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How to build multi-step workflows with the gen-ai-workflows skill

SKILLS5 minAdvanced

Orchestrate complete creative campaigns by chaining image, video, and audio generation into automated end-to-end pipelines.

How to build multi-step workflows with the gen-ai-workflows skill

What you'll learn

  • How to import and configure the gen-ai-workflows skill for multi-step automation
  • How to chain image, video, and audio generation into single workflows
  • How to build campaign kits and launch packages automatically
  • How to handle dependencies between steps and manage workflow errors

What is the gen-ai-workflows skill?

The gen-ai-workflows skill lets your AI agent orchestrate multi-step creative pipelines that combine image, video, and audio generation. Instead of manually running each step, you describe the complete campaign ("launch kit with hero image, 3 social variants, 15-second reel, and voiceover") and the skill executes the full sequence, passing outputs from one step as inputs to the next. Think of it as a director coordinating an entire production crew.

Common use cases

  • Product launches: Generate complete asset kits (hero, socials, video, OG images) from a brief
  • Blog automation: Convert article text into featured images, video summaries, and audio versions
  • Campaign production: Build multi-channel creative sets for email, social, and web
  • Content repurposing: Turn a single video into clips, stills, thumbnails, and audiograms
  • Brand kits: Generate consistent visual systems across formats from brand guidelines
  • E-commerce: Create product lifestyle shots, demo videos, and voice descriptions at scale

Build your workflow step by step

STEP 1: Download and import the skill

  • On web: Go to picsart.com/cli/#skills-starter → Download gen-ai-workflows → Extract to your agent's skills directory
  • On mobile: Use desktop — workflow automation requires a development environment with sufficient compute and storage
Get the skill

STEP 2: Define your workflow steps

Describe the complete pipeline you want to automate:

  • Campaign kits: Hero image → social variants → video reel → soundtrack
  • Blog-to-visual: Extract text → generate featured image → create video summary
  • Product launch: Product brief → hero shot → demo video → voiceover → OG images
  • Catalog re-shoot: Upload images → remove backgrounds → resize to formats → upscale
  • Dependencies: Steps can use outputs from previous steps as inputs

STEP 3: Execute and monitor the pipeline

Your agent runs each step in sequence, passing outputs forward automatically. Progress updates show which step is running, completed steps, and estimated time for the full workflow. If a step fails, the skill can retry, skip, or halt based on your configuration. All outputs save to organized directories.

STEP 4: Review and export your campaign

Check your output directory for the complete asset set: Need changes? Adjust specific steps in the workflow definition and re-run just those steps, or regenerate the entire pipeline with updated parameters.

  • Verify all expected assets generated successfully
  • Check that dependencies passed correctly (e.g., video used the right image)
  • Review the workflow log for timing, costs, and any warnings
Start building workflows

Tips for best results

💡 Design workflows backward from the final deliverable

Start by listing what you need at the end ("16:9 video with soundtrack"), then work backward to identify required steps. This ensures each step produces an output the next step needs, avoiding dead-end branches.

💡 Use intermediate checkpoints for quality control

Instead of running a 10-step workflow end-to-end, break it into phases with manual review points. Generate the hero image first, verify it matches your brief, then continue with dependent steps. This prevents cascading errors.

💡 Cache expensive steps to speed up iterations

If you regenerate a workflow multiple times (testing different video styles), cache the hero image step so you don't pay to regenerate it each time. The skill can reuse outputs from previous runs.

💡 Build reusable workflow templates

Create standard workflows for common scenarios (product launch kit, blog post visuals, campaign package) and save them as named templates. Ask your agent to "run the product launch workflow with [new brief]" to execute instantly.

Pre-built workflow templates

  • Product launch kit: Hero image → 3 social variants (1:1, 9:16, 16:9) → 15s demo video → voiceover → OG images
  • Blog-to-multimedia: Extract article text → featured image → 10s video summary → audio narration
  • Campaign asset set: Brand brief → hero visual → email header → 4 social graphics → 30s video → soundtrack
  • Catalog re-shoot: Upload products → remove backgrounds → resize to platform specs → upscale to 4K
  • Video content suite: Script → storyboard images → full video → 3 clip edits → thumbnail variants → audiogram
  • OG service: Page URL → extract metadata → generate 1200×630 OG image → alt text description

Frequently asked questions

The skill tracks which steps completed successfully. If a step fails, you can configure it to retry automatically, skip and continue, or halt the entire workflow. Failed workflows save a resume state so you can fix the issue and restart from the failed step without re-running completed work.

Yes. Steps that don't depend on each other can run concurrently. For example, if you're generating 5 social variants from the same hero image, those can execute in parallel. The skill automatically detects dependencies and runs independent branches simultaneously to save time.

Batch processing runs many instances of the same operation (generate 100 product images). Workflows run a sequence of different operations that build on each other (generate image → animate it → add soundtrack → export). Use batch for scale, workflows for complexity.

Each step can reference outputs from previous steps using variables. Example: Step 2 might be "animate {hero_image} with motion prompt 'slow zoom in'." The skill automatically replaces {hero_image} with the file path from Step 1's output.

Ready to automate your creative production?

Import the gen-ai-workflows skill and build complete campaign pipelines in one command.

Download skill