Manual Mode Guide
Pause at generation checkpoints to review or refine artifacts before continuing — auto for vibe, manual for precise output.
Agnes Video Generator now offers a Manual Mode: the default Auto Mode runs the whole pipeline in one pass, great for "give me a rough idea and vibe-generate". Manual Mode pauses at the checkpoints you choose, letting you confirm, modify or regenerate intermediate artifacts before continuing — ideal for creative work with a clear target output, and you can hand artifacts to stronger external AI or other tools to enhance the result.
Auto Mode vs Manual Mode
Both modes share the same pipeline — the only difference is whether you stop to inspect along the way:
Auto Mode
vibe video generatingEnter a creative idea and the whole pipeline runs in one pass: storyboard → references → video clips → narration → subtitles → final cut, with no intervention.
- ✓Best for vibe video generating from a rough idea
- ✓Zero manual work, one-click output
- ✓Some randomness in results — great for exploring ideas
Manual Mode
precise outputPause at checkpoints to confirm or refine each artifact before continuing. Tune the storyboard, polish the narration, fix subtitles, refine clips — or hand artifacts to stronger external AI or tools and feed the result back in.
- ✓Best for clearly specified output expectations
- ✓Every stage can be previewed, modified or regenerated
- ✓Works with stronger external AI / ffmpeg / PIL tools
Where Manual Mode pauses
Pause points differ by task type: creative long videos support fine-grained checkpoints — every stage that produces an artifact can pause; manuscript, poetry and talking-head tasks use the standard checkpoints. Tick the points you want when creating a task:
Fine-grained checkpoints (Creative)
- 1
Image analysis
Analyze reference and end-frame images
- 2
Story
Generate the story plot
- 3
Script
Generate the storyboard script and narration
- 4
Character reference
Generate the character reference image
- 5
End-frame prompts
Generate end-frame prompts for each scene
- 6
End-frame images
Pre-generate end-frame images
- 7
Video clips
Preview and refine each scene’s video clip
- 8
Narration
Listen to the voice-over; polish the script before re-synthesis
- 9
Subtitles
Check subtitle timing and line breaks
- 10
Final cut
Confirm the final composited video
Standard checkpoints (Manuscript / Poetry / Talking-head)
- 1
Storyboard
Review or refine the script, visual descriptions and narration text
- 2
References
Check the character reference image (talking-head)
- 3
Video clips
Preview and refine each scene’s video clip
- 4
Narration
Listen to the voice-over; polish the script before re-synthesis
- 5
Subtitles
Check subtitle timing and line breaks
- 6
Final cut
Confirm the final composited video
Default pause points
Default pause points are pre-filled by task type when creating a task (add or remove any; unchecked ones pass automatically):
- →Creative: story, script, character reference, video clips, subtitles
- →Manuscript / Poetry: storyboard, video clips, subtitles
- →Talking-head: storyboard, video clips
Where manual mode is not supported
Simple (single-shot) text-to-video and simple image types do not support manual mode (artifacts are only listed after completion).
Four ways to handle an artifact
When paused at a checkpoint, pick any one way to handle the current artifact:
🤖 AI modify for me
Type a change request (e.g. "make scene 2 more cinematic"), the system modifies it via model, review the diff and apply.
✏️ Edit myself
Copy the artifact path, edit it locally (JSON / subtitles / images / video), then click "modified, continue".
🤝 External Agent
Copy the collaboration prompt to a stronger local Agent (e.g. opencode / CodeBuddy CLI), then feed the result back and continue.
More free AI tools →💻 Online editor
Edit text artifacts (script / narration / subtitles) directly in an in-page editor, compare with the original anytime, save and continue.
Only affected steps re-run
After a modification, the system re-runs precisely by the artifact-level dependency graph: editing narration re-runs only audio/subtitles/final; editing visual descriptions re-runs only references/videos/final. Unaffected artifacts are kept as-is.
Switch anytime while running
An auto task can switch to manual in one click (pauses at the next safe point); a paused manual task can switch back to auto (clears pause points and runs to completion immediately).
How to choose: auto or manual?
There is no single right answer — pick what fits:
- →Quick output & exploring ideas → Auto Mode, vibe video generating
- →Clear visual / style / voice expectations → Manual Mode, fine-tune each artifact
- →Want output beyond the model default → Manual Mode + stronger external AI or tools
Start creating
The online Demo uses Auto Mode; Manual Mode is a desktop feature — download and choose "Manual" when creating a task to experience checkpoint pauses.
Related Pages
Quick Start: Free AI Video Generation Guide
From getting a free API key to generating your first AI video — a step-by-step guide to Agnes Video Generator.
Agnes Self-Hosting Guide — Docker, npm, AI Agent | Free AI Video Guide
Run the free open-source AI video generator on your own computer or server: start.sh manual deployment, one-command Docker, npm CLI, AI Agent — complete commands and requirements.
Narration & Subtitles: Add Voice-over and Captions
The digital human mode ships with built-in TTS and lip-sync; for regular text-to-video, add captions in an editor.
Project & Documentation Basis
The checkpoint and smart-re-run mechanics described here follow the project's official repository and API documentation.
- agnes-video-generator — 开源 AI 视频生成项目lcy362 · GitHub (2026)
The manual/auto mode implementation and usage follow the open-source repo's README and source code.
- Agnes AI Open API — 视频 / 图片生成接口Agnes AI · apihub.agnes-ai.com (2026)
The generation endpoints behind each checkpoint (video/image/narration/subtitles) are specified in the Agnes Open API docs.
- opencode — 开源 AI 编程助手SST / opencode 社区 · opencode.ai (2025)
opencode, recommended for the external-agent channel, is open source; its capabilities follow its official docs.
Why you can trust this
Written by a practicing developer and cross-checked against authoritative primary sources such as arXiv papers, vendor technical reports, and the Stanford AI Index.
SandGrid@lcy362
Author of Agnes Video Generator · Full-stack Developer
Independent developer and author of Agnes Video Generator, an open-source (MIT) AI video generation tool built on Agnes AI's free video models. Has helped 1,000+ creators produce AI videos at zero cost. Focused on making video generation models accessible and production-ready; content is based on hands-on practice and primary research.
View on GitHubLast updated:2026-08-21
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