layer

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: layer
description: "Use when generating or editing game and entertainment assets on Layer through MCP: images, video, 3D meshes, audio, sprites, textures, or marketing creative. Also when choosing a Layer base model, pricing a run in Creative Units before spending them, uploading reference files, polling a generation, applying a trained style, or recovering from MODEL_NOT_FOUND, INSUFFICIENT_BALANCE, RATE_LIMITED, or a silently degraded reference set."
license: MIT
---

# Layer

## Overview

Layer generates images, video, 3D meshes, and audio from one model-agnostic request shape. Work is
priced in Creative Units (CUs) and billed to a workspace. Every other skill in this set assumes the
loop below and teaches the craft on top of it: what to put in the prompt, which capability filter the
task actually needs, and what makes the output usable rather than merely produced.

Connecting a client, authentication, and the REST equivalent of all of this are covered by Layer's
published `layer-connect-mcp` and `layer-generate-assets` skills. The server is
`https://mcp.app.layer.ai/mcp` over streamable HTTP with OAuth. Call `get_instructions` once per
session before the first generation, and `get_forge_instructions` before the first forge run.

Two ways to generate. **Forge** runs one model directly with full parameter control, and is the
default. **Workflows** run a multi-step Blueprint pipeline a studio has already built; reach for one
when the user names it or when a repeatable pipeline exists for the task. See `layer-workflows`.

## Quick reference

| Step   | Tool                                      | What matters                                                                                               |
| ------ | ----------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Scope  | `list_workspaces`                         | Most tools need a `workspace_id`. Ask which one if the user has several, or take the most recently active. |
| Choose | `list_base_models`                        | Pass `filter.use_case`, take the first result: the default `sort` is Layer's curated order.                |
| Check  | `get_base_model`                          | Per-model contract. Some models require a trigger word in the prompt.                                      |
| Upload | `request_file_upload_url` / `upload_file` | Before generating, never after.                                                                            |
| Price  | `estimate_forge_price`                    | Free. Returns price and resulting balance together.                                                        |
| Run    | `execute_forge`                           | Returns `inference_id` and `poll_interval_seconds`.                                                        |
| Poll   | `get_forge_run`                           | At the returned interval, typically 10s.                                                                   |

## Choosing a model

Never hard-code a `base_model_id`. The catalogue is workspace-gated and it churns, so an id that
works here fails elsewhere with `MODEL_NOT_FOUND`. Discover it every time.

`filter.use_case` is the primary filter and covers the task shapes: `text_to_image`, `image_editing`,
`inpainting`, `reframing`, `multi_angle`, `split_into_layers`, `upscaling`, `background_removal`,
`vectorization`, `text_to_video`, `image_to_video`, `video_editing`, `video_extend`, `text_to_3d`,
`image_to_3d`, `remesh`, `retexture`, `rig`, `animate`, `segment`, `text_to_speech`, `sound_effects`,
`music`.

Narrow with `filter.capabilities` only for something the task genuinely requires. It is an **object
of booleans, not a list of names**: `filter.capabilities: {tileability: true}`. Set only the ones you
need and omit the rest, because `false` is a filter too, not a default. The fields include
`tileability`, `inpainting`, `outpainting`, `ne