal, contains, starts with, ends with, or numeric comparisons (greater than, less than, etc.). Comparisons are case-insensitive, so "Interview" and "interview" are treated the same. Equality checks also treat booleans, numbers, and their text forms as interchangeable — true matches "true" and 1, and 100 matches "0100" — matching how comparisons treat your values inside message templates. Numeric comparisons always compare as numbers (1200 is greater than 200), and a value that isn't a number never satisfies one — the workflow simply moves on to the next branch or the default.

The conditional task editor includes a test field where you can type a sample variable value and see which branch would match — handy for verifying your conditions before running the workflow.

Switch Template Step

Branches the workflow to a different template based on conditions.

Use it to: Handle different scenarios with different processes.

If the content is longer than 30 minutes, use the long-form cutdown template. Otherwise, use the short-form template.

If the content type is "interview," use the interview template. If it's "keynote," use the keynote template.

This lets you build a single entry point that routes to the right process based on the content it receives.

Template Settings

Each template has optional settings that control how the AI agents behave during the workflow. You'll find these at the top of the template editor.

Critique Location

Choose when quality reviews happen during the workflow:

• Inline QC — Quality checks happen during editing, giving real-time feedback as the project is built.
• Task Agent — Quality review happens after the Task Agent completes a task step. Good for autonomous workflows where you want a final check.
• Disabled — No automatic quality checks.

Task Agent Video Options

Control whether the Task Agent receives actual video files or just text metadata when reviewing clips and renders. There are two independent toggles:

• Task Agent Clips — When ON (the default), the Task Agent sees the actual video/image files for each clip, so it can visually verify content. When OFF, it receives text metadata only, which is faster and cheaper but means it cannot visually verify clips.
• Task Agent Renders — When ON (the default), the Task Agent receives rendered video files and can visually verify the final output. When OFF, it receives render metadata only (video ID, dimensions, duration), which is faster and cheaper but means it cannot visually check the result.

Turning these off is useful for workflows where visual verification is less important and you want to reduce processing time and cost. The Task Agent will still make decisions based on the metadata it receives — it just won't watch the actual videos.

How Steps Flow Together

Steps run in sequence from top to bottom. A typical template might look like this:

1. Message — Brief the AI on the project context
2. Set Agent Settings — Choose the right model
3. Task — Search for the best moments and create a cutdown
4. Task — Add captions and render a preview

If you add a Clone step, the workflow splits into parallel branches. Each branch continues with its own sequence of steps independently.

You can also combine steps for more dynamic workflows. For example, a Conditional Task step can run different tasks depending on the type of content, while a Switch Template step can redirect to a completely different template.