Prompt Guidance

Sanzaru MCP — Prompting & Workflow Guide

Tool Quick Reference

Model Selection

Video (Sora)

• sora-2 (default): Faster, cheaper, good for iteration
• sora-2-pro: Higher quality, supports larger resolutions (1024x1792, 1792x1024)

Image Generation

• gpt-image-1.5: STATE-OF-THE-ART (recommended default)
• gpt-image-1-mini: Fast, cost-effective for iteration

Audio (TTS)

• gpt-4o-mini-tts: Recommended default
• Voices: alloy, ash, ballad, coral, echo, fable, nova, onyx, sage, shimmer

The Golden Rule: Reference Images

CRITICAL: When using input_reference_filename with Sora, describe motion/action ONLY. Do NOT re-describe what's already in the image.

The reference image already contains: character, setting, framing, style, lighting. Your prompt should only describe: what happens next, motion, camera movement.

BAD — re-describing the image:

create_video(
    prompt="A pilot in orange suit in cockpit with glowing instruments...",
    input_reference_filename="pilot.png"
)

GOOD — motion only:

create_video(
    prompt="The pilot glances up, takes a breath, then returns focus to the instruments.",
    input_reference_filename="pilot.png"
)

Sora Prompt Anatomy

Write prompts in this order for best results:

1. Style — "1970s film grain," "IMAX scale," "16mm black-and-white"
2. Scene — Characters, setting, framing
3. Camera — "wide establishing shot, eye level" or "medium close-up, tracking left"
4. Action in beats — Small, grounded steps: "takes four steps to window, pauses, pulls curtain"
5. Lighting & color — 3-5 concrete anchors: "warm lamp fill, cool rim from hallway, amber highlights"

Duration tips: 4s clips have best instruction following. Use 8s for simple scenes. 12s only for slow, ambient shots.

Async Polling Pattern

# Video: create → poll → download
video = create_video(prompt="...", size="1280x720")
status = get_video_status(video.id)   # Poll until "completed"
download_video(video.id, filename="output.mp4")

# Image (Responses API): create → poll → download
resp = create_image(prompt="...")
status = get_image_status(resp.id)    # Poll until "completed"
download_image(resp.id, filename="output.png")

# Image (Images API): SYNCHRONOUS — no polling!
result = generate_image(prompt="...")  # Returns immediately

Common Pitfalls

1. Re-describing reference images — Describe motion only (see Golden Rule above)
2. Using create_image when generate_image is simpler — Most cases don't need async polling
3. Dimension mismatch — Reference image MUST match target video size exactly. Use prepare_reference_image to resize.
4. Vague motion — "walks around" is weak. Use beats: "takes three steps, pauses, looks up"
5. Integer seconds — seconds must be a string: "8" not 8
6. Complex long clips — Shorter (4s) clips follow instructions better than 12s
7. Forgetting to poll — create_video and create_image are async; always poll status before downloading

Deep Reference

For detailed guidance:

• Sora Prompting Guide — Camera vocabulary, lighting, dialogue, remix strategy
• Workflows — Step-by-step patterns for common tasks

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