Video filter 400 video_filter_ops_empty: send one op or a filtergraph

video_filter_ops_empty is a 400 that says "Video filter 1.0 needs at least one op in ops[]." and carries next_action: add_filter_op. It fires when ops is missing, empty or not an array. The Video filter docs say a program needs at least one op or a non-empty filtergraph, so the other way out is to send a filtergraph instead.

The program rules

Video filter 1.0 applies ops[] first and filtergraph after. Each refusal has a stable public_reason that names the failure, so you do not get a generic invalid_request:

Check first, for free

POST /v1/video-filter/check runs the same schema, whitelist and source checks as the encode, but it returns diagnostics and not a 400. It creates no job, reserves no credits and does not use the encoder. A valid response has object: video_filter_check, valid, diagnostics[] and next_action of submit_video_filter or fix_program_and_recheck. It does not need an Idempotency-Key; the encode does.

A check call that runs

This sends one dim op. It needs a clip that already lives on media.sume.com for your workspace, because the API does not fetch from the open internet, so import the file first. Replace the URL with yours:

import json, os, urllib.request

key = os.environ.get("SUME_API_KEY")
if not key:
    raise SystemExit("set SUME_API_KEY")
body = {"video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/talk.mp4",
        "ops": [{"op": "dim", "amount": 0.45}]}
req = urllib.request.Request("https://api.sume.com/v1/video-filter/check",
    data=json.dumps(body).encode(), method="POST",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {key}", "Content-Type": "application/json"})
try:
    out = json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(req))
    print(out.get("valid"), out.get("next_action"))
except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
    print(e.code, json.load(e).get("error", {}).get("code"))

What a passing check does not promise

The docs say a program that passes the check can still fail on the worker, for example on a bad expression, memory or time, and then you get a structured job error. The check also does not predict that. Public pricing is listed in the docs as a flat rate per encode job, and the live number is in GET /v1/catalog; the check itself is free.

See the Video filter page for the whole field table, and keep the request_id of any refusal.

Common ways to hit the empty error

The usual causes are a templating bug that renders ops as null, a UI that lets the user remove the last op and still submit, and a client that treats a no-op as a valid program. In each case the check endpoint returns the diagnostic at no cost, so put it behind the submit button and let your own code stop an empty program before any call.