Flow Tools vs Sume Formats: a saved creative tool you can call by API

Google says Flow Tools lets people create their own creative tools in natural language with no coding, and share them with other Flow users (read 2026-10-02). The closest Sume object is a Format: a saved production recipe that your backend runs with one HTTP call. They solve the same wish, reuse a good process, but one lives inside an app and the other behind an API.

What Google announced

Google's I/O 2026 roundup lists Google Flow Tools next to the Flow Agent, character consistency work and batch editing. Tools is described as a way to make custom creative tools through natural language, and the list mentions sharing tools between Flow users (Google blog, read 2026-10-02). The page gives no tool limits, pricing or API access, so none are claimed here.

What a Sume Format is

A Format is a saved production recipe: a house style, an output contract and a playbook for one kind of video. Your backend calls it by name, Sume runs it in a fresh sandbox with the generation tools, and you receive finished media plus, if you ask, JSON in a shape you defined (Format API).

Each run gives a receipt, can be taken by webhook or poll, and a Format can queue up to 100 runs with a concurrency window (Bulk runs). Sume also ships ready-made Formats you can call without writing one (Format catalog).

Where they differ

• Home: Flow Tools lives in the Flow app; a Format is called from your server with an API key carrying formats:write.
• Output: a Format can return a JSON object in a schema you supply next to the media.
• Scale: bulk runs queue a list overnight without a laptop driving the fan-out.
• Sharing: Flow Tools shares between Flow users; a Format is shared by who owns it and which workspace key calls it. Team-owned Formats need a key issued in that workspace.
• Spend: a Format can carry a generation spend cap.

Which to start with

If your team makes one-off creative in Flow and wants a helper tool, Flow Tools is the natural fit once you have it. If a repeatable recipe has to run from your product, a schedule or a queue, use a Format. Neither replaces the other, and Sume does not claim to import a Flow tool.