Chains
Chaining tools
Stack the steps in the order you want them to run, tune each one, and press Run once.
Drop tools into a chain frame in the order you want them to run. The first step takes your input, and every step after it takes what the one above produced. ## Building one 1. **Start from the sequence you already ran by hand.** The settings you tuned on those cards are the settings the chain wants 2. **Add the steps in order.** Position is execution order, so the top row runs first 3. **Set each step's model and settings.** Every step keeps its own model pill and its own gear, exactly as the standalone card would 4. **Check the summed price** on Run before pressing it 5. **Press Run once** The result lands on the canvas the way any single generation does, as one asset from one press. ## Step order The order that works is almost always cheap-and-structural first, expensive-and-final last. | Put early | Put late | |---|---| | Generation, which decides what the thing is | Upscaling, which multiplies the cost of everything before it | | Background removal, which changes the composition | Grading and finishing, which only makes sense on the final frame | | Remeshing, which changes the topology everything else sits on | Texture regeneration at 4K or 8K | Upscaling early is the classic expensive mistake. Every step after it works on a bigger image, which usually costs more and always takes longer, and you have paid to enlarge something you were about to change anyway. :::caution[The price is summed, so mistakes multiply] A four-step chain with a flagship model in step one costs what four steps cost. Read the number on Run before the first press rather than after it, especially when you have just swapped a model pill. ::: ## Change a step's model or settings Each row carries the same controls its card would: the model pill, and the settings behind the gear. Anything you change shows in the grey line under the step's name, so you can see what a row is set to without opening it. Swapping a model inside a chain changes that step's price, and therefore the total. ## Keep steps A chain hands you its last step and throws the middle away. Turn on **Keep steps** and every step's result lands on the canvas instead, in a row beside the chain, in the order they ran. It is off by default and only offered once a chain has more than one step, because the usual case is that the middle is scaffolding. Turn it on when you are still deciding whether the order is right, since seeing what step two handed step three is the fastest way to find the step that is letting the chain down. ## When a step fails The chain runs as one operation, so a failure part way through stops the sequence rather than delivering something half-processed. The frame names the step that stopped it. The failure reports the same way any run does, with a code and a tier telling you whether it was your input, a transient provider problem, or something on our side. See [when a run fails](/docs/using-plnty/using-a-tool/when-a-run-fails/). :::tip[Debug a chain by taking it apart] When a chain keeps producing something wrong, run the steps as individual cards once. A step in isolation shows you its own output, which is usually enough to tell a bad setting from a bad order. ::: ## Interrupted runs Closing the tab mid-run is not the same as a failure. Reopen the board and the chain says it was still running when the tab closed, and offers **Pick up where it stopped**. The steps that finished kept their results, so it continues from there rather than paying for the whole sequence again. Only the browser that started the run sees that offer. A collaborator opening the same board is not asked to finish somebody else's work, and neither are you on a different machine. The offer also stops appearing after about six hours, on the grounds that a run you abandoned yesterday is not one you are still waiting on. **Dismiss** clears it early. ## Saving one to reuse A chain you have got right can be saved instead of rebuilt. [Reusing a chain](/docs/using-plnty/chains/reusing-a-chain/) covers how.Drop tools into a chain frame in the order you want them to run. The first step takes your input, and every step after it takes what the one above produced.
Building one
Section titled “Building one”- Start from the sequence you already ran by hand. The settings you tuned on those cards are the settings the chain wants
- Add the steps in order. Position is execution order, so the top row runs first
- Set each step’s model and settings. Every step keeps its own model pill and its own gear, exactly as the standalone card would
- Check the summed price on Run before pressing it
- Press Run once
The result lands on the canvas the way any single generation does, as one asset from one press.
Step order
Section titled “Step order”The order that works is almost always cheap-and-structural first, expensive-and-final last.
| Put early | Put late |
|---|---|
| Generation, which decides what the thing is | Upscaling, which multiplies the cost of everything before it |
| Background removal, which changes the composition | Grading and finishing, which only makes sense on the final frame |
| Remeshing, which changes the topology everything else sits on | Texture regeneration at 4K or 8K |
Upscaling early is the classic expensive mistake. Every step after it works on a bigger image, which usually costs more and always takes longer, and you have paid to enlarge something you were about to change anyway.
Change a step’s model or settings
Section titled “Change a step’s model or settings”Each row carries the same controls its card would: the model pill, and the settings behind the gear. Anything you change shows in the grey line under the step’s name, so you can see what a row is set to without opening it. Swapping a model inside a chain changes that step’s price, and therefore the total.
Keep steps
Section titled “Keep steps”A chain hands you its last step and throws the middle away. Turn on Keep steps and every step’s result lands on the canvas instead, in a row beside the chain, in the order they ran.
It is off by default and only offered once a chain has more than one step, because the usual case is that the middle is scaffolding. Turn it on when you are still deciding whether the order is right, since seeing what step two handed step three is the fastest way to find the step that is letting the chain down.
When a step fails
Section titled “When a step fails”The chain runs as one operation, so a failure part way through stops the sequence rather than delivering something half-processed. The frame names the step that stopped it.
The failure reports the same way any run does, with a code and a tier telling you whether it was your input, a transient provider problem, or something on our side. See when a run fails.
Interrupted runs
Section titled “Interrupted runs”Closing the tab mid-run is not the same as a failure. Reopen the board and the chain says it was still running when the tab closed, and offers Pick up where it stopped. The steps that finished kept their results, so it continues from there rather than paying for the whole sequence again.
Only the browser that started the run sees that offer. A collaborator opening the same board is not asked to finish somebody else’s work, and neither are you on a different machine. The offer also stops appearing after about six hours, on the grounds that a run you abandoned yesterday is not one you are still waiting on. Dismiss clears it early.
Saving one to reuse
Section titled “Saving one to reuse”A chain you have got right can be saved instead of rebuilt. Reusing a chain covers how.