---
title: Stills to motion | FLORA API
description: Branch from one Technique into another, carrying selected outputs as inputs.
---

Once you’ve nailed the stills, branch into a different Technique using the winners as keyframes — without losing context. This is where FLORA MCP starts paying for itself: fast iteration in chat, then background mode for the longer-running motion work.

**Prerequisite:** A set of approved stills from [Discover and run](/mcp/recipes/discover-and-run/index.md) or [Iterate on favorites](/mcp/recipes/iterate-on-favorites/index.md).

## What you type

> Take the winners and run them through the Social Motion Technique. I need 3-second loops for IG.

## What the agent does

1. Switches to background mode

   Motion generation takes longer than stills. Most agents propose moving the task to a background panel — Claude calls this **Cowork**, Cursor calls it an **agent run**, and so on. The task runs while you keep working in chat.

2. list\_techniques + retrieve\_technique

   The agent finds the Social Motion Technique and reads its inputs. It expects keyframes as `imageUrl` inputs and accepts `duration` and `loop` parameters.

3. create\_technique\_run

   The agent submits one run per chosen still, passing each as a keyframe. The background panel displays the task: “Generating motion versions of 5 thumbnails.”

4. retrieve\_technique\_run

   The agent polls each run. Inline MP4 previews start playing on autoplay-loop as each one finishes, labeled with the source thumbnail number.

## What you see

A task panel appears with progress per run. As each motion version finishes, it pops into the chat as a short looping MP4, tagged “from #4”, “from #7”, and so on. Click any one to open it full-size or download.

## Why context survives the branch

You didn’t re-describe the brand direction, the brief, or your favorites. The Social Motion Technique didn’t need to know any of that — the agent just passed the chosen output URLs as keyframes. The Technique system handles the rest.

This is the part that’s hard with single-shot generative MCPs. With FLORA, **your choice of favorites doesn’t get lost when you switch from stills to motion.**

## Variations

- *“Run only #4 through Social Motion — 3 seconds, loop. And #7 through the Hero Motion Technique — 6 seconds, no loop.”*
- *“Use #4 as the start frame and #7 as the end frame for a single morphing loop.”* (Requires a Technique that accepts paired keyframes.)
- *“Generate the motion versions in 9:16 vertical for IG Stories.”* (Most motion Techniques expose an aspect ratio input.)

## Under the hood

```
# The agent finds the motion Technique
list_techniques(query="social motion")
retrieve_technique(slug="social-motion")


# One run per chosen still, in parallel
create_technique_run(
  slug="social-motion",
  inputs={
    "keyframe": "<url for #4>",
    "duration_seconds": 3,
    "loop": true
  }
)
create_technique_run(
  slug="social-motion",
  inputs={
    "keyframe": "<url for #7>",
    ...
  }
)
# ...etc for each chosen still


# Each run polled independently
retrieve_technique_run(runId)
```

## When to use background mode vs chat

|                          | Inline chat                       | Background mode                                      |
| ------------------------ | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Run time                 | Seconds to \~30s                  | Anything longer                                      |
| Inline rendering         | Yes                               | Yes, when ready                                      |
| Keep working in parallel | Blocked while polling             | Unblocked                                            |
| Best for                 | Discovery, iteration, single runs | Motion, batches, anything >30s                       |
| Examples by client       | Default chat                      | Claude Cowork, Cursor agent runs, VS Code agent mode |

Most clients auto-pick background mode for longer tasks. You can override: *“Do this inline — I want to watch it.”*

## Tips

- For consistent motion across a set, run all keyframes through the same Technique in one batch — don’t mix Techniques mid-set.
- Motion Techniques charge more credits per run than stills. Confirm cost in `retrieve_technique` before kicking off a big batch.
- Save approved motion outputs to a Project (`attach_project_asset`) so they show up in FLORA’s canvas alongside the stills.