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Run an AI Tool

Most AI tools in Solar Sailer use the same run dialog. This page covers choosing media, meeting the tool's requirements, and deciding what to do with the results.

Choose what to process​

  1. Select files in the media bin or clips on the timeline. You can skip this if you want to choose inside the run dialog.
  2. Open Process and choose a tool.
  3. Choose Selected in bin or On timeline, then check the files you want to process.
  4. Adjust the tool's settings and click its run button.

The dialog starts with your current selection. A media-bin selection opens Selected in bin. Selected timeline clips open On timeline with only their source files checked. With no selection, the dialog uses the files on the timeline.

Detect Retakes, Rough Cut, and Detect Umms work by audio track instead. Choose the tracks in their run dialogs.

If a tool is unavailable, hover its greyed-out menu item or run button to see what it needs. Sync and Transcribe need audio. Face Tracking, Find Characters, and Detect Motion need video. Detect Retakes, Rough Cut, and Detect Umms need transcripts, so run Transcribe Your Footage first.

Unlock a paid AI tool​

A locked tool in the Process menu opens an account message when you click it. Choose Log in or Upgrade, finish the change in your browser, then start the tool again. Solar Sailer doesn't run the original action automatically.

Face Tracking and Detect Motion run on your computer and remain available without a paid plan. See Log in and manage your account for the login steps.

Add a required key or login​

Some tools call an outside AI service. If a required API key is missing:

  1. Click Open API Keys… in the run dialog.
  2. Paste the key in Preferences and click Save.
  3. Return to the run dialog and start the tool again. You don't need to restart Solar Sailer.

If the service rejects a saved key, replace it in Preferences and run the tool again. Agentic Rough Cut can use Claude Code, Codex CLI, or an API key. Choose an available option under Runs on. If Agentic cannot run with the selected option, Solar Sailer attempts Quick instead and reports the fallback. Quick needs its own supported API key and makes whole-sentence cuts only. See Build a Rough Cut for setup.

Work while a tool runs​

Most tools run in the background, so you can keep editing. A few settings apply timeline edits as soon as the analysis finishes. Sync places clips by default. Detect Retakes can delete or ripple-delete its findings. Detect Umms can disable, delete, or ripple-delete them. Choose Detect Only or turn off automatic placement if you want to inspect the result before changing the timeline.

Camera Selection and the apply dialogs work in their open dialogs instead of becoming background tasks.

Cancel a run​

  1. Click the task summary at the lower-left of the window to open Background Tasks.
  2. Click the X beside the tool you want to stop.

Cancellation can take a moment because the tool stops at a safe point. It doesn't remove results already saved for completed files. For Transcribe, jobs already submitted to AssemblyAI may keep processing and still count toward your provider usage.

Cancelling a Batch Process task can stop later tasks that depend on it.

Review or apply the result​

Analysis and timeline edits are separate for several tools. This is intentional. It gives you a chance to see what the tool found before it cuts anything.

  • Transcribe opens the Review tab when it finds words that need your attention.
  • Sync places its result on the timeline by default. If you turned off Place clips on timeline after analysis, open Sequence and choose Place Synced Media on Timeline later.
  • Detect Retakes applies Delete or Ripple Delete after detection. With Detect Only, open View and choose Retake review to pick the best takes and remove the unused ones.
  • Rough Cut always needs a second step. Review the proposed cuts in the apply dialog, or open Clip and choose Apply Rough Cut….
  • Detect Umms applies the action you chose after detection. With Detect Only, open Clip and choose Remove Umms… when you're ready.
  • Find Characters updates the Characters view. Face Tracking supplies data for Delete Non-looking and Camera Selection. Detect Motion supplies data for Delete Non-motion and Camera Selection.

Recover from a failed run​

Open Background Tasks to read the failure reason. Fix a missing or rejected key before running the tool again. Media errors often affect only one file.

When part of a multi-file run fails, Solar Sailer keeps the successful results. Open the tool again and select only the failed files. There is no separate re-run button.