Which Sume catalog Format for which holiday ad: 27 slugs by job

Sume's first-party Format catalog lists 27 slugs under the reserved sume handle, and any API key with formats:write can call them without forking. For a holiday ad, match the slug name to the job: product commercials, close-camera UGC, virtual try-on, before and after, a slideshow, a green-screen explainer.

The slug name is a hint, not a spec. Before you call one, read it with GET /v1/formats/sume/{slug}, which returns its description and its io profile.

Slugs by job

I grouped the slugs below by the job their names suggest. The groups are my reading of the names, so confirm each with the read call before a batch. The slugs themselves are copied from the Format catalog docs.

Read io and showcase first

GET /v1/formats and the single-Format read return an io object with profile, input_kind and output_kind. input_kind is one of url, text, image or product, and output_kind is video, image or text. The docs call it the only declared contract between a Format's author and its callers, because the run body's input is a free-form object.

Read io before you wire a form or a sheet to a Format, so you know whether to send a product URL, an image or text. Formats saved before registration existed return null for io and showcase. That means 'not declared', not 'takes no input', so read the description instead.

The showcase field is a worked example the Format really produced, checked against the generated-media ledger before Sume stores it. Look at it first: it is the quickest way to see the style you are buying.

Calling one, and forking one

Calling one is a single request to the vanity path, with an Idempotency-Key, an instruction, an input object and a spend cap. The run and its media belong to the key that made the call. If you want to change a catalog Format, fork it in the Format library and call your copy at {your_handle}/{slug}.

For a holiday plan, pick two or three slugs, not twenty. One for the hero, one for the UGC testimonials, one for the price-led text ad. Run each on five SKUs, compare the showcase against what you get, and only then queue the full catalog.

Typos and drift

Any slug not on the list answers 404 format_not_found at sume/{slug}, so a typo fails loudly. The catalog changes, so re-read the docs page at the start of each campaign rather than hard-coding a list from a blog post.

A worked pick

A worked pick for a gift retailer with three kinds of product. For a boxed gadget, start with the product commercial slug. For a skincare set, the beauty slugs are named for specific textures and motions, so test the one whose name matches the product, such as a serum drip or a toner pour. For apparel, the try-on and fitting slugs are the ones to read first. For an app, the mobile-app UGC slug is the obvious candidate.

For each, run five items before you queue five hundred. Compare the run output with the showcase the Format advertises, check the cost on the receipt, and read the failure rate. A Format that looks right in the showcase and costs more than you planned on your own inputs is a signal to fork it and tighten the recipe, or to lower the spend cap and accept a simpler output.

One more point on sequencing. Text-led slugs such as the slideshow and the wall of text are the cheapest to iterate on, because they lean on stills and captions rather than long generated video. If your sale is a price and a deadline, start there and spend the saved budget on one hero clip.

Use the catalog as a template

The Format catalog is also a good place to learn what a recipe contains. A fork gives you the same house style and quality bar under your own handle, which you can edit in the Agents dashboard, in chat, or over the Contents API. If you author your own Format, the first thing to copy from a catalog slug is its io profile and its output contract, since those are what your callers depend on.