← All docs

Docs

Wire a multi-step pipeline

How to combine connections, prompt widgets, and routers into a repeatable multi-step pipeline in INTERSTITIAL — chaining a source image through a Text Prompt Widget out to one or many rendered variations, the seven chain patterns the canvas recognizes, how an upstream change flows downstream, and the guided Text Prompt Widget Pipelines tutorial in the ? Help menu.

A pipeline wires your canvas objects together so one prompt drives a whole chain of renders — a source image flows through a Text Prompt Widget and out to one or many results, in a single click.

When to use

  • You want one prompt to render several images at once — variations of a scene, or one style cue applied to many shots.
  • You want a repeatable setup you can re-run after tweaking the prompt or swapping a reference.
  • You’re combining a reference with a prompt and want the result to land on the right target.

Build a pipeline

  1. Place a Text Prompt Widget. Open the + menu on the right edge of the canvas (mid-height) and add a widget, then type your prompt.
  2. Connect it to a target image. Draw a connection from the widget to each image you want it to render.
  3. Add a reference (optional). Attach a second image to the target, then use the 📎 paperclip on the connecting line to toggle the reference on. The reference guides the render without becoming the thing that renders.
  4. Fan out with a Router (optional). Drop a Router between the widget and your targets to forward one input to many outputs. Connect the input to the router’s left dock, then wire its right dock to every image that should receive it.
  5. Render. Click the Render button on the Text Prompt Widget. Every connected target generates in parallel using the same prompt.

Chain patterns the canvas recognizes

INTERSTITIAL reads the wiring and treats these common shapes specially:

  • Direct render — one widget to one image.
  • Multi-target — one widget to several images; each renders independently from the same prompt, with no cross-reference between them.
  • Single reference — the widget renders one image while a second image, clipped on with the 📎 paperclip, guides it.
  • Single reference chain — the widget connects to the reference, and the reference paperclips into the target; the render promotes along the paperclip so only the target renders.
  • Reference stack — several references stacked and paperclipped to a target; the target renders using every stack member as a reference.
  • Branching chain — one reference driving two targets in parallel.
  • Stack at target — the targets themselves form a stack, so one prompt renders every member of that stack.

How it works

  • A Router is transparent: the system treats A → Router → B exactly like A → B. A prompt-widget input makes it forward a prompt (lightning); an image input makes it forward a reference (paperclip).
  • Change upstream, it flows downstream. Edit the widget’s prompt, swap a reference, or add another target, then click Render again — the change propagates down the connections to every leaf.
  • Rendering promotes along the paperclip: in a chain, the render lands on the paperclip’s destination (the target), not on the reference feeding it.
  • Each render is a real generation and spends credits per result. A pipeline that fans out to several targets spends for each one. See Plans & credits.

Tips

  • Build left to right — source and references on the left, widget feeding in, targets on the right. It keeps busy pipelines readable.
  • One strong reference beats a crowded stack. Add stack members only when each contributes something distinct.
  • Try the guided tour. The Text Prompt Widget Pipelines tutorial in the ? Help menu is a gallery — pick any of the seven patterns and it rebuilds a demo scene to show it, so you can step through and compare each shape before wiring your own.
  • Rename your targets so a fanned-out render is easy to tell apart in the layer list.