The foundation capability for paid media in the video-ad pipeline. It fixes the
auth-path conflict where engine scripts called FAL/ElevenLabs directly (billing
the wrong account): all paid calls now go through
<api_base>/api/internal/{fal-proxy,elevenlabs-proxy} with ?token=&agent_id=, which
bills the Ads agent.
Crash-resume (never lose / double-bill a paid render)
A FAL submit BILLS immediately, but the local backend can blip during a multi-minute
render. Two built-in protections (automatic for every capability that imports this):
-
Poll-through-outage — _fal_run's poll loop re-attaches to the same status/result
URL through connection refused / timeout blips instead of crashing.
-
Persist + resume — each submit's request_id + poll URLs are written to
~/.gooseworks/pending-fal-jobs/. If the poller still dies, re-attach instead of
re-firing (re-firing double-bills): resume_fal(request_id) in Python, or the CLI:
resume.py --list # resumable (submitted, unfinished) jobs
resume.py --request-id <id> --out final.mp4 # poll to completion + download
resume_fal NEVER re-submits, so it can't double-charge.
-
Poll timeout never resubmits (GOOSE-3729) — polling gives up after
default_poll_timeout(model): 1800s for video / lipsync / audio-driven models,
600s for images (GW_FAL_POLL_TIMEOUT_S overrides; timeout_s= per call). A timeout
raises FalPollTimeout carrying .request_id + .model_path — the job is still
running and already paid for. Re-attach with resume_fal(e.request_id); never call
fal_generate* again for it (a veed/fabric lipsync once finished 26s after a 600s
poller quit, and the retry paid for a second identical job).
-
Proxy dedupe back-stop — the fal proxy returns the already-running job for an
identical submit (same agent + model + body) within 30 min, so an accidental
resubmit re-attaches instead of paying twice (response header x-gw-deduped: 1).
For a deliberate re-roll of the same input (want a new take), pass
new_take=True (fal_generate(..., new_take=True) / fal_generate_video(...)),
which sends x-gw-no-dedupe: 1 (raw HTTP callers: that header or ?dedupe=0).
-
Pass input_digest= for any piece you save as an ingredient, so a resumed run
never pays twice. The body-match dedupe above breaks after a sandbox restart: the
resumed run re-uploads its inputs (voiceover, stills) and gets NEW urls, so the body
differs. fal_generate*(..., input_digest=d) sends x-gw-input-digest: d; the proxy
then dedupes on (agent + model + digest) for 24 h and returns the job you already
paid for. Use the same stable digest you save with media_upload (see below). If
that job's result has since expired at fal, the poll fails: retry once with
new_take=True.
Policy rejections are final: surface, do not retry (QA-14)
When fal refuses a request on policy grounds, _fal_run (and so fal_generate*) raises
FalPolicyRejection, a RuntimeError subclass, so old except RuntimeError handlers
still work. Policy grounds means a likeness of a real person ("likenesses of real people",
"real person", "public figure"), content_policy_violation, partner_validation_failed, or
NSFW / safety checker.
-
Every body shape is read. fal's detail as a list of {msg, type, loc, ctx}, a dict
or a string; a top-level type/code/error; the GooseWorks MCP wrapper
{"error": {"code": "provider_validation_failed", "status": 422, "detail": <fal body>}};
and a failed job_get reply {"status": "failed", "error": "fal returned HTTP 422 for the result.", "result": {"detail": <fal body>}} (fal reports most failed generations as
COMPLETED plus a 422 on the result). Before this, a body with both msg and type kept
the message and lost the type, so the rejection looked like a generic error.
-
When it counts as policy. An explicit policy code (content_policy_violation,
partner_validation_failed, content_blocked) at any status, or a policy phrase
(likeness, public figure, usage guidelines, risk control, moderation, blocked for safety,
NSFW, flagged by the safety checker) on an explicit 4xx that is not 408 or 429. Input
errors such as "Could not detect a real person's face" or "enable_safety_checker cannot be
disabled" are not policy. A rejection on a 5xx, 408 or 429 is surfaced but never
recorded.
-
What it carries: reason (the provider's words), kind (likeness |
partner_validation | content_policy | nsfw), error_type, request_id,
http_status, stage, charged and charge_note. charged is False for an explicit
provider 4xx: the GooseWorks proxy debits only a successful response and releases the
hold on a 4xx (read from the proxy code, not yet confirmed on a real rejection). It is
None (unknown) for a job that failed after it was accepted.
-
The exact request is recorded in ~/.gooseworks/rejected-fal-requests/<key>.json,
next to pending-fal-jobs/ (GW_FAL_REJECTIONS_DIR overrides). The key is a digest of
the model plus the canonical JSON payload (sorted keys), and also of input_digest when
one is passed.
-
An identical request is refused before any network call, with the same exception
and from_ledger=True: "surface, do not retry: this exact request was already rejected
by the provider for ...; change the inputs (image, prompt, model) to try again".
new_take=True does not bypass it: a re-roll of a rejected payload is still the same
payload. Any change to the prompt, an image, the seed or the model is a new request and
is sent.
-
Inputs re-uploaded each run get new URLs, so the payload digest never matches twice.
Pass input_digest= over the inputs' content, as create-creator-takes-h3/run_takes.py
and render-street-interview/single_gen.py do. The ledger then matches on that too.
refuse_if_rejected(model, input_digest=d) checks before you upload anything.
-
A caller's input_digest is a permanent refusal key. It must cover EVERY input that is
sent: the prompt, every setting (duration, resolution, aspect ratio, audio, seed) and the
content of every input file. Simplest: input_digest(model, payload) over the real payload
with each uploaded URL replaced by {"sha256": <file hash>}. Leave an input out and a run
that changed only that input (a new, acceptable image) is refused.
-
Exit code: scripts exit with POLICY_EXIT (3). The MCP relay also exits 3; the relay
prints [mcp-relay], a rejection prints "surface, do not retry".
-
Non-policy errors (an unreadable image URL, a bad duration) stay a plain RuntimeError
with the provider's message and type, and are never recorded.
-
Every refusal names its record: the ledger file and whether it matched the exact
payload or the caller's input_digest.
-
Clearing a record is a user-approved action. Only when the user explicitly approves,
e.g. because the provider changed its policy:
python3 media_proxy.py rejections # list recorded rejections (key, model, reason, request id)
python3 media_proxy.py forget <key> # clear one record (all its keys); USER-APPROVED ONLY
forget_rejection(key) does the same in Python. It only ever deletes ledger records: it
takes the 32-hex key (or that record's filename or path inside the ledger directory) and
refuses anything else, such as another .json file or a file without a keys field.
Agents never clear a record on their own to get a retry through.
Use it
from media_proxy import fal_generate, fal_generate_video, eleven_music, download
# image (nano-banana / gpt-image / etc.) — inputs must be PUBLIC urls
img = fal_generate("fal-ai/nano-banana/edit",
{"prompt": p, "image_urls": [product_url], "aspect_ratio": "9:16"})
# video i2v (kling / seedance / veo)
vid = fal_generate_video("fal-ai/kling-video/v2.1/standard/image-to-video",
{"prompt": p, "image_url": keyframe_url, "duration": "10"})
# music bed
eleven_music(prompt, 10500, "music.mp3", force_instrumental=True)
Save-as-you-go digest (GOOSE-3731)
input_digest(model, args) = sha256 of the canonical JSON {"model", "args"} (sorted
keys, no whitespace), first 32 hex chars. Pass it with the MCP media_upload of the
result (plus an ingredient_key such as vo/scene-03); on a resume, media_list { ingredient_key } returns the saved file and its digest, and the file is reused only
when the digest of the args you would send now is the same.
from media_proxy import input_digest, eleven_tts, fal_generate_video
args = {"text": line, "voice_id": vid, "model_id": "eleven_v3"}
digest = input_digest("elevenlabs/tts", args)
# FAL job: hash the STABLE identities of its inputs, not their urls, and send the
# same digest with the submit so a resumed run re-attaches instead of re-paying.
lip_digest = input_digest("veed/fabric-1.0", {"image": "still/scene-03:" + still_digest,
"audio": "vo/scene-03:" + digest})
clip = fal_generate_video("veed/fabric-1.0", {"image_url": still_url, "audio_url": vo_url},
input_digest=lip_digest)
Hash only what determines the output. Swap any expiring input URL (presigned / proxy)
for that input's own ingredient_key + digest first, or the digest never matches.
Contracts (load-bearing)
- Bills the Ads agent —
?token=&agent_id= from ~/.gooseworks/credentials.json
(the CLI writes it; run gooseworks login if missing). In a GooseWorks cloud sandbox
(coworker chat) the env wins instead: GW_MEDIA_PROXY_TOKEN (a per-session token that
already binds agent/org/user) + GW_API_BASE; GW_PROJECT_ID attributes spend.
- Host-swap the FAL queue URLs — submit returns
status_url/response_url on
queue.fal.run; the helper rewrites them to the proxy base (keeps the path). Never
poll queue.fal.run directly (401 + burns credits).
- FAL inputs that are local files must be PUBLIC urls. The orchestrator hosts a
local image/audio via the MCP
get_upload_url → get_download_url presigned URL and
passes THAT url in, or call fal_upload(path), which puts the file on the fal CDN
through the fal-storage-proxy (free, verified 2026-09-28) and returns its public url.
- Only the final
*.fal.media url is a real public URL — everything else is behind
the proxy.
No credentials at all? The MCP relay
A session that only has the GooseWorks MCP connector (the Claude desktop app, a Codex
session without gooseworks login) has neither GW_MEDIA_PROXY_TOKEN (the cloud sandbox's)
nor ~/.gooseworks/credentials.json, so scripts cannot reach the proxies over HTTP. Then every paid call is relayed through the agent:
- The script writes the exact MCP tool call to
working/mcp-requests/<kind>-<hash>.json
and exits with code 3, printing what to do.
- The agent makes that call through the connector:
- fal →
data_post_provider { provider: "fal", path: <model>, body, project_id }, then
job_get { job_id } until complete; save result.output (fal's JSON).
- ElevenLabs →
data_post_provider { provider: "elevenlabs", ... }; save the reply
(it carries download_url).
- A local file →
media_upload { scope: "video_project", ... } with the bytes of
local_file; save { "url": <its url> }.
- It saves that JSON to
save_result_to and re-runs the same command. The script finds
the result and continues; the next paid call relays the same way.
- If
data_post_provider returns a provider_validation_failed error, or job_get
returns status: failed, the agent saves that error JSON (the whole job_get reply) as
the result instead. The script then reports it: a policy rejection raises
FalPolicyRejection and is recorded, like the HTTP path. Any saved error is moved aside
to <name>.error.json, so a re-run makes the call again instead of re-reading it (the
ledger still refuses a recorded policy rejection).
Set GW_PROJECT_ID (required: every call is billed to that video project, the same
attribution the HTTP proxy records) and GW_BRAND_ID (for uploads). The MCP tools bill
through the same server proxy code, so price and project attribution are identical.
GW_MEDIA_VIA=mcp forces the relay (e.g. the CLI login points at another environment);
GW_MEDIA_VIA=proxy forces HTTP.
- Used by
create-image-fal, create-video-fal, create-music-elevenlabs.
- The
goose-video orchestrator hosts local inputs (MCP upload → presign) before calling these.