Transloadit

What is a Robot Parameter?

A Robot Parameter configures the behavior of a Transloadit Robot, such as width for an image-resizing Step. Every Robot also accepts common Step parameters such as use, which determines where a Step receives its input and appears in each Robot’s documented parameter list.

Request + files
Processing platform
Results + status
A processing platform accepts an authenticated request, executes a workflow, and returns observable results. This diagram shows platform workflows broadly, not specifically Robot Parameters.

How Robot Parameters work

Robot Parameters form the operation-specific part of an Assembly Step’s Instructions. They select behaviors such as dimensions, formats, codecs, metadata handling, or destination settings. Available keys and value types are defined by the chosen Robot, while common keys such as use describe input selection and are shared by all Robots. Parameters are resolved when the Assembly runs and become part of its reproducible processing recipe.

Key facts

  1. Parameter names may recur across Robots without guaranteeing identical accepted values, defaults, or units; validation must use the documentation for the exact Robot.
  2. Omitting a parameter can invoke a Robot-defined default, which is observably different from sending an empty string, zero, false, or another explicit value.
  3. Template-backed Assemblies can centralize parameter sets, while request-time fields can supply controlled variations without duplicating the entire workflow graph.

When Robot Parameters matter

Set Robot-specific parameters to control the output of a processing step, and common step parameters to control how the step connects into the workflow. A parameter that is valid on one Robot may be unsupported or have different semantics on another.

Common use cases for platform workflows

These examples cover platform workflows broadly, not specifically Robot Parameters.

  • Running repeatable upload, import, processing, AI, storage, and notification pipelines.
  • Tracking long-running media work independently from an application request.
  • Referencing centrally stored credentials by name instead of sending storage secrets with each request.

Working with platform workflows

This guidance covers platform workflows broadly, not just Robot Parameters.

A client authenticates and submits files or references together with workflow instructions. The platform validates the request, schedules dependent operations, records state transitions, and exposes results through a response, polling endpoint, or notification.

Platform concepts become reliable only when their lifecycle is explicit. Authentication, idempotency, retries, timeouts, observability, quotas, and terminal states should be designed together rather than added after failures occur.

What you gain

  • Reusable workflows separate application intent from processing infrastructure.
  • Stable job identifiers and lifecycle events improve observability and recovery.
  • Managed queues and workers let products scale without embedding every media tool.

What it costs

  • Synchronous responses are simple but keep connections open while long work executes.
  • Aggressive retries improve recovery from transient faults but can duplicate work or overload a dependency.
  • Higher concurrency reduces queue time until resource contention or a downstream limit becomes the bottleneck.

Before production

  1. Define authentication, authorization, idempotency, retries, and terminal error behavior.
  2. Observe queue time, execution time, callbacks, and partial results with stable identifiers.
  3. Exercise malformed, duplicate, interrupted, and unauthorized requests before launch.

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