Shotstack's Real Integration and Automation Model
Shotstack itself doesn't watch your storage or CMS for new assets and auto-trigger renders -- automation works the other way around: your own code or automation platform calls the Shotstack API to start a render, and Shotstack's webhooks notify your system when that render finishes.
Practical Details
A typical automated pipeline pairs Shotstack with an external trigger (a new row in a spreadsheet, a new file in storage, a form submission) that calls the render API, then uses the completion webhook to know when the output video is ready to publish.
Actionable Considerations
- Build the trigger (storage event, spreadsheet row, webhook from another tool) in your own automation platform, not inside Shotstack
- Use Shotstack's completion webhook to know when a render is done, rather than polling the status endpoint repeatedly
- Confirm source asset URLs are publicly reachable before triggering a render, since Shotstack fetches assets by URL