Step 3 — Convert Idea to Vidsheet

You have ideas from Step 2. Each idea has a video_type (talking avatar, montage, split-screen, etc.) and a project_manifest describing the timeline. Now you turn that idea into an Auto Content Engine (vidsheet) — the actual production surface where rows, columns, cells, and layers live.

There are two paths. Both are legitimate, but one is dramatically faster.

Path A — Clone a template (recommended)

Templates are pre-configured engines with the right columns, creation cards, and layer stacks for a specific video type. Cloning a template gives you a working engine in one API call.

curl -X POST "https://api.gen.pro/v1/templates/spreadsheets/tiktok-talking-avatar/clone" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "agent_id": "'"$AGENT_ID"'" }'

Returns a fully configured engine with columns for script, voice, video, and final output — ready to fill. Jump to Start from a Template for the full flow.

Path B — Build a custom engine

If no template matches your idea, build an engine from scratch:

curl -X POST "https://api.gen.pro/v1/autocontentengine?agent_id=$AGENT_ID" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "spreadsheet": { "title": "Custom campaign" } }'

Then create each column, configure creation cards, and set up layers by hand. See Build a Custom Engine. Expect 15–25 API calls vs the 1 for a template clone.

Tip

Start with templates 90% of the time. Even if the template is only 80% right, it’s faster to clone it and customize than to build from zero. The video_type returned by the Ideas Engine often maps 1:1 to a template slug.

Match the idea to a template

Each idea has a video_type_id (see video type IDs). List templates and pick one whose tags include the same video type:

curl "https://api.gen.pro/v1/templates/projects" \
  -H "X-API-Key: $GEN_API_KEY"

Response includes slug, title, description, tags, and cover. Pick a slug that matches the idea’s video type, then clone.

Video type IDs

ID	Name	Typical templates
0	Any	Generic engines
1	Talking Avatar	AI talking head + lipsync + captions
2	Green Screen	Presenter over dynamic background
3	Montage	Short clips stitched with music
4	Text-Driven	Kinetic text + voiceover
5	POV Object	Object-focused (unboxing, product shots)
6	Narrated / Voiceover	VO + b-roll
8	Split Screen	Reaction / comparison format
9	Skit	Multi-character scene

Sub-topics

Start from a Template (recommended) Full recipe from idea to cloned engine.

Browse Templates List, filter, and inspect templates.

Clone a Template The single API call + what gets created.

Build a Custom Engine Create, get, clone an Auto Content Engine from scratch.

Next step

Step 4 — Edit & Generate Fill cells with the idea's content, configure creation cards, trigger generations, poll until complete.