What happens when a take fails

Each model run is a take. If a take fails, its credits go back to your workspace automatically. You don’t need to ask.

A failed take shows a red alert icon and the first sentence of why it failed (or Didn’t work) where it was made, with Credits are back under it (Nothing was spent for a free run). Its name reads Didn’t work below the tile. A free image that fails took no credits, so it says only why, with no “credits are back”, and so does its notification and email. Failed tiles look the same wherever they appear: the Library, a conversation with the Agent, a board, Tools’ Recent runs, and the rows of a batch.

Each failed tile has a Try again button in the tile itself. On a take it makes it again with the same settings, at the same price. On a tool’s run it opens that tool. On a board, a failed take’s Try again makes another take, and Take off clears it. In the Library, a take that failed in the last hour stays at the top of the grid so you can find it. If you’re short of credits, you’re offered more first.

Why a take fails

• The model wouldn’t make it. Every model has its own content rules. Rewording usually works; real people and brands are often refused.
• A picture was read as a real person. A model’s privacy filter can read a frame or reference as a real person, often a made-up one in a very photoreal image. The take says The model read a picture it was given as a real person and wouldn’t use it. Try another model, or a frame that looks less like a photo. In an Agent plan, the step is changed and tried again on its own, and asks you if that doesn’t work: see The Agent.
• The model is busy. When a model has a backup way to run, Shotz tries that first, including when a take has waited in a slow line for several minutes without starting, so you only see this when it can’t get through. Try again in a few minutes.
• A lot of people are using this model. Every model runs a set number of takes at once across all of Shotz. One that waited too long for a turn stops without spending anything. Try again in a few minutes, or pick another model.
• The model answered without an image. When a picture model replies but sends no image back, for instance because it blocked the prompt, the take stops at once with its credits back, after trying a backup model if there is one. Rewording the prompt usually helps.
• The model’s answer couldn’t be confirmed. If Shotz can’t tell whether a model took your request, it doesn’t send it again, so you’re never charged twice. The take stops with The model’s response couldn’t be confirmed. Your credits are back. Please try again.
• A reference photo couldn’t be used. If a photo in your Library can’t be read, is too large to send, or isn’t a JPEG or PNG on a model that needs one, the take stops before anything is sent and says which, ending with Your credits are back. Check the photo is still in the Library, pick a smaller or different one, or pick another model.
• The settings didn’t suit the model. Try another length, shape or quality, or another model.
• The video couldn’t be converted. When a take works from one of your videos, Shotz may first convert it to the size and format the model takes. If that fails, nothing is spent. Try again, or pick another model.
• The model is paused. Now and then a model is paused for a few minutes while something is fixed. Nothing is spent. Try again shortly, or pick another model.
• It took too long. A take that never finishes is stopped and refunded.
• Too many at once. If your workspace has a lot of takes going, new ones wait their turn. The same goes for you across all your workspaces: your takes on one model together get no more than one workspace’s share, and the message says You have a lot of generations going at once on this model, across your workspaces. One that waits too long is stopped before anything is spent. Try again when some have finished.
• The person who started it left. If someone is removed from the workspace, or made a commenter, while their take waits for a turn, it stops with The person who started this isn't an editor of the workspace any more. Nothing was spent.
• Not enough credits. If your balance, your monthly limit in the workspace, or the workspace’s monthly spending limit can’t cover it, nothing is spent. A take stopped by the spending limit says This workspace has reached its monthly spending limit. See How credits work and Set a spending limit for the workspace.

If the credits didn’t come back

Refunds happen as soon as a take fails, and anything missed is caught by a regular check. If a take failed and the credits still aren’t back, write to us with the prompt and roughly when you ran it.

Stopping a take

An app connected with MCP can stop a take. A take stopped before a model has started it gives its credits back. Once a model has the request, it charges for the run whether or not it finishes, so stopping it after that keeps the charge. If the model’s queue still hadn’t started running it when you stopped it, the credits come back a little later, once that’s confirmed. A take that fails or gets stuck always gives its credits back, however far it got.