Driving Transcribe Desk from code

Everything the web app does is available over HTTP. The base URL is https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api, every request carries Authorization: Bearer <token>, and every response is the same envelope.

The `task` field comes first

This app has five lanes behind one endpoint. Every run body must carry a task field naming the lane - it is what the system prompt routes on. Send the wrong one and you get a valid package of the wrong kind; omit it and the model picks the closest lane and tells you which it chose.

One more shape trap: the run body is the input object. Do not wrap it in an {"input": ...} envelope - that returns 200 while hiding task from the model, which is the most confusing way this API can fail.

task Lane Fields Sections returned

plan Size the job before you spend it brief, known Summary, The Sheet, The Numbers, Reasoning, Next Step

check Whether this job costs what you think, and lands where you think sheet, worry Summary, Verdict, Findings, Corrected Sheet, Next Step

split What has to be split, and where sheet Summary, The Ceiling, Where To Cut, What Splitting Costs, Next Step

times What the timestamps can land on sheet Summary, The Two Grids, Cue By Cue, What A Conform Absorbs, Next Step

deliver Decide what changes: the format, the audio, or nothing sheet, fixed Summary, A Format Change Fixes, Only Removing Audio Fixes, Nothing Fixes, Next Step

task	Lane	Fields	Sections returned
`plan`	Size the job before you spend it	`brief, known`	Summary, The Sheet, The Numbers, Reasoning, Next Step
`check`	Whether this job costs what you think, and lands where you think	`sheet, worry`	Summary, Verdict, Findings, Corrected Sheet, Next Step
`split`	What has to be split, and where	`sheet`	Summary, The Ceiling, Where To Cut, What Splitting Costs, Next Step
`times`	What the timestamps can land on	`sheet`	Summary, The Two Grids, Cue By Cue, What A Conform Absorbs, Next Step
`deliver`	Decide what changes: the format, the audio, or nothing	`sheet, fixed`	Summary, A Format Change Fixes, Only Removing Audio Fixes, Nothing Fixes, Next Step

Only task and the lane's own required fields are mandatory: sheet on check, split, times and deliver; brief on plan. Every field is a string - there are no number fields on this app. The sheet is one KEY: value per line, in any order, and the grammar is in /llms.txt and in the free panel on the app itself.

The sheet takes JOB, DURATION, SPEECH, FILE, FORMAT, PATH, RTF, WPM, OVERLAP, FPS, TRIM, and any number of SILENCE and CUE lines. DURATION is the only one the engine cannot do without: the window count is ceil(duration / 30) and every other figure follows from it.

A bare number in DURATION is SECONDS, because that is what a media tool prints. 1:12:34 is hours, 12:34 is minutes, and 12m 30s works too. A bare number in SPEECH is a PERCENTAGE - 68, 68% and 0.68 all mean the same thing, and a value over 100 can only be a duration and is read as one.

FILE is read in binary units. 66 MB is 69,206,016 bytes, the same as 66 MiB, because that is how a file browser reports it. The hosted ceiling is read the same way - 25 x 1,048,576 bytes - so a file within a few per cent of the line should be treated as over it.

FORMAT is priced, never guessed. PCM is rate x channels x bits / 8 exactly and constant-bitrate audio is kbps / 8 exactly, so pcm 48000 2 24 and mp3 128 both have real byte rates. A lossless codec's rate follows the content, so flac has no rate at all here - state FILE and the engine uses the file you have rather than inventing a compression ratio.

FPS takes the exact fraction. 29.97 is read as 30000/1001 and 23.976 as 24000/1001, because the whole grid answer turns on that distinction: the model's timestamps are multiples of 20 ms, and where that grid meets a frame grid is the rational LCM of the two. At 25 fps every frame boundary is a time the model can name; at 24 fps one in 12 is; at 30000/1001 one in 600 is.

OVERLAP: 0 is a decision and not a default. Leaving OVERLAP out is read as undecided and reported as such; stating 0 says fixed stride, no surcharge, and you accept the cut words at the window boundaries.

A DURATION is reported as 1:12:34 over a minute and as 26 s under it. A SHARE is reported to one place. A byte size is reported in MiB, and a byte RATE in bytes per second, because that is the unit the ceiling divides.

Add $model to any body to choose the model for that run: gpt-5.6-luna, gpt-5.6-terra (the default) or gpt-5.6-sol. Luna caps output at 4,096 tokens and will fail the check, split and times lanes rather than shorten them - a findings table, a corrected sheet, or a row per part or per cue, is several thousand characters before the reasoning starts.

The response envelope

Success and failure have the same outer shape, so one check covers both.

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "...": "the result"
  }
}

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "seconds should be number, got string",
    "details": {}
  }
}

HTTP error.code What it means

400 VALIDATION_ERROR The body was not a JSON object, or a declared field had the wrong type. A number field sent as a string is the usual cause.

401 UNAUTHORIZED No token, or a token that has expired or been revoked. Mint a new one.

402 INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS The balance is below the run's minimum. Call /estimate first and compare hold_credits against /me.

404 NOT_FOUND Wrong path, or a job id that does not belong to this token.

409 CONFLICT An Idempotency-Key replay whose body differs from the original request.

429 RATE_LIMITED Too many requests. Back off; do not tight-loop.

503 UPSTREAM_UNAVAILABLE The model provider is unavailable. Retry with backoff.

HTTP	error.code	What it means
`400`	`VALIDATION_ERROR`	The body was not a JSON object, or a declared field had the wrong type. A number field sent as a string is the usual cause.
`401`	`UNAUTHORIZED`	No token, or a token that has expired or been revoked. Mint a new one.
`402`	`INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS`	The balance is below the run's minimum. Call /estimate first and compare hold_credits against /me.
`404`	`NOT_FOUND`	Wrong path, or a job id that does not belong to this token.
`409`	`CONFLICT`	An Idempotency-Key replay whose body differs from the original request.
`429`	`RATE_LIMITED`	Too many requests. Back off; do not tight-loop.
`503`	`UPSTREAM_UNAVAILABLE`	The model provider is unavailable. Retry with backoff.

1. Get a token

Open /tokens.html in a browser and copy the token this app already holds - no developer console needed. A guest token is minted automatically and is enough for /me and /estimate; writing a package is metered and needs a personal token, which comes from signing in on that page.

Keep it in an environment variable rather than in source:

export SKILLSAFE_TOKEN="YOUR_TOKEN"

2. Check the session and the balance

GET /me is free. It returns only three fields: subject_type, subject_id and credits. Signed-in means subject_type == "user" - there is no username or email to test.

curl -sS -X GET "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api/me" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKILLSAFE_TOKEN"

import json, urllib.request

TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"   # from /tokens.html
BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"

def call(method, path, payload=None, headers=None):
    data = json.dumps(payload).encode() if payload is not None else None
    req = urllib.request.Request(BASE + path, data=data, method=method)
    req.add_header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
    req.add_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    req.add_header("Accept", "application/json")
    # A plain urllib request with no User-Agent is refused with 403.
    req.add_header("User-Agent", "transcribe-desk-client/1.0")
    for k, v in (headers or {}).items():
        req.add_header(k, v)
    with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as r:
        return json.loads(r.read())

out = call("GET", "/me")
print(json.dumps(out["data"], indent=2))

const TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN";   // from /tokens.html
const BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";

async function call(method, path, payload) {
  const res = await fetch(BASE + path, {
    method,
    headers: {
      "Authorization": `Bearer ${TOKEN}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    body: payload === undefined ? undefined : JSON.stringify(payload)
  });
  const json = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok || !json.ok) throw new Error(json.error?.message || res.statusText);
  return json.data;
}

const data = await call("GET", "/me");
console.log(data);

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

const base = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
const token = "YOUR_TOKEN" // from /tokens.html

func main() {
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", base+"/me", nil)
	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+token)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()
	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class Main {
    static final String BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
    static final String TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create(BASE + "/me"))
            .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
            .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .method("GET", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.noBody())
            .build();
        HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
            .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(res.body());
    }
}

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN" # from /tokens.html

uri = URI("#{BASE}/me")
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
req["Authorization"] = "Bearer #{TOKEN}"
req["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts JSON.pretty_generate(JSON.parse(res.body)["data"])

<?php
$base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
$token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

$opts = ["http" => [
    "method"  => "GET",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer $token\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\n",
]];
$res  = file_get_contents($base . "/me", false, stream_context_create($opts));
$json = json_decode($res, true);
print_r($json["data"]);

using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;

const string Base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
const string Token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

var http = new HttpClient();
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", $"Bearer {Token}");

var res = await http.SendAsync(new HttpRequestMessage(new HttpMethod("GET"), Base + "/me")
{
    Content = null
});
Console.WriteLine(await res.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());

3. Price the run before making it

POST /estimate costs nothing, creates no job, and returns the worst-case cost. Compare hold_credits against the balance from step 2 before you submit: a 402 after the fact is avoidable. hold_credits is a reservation priced at the full output cap - the actual charge is usually far lower.

It also echoes model, model_alias and markup_bps, which is the authoritative check that a run is bound to the model you think it is. Estimate each lane separately: their prompts and caps differ, so their holds do.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api/estimate" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKILLSAFE_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}'

import json, urllib.request

TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"   # from /tokens.html
BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"

def call(method, path, payload=None, headers=None):
    data = json.dumps(payload).encode() if payload is not None else None
    req = urllib.request.Request(BASE + path, data=data, method=method)
    req.add_header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
    req.add_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    req.add_header("Accept", "application/json")
    # A plain urllib request with no User-Agent is refused with 403.
    req.add_header("User-Agent", "transcribe-desk-client/1.0")
    for k, v in (headers or {}).items():
        req.add_header(k, v)
    with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as r:
        return json.loads(r.read())

payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
out = call("POST", "/estimate", payload)
print(out["data"]["hold_credits"], out["data"]["model"])

const TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN";   // from /tokens.html
const BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";

async function call(method, path, payload) {
  const res = await fetch(BASE + path, {
    method,
    headers: {
      "Authorization": `Bearer ${TOKEN}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    body: payload === undefined ? undefined : JSON.stringify(payload)
  });
  const json = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok || !json.ok) throw new Error(json.error?.message || res.statusText);
  return json.data;
}

const payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
};
const data = await call("POST", "/estimate", payload);
console.log(data.hold_credits, data.model, data.model_alias);

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

const base = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
const token = "YOUR_TOKEN" // from /tokens.html

func main() {
	payload := []byte(`{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}`)
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", base+"/estimate", bytes.NewReader(payload))
	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+token)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()
	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class Main {
    static final String BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
    static final String TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String payload = """
{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
""";
        HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create(BASE + "/estimate"))
            .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
            .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(payload))
            .build();
        HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
            .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(res.body());
    }
}

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN" # from /tokens.html

payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}

uri = URI("#{BASE}/estimate")
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req["Authorization"] = "Bearer #{TOKEN}"
req["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
req.body = JSON.dump(payload)
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts JSON.pretty_generate(JSON.parse(res.body)["data"])

<?php
$base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
$token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

$payload = json_encode([
  "task" => "check",
  "sheet" => "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry" => "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules" => "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
]);

$opts = ["http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer $token\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\n",
    "content" => $payload,
]];
$res  = file_get_contents($base . "/estimate", false, stream_context_create($opts));
$json = json_decode($res, true);
print_r($json["data"]);

using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;

const string Base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
const string Token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

var http = new HttpClient();
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", $"Bearer {Token}");

var payload = """
{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
""";
var content = new StringContent(payload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var res = await http.SendAsync(new HttpRequestMessage(new HttpMethod("POST"), Base + "/estimate")
{
    Content = content
});
Console.WriteLine(await res.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());

4. Write a package

POST /run submits the job. Always send an Idempotency-Key: a network blip that replays the same request must not bill twice. A replay with the same key returns the stored result and is not charged again; a replay with the same key but a different body is a 409.

The response carries output.output (the Markdown package), charged_credits and truncated. If truncated is true the balance sat between min_credits and hold_credits and the output was cut short - render what arrived and say so rather than presenting it as complete.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api/run" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKILLSAFE_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}'

import json, urllib.request

TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"   # from /tokens.html
BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"

def call(method, path, payload=None, headers=None):
    data = json.dumps(payload).encode() if payload is not None else None
    req = urllib.request.Request(BASE + path, data=data, method=method)
    req.add_header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
    req.add_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
    req.add_header("Accept", "application/json")
    # A plain urllib request with no User-Agent is refused with 403.
    req.add_header("User-Agent", "transcribe-desk-client/1.0")
    for k, v in (headers or {}).items():
        req.add_header(k, v)
    with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as r:
        return json.loads(r.read())

payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
out = call("POST", "/run", payload)
print(out["data"]["output"]["output"])

const TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN";   // from /tokens.html
const BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";

async function call(method, path, payload) {
  const res = await fetch(BASE + path, {
    method,
    headers: {
      "Authorization": `Bearer ${TOKEN}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    body: payload === undefined ? undefined : JSON.stringify(payload)
  });
  const json = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok || !json.ok) throw new Error(json.error?.message || res.statusText);
  return json.data;
}

const payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
};
const data = await call("POST", "/run", payload);
console.log(data.output.output);

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

const base = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
const token = "YOUR_TOKEN" // from /tokens.html

func main() {
	payload := []byte(`{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}`)
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", base+"/run", bytes.NewReader(payload))
	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+token)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()
	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class Main {
    static final String BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
    static final String TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String payload = """
{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
""";
        HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create(BASE + "/run"))
            .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
            .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(payload))
            .build();
        HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
            .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(res.body());
    }
}

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN" # from /tokens.html

payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}

uri = URI("#{BASE}/run")
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req["Authorization"] = "Bearer #{TOKEN}"
req["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
req.body = JSON.dump(payload)
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts JSON.pretty_generate(JSON.parse(res.body)["data"])

<?php
$base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
$token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

$payload = json_encode([
  "task" => "check",
  "sheet" => "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry" => "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules" => "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
]);

$opts = ["http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer $token\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\n",
    "content" => $payload,
]];
$res  = file_get_contents($base . "/run", false, stream_context_create($opts));
$json = json_decode($res, true);
print_r($json["data"]);

using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;

const string Base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
const string Token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

var http = new HttpClient();
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", $"Bearer {Token}");

var payload = """
{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
""";
var content = new StringContent(payload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var res = await http.SendAsync(new HttpRequestMessage(new HttpMethod("POST"), Base + "/run")
{
    Content = content
});
Console.WriteLine(await res.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());

5. Stream a run

POST /run-stream is the same call with a text/event-stream response. Worth knowing before you build on it: from a server or from cURL you get event: delta frames carrying the output token by token; from a browser you get event: tick heartbeats and then one event: done with the whole output. Handle both, and treat ticks as liveness rather than progress.

Frame types are job (the job id), delta ({"text": "..."}), tick ({"t": seconds}), done, and error. An idempotent replay returns plain JSON with no stream at all, so check the content type before you start reading frames.

curl -sS -N -X POST "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api/run-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SKILLSAFE_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: text/event-stream" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: cbd-$(date +%s)" \
  -d '{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}'

import json, urllib.request

TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"
BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"

payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}

req = urllib.request.Request(BASE + "/run-stream", data=json.dumps(payload).encode(), method="POST")
req.add_header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
req.add_header("Content-Type", "application/json")
req.add_header("Accept", "text/event-stream")
req.add_header("Idempotency-Key", "cbd-demo-1")
req.add_header("User-Agent", "transcribe-desk-client/1.0")

event, data = "message", ""
with urllib.request.urlopen(req) as r:
    for raw in r:
        line = raw.decode().rstrip("\n")
        if line.startswith("event:"):
            event = line[6:].strip()
        elif line.startswith("data:"):
            data += line[5:].strip()
        elif line == "":
            if data:
                frame = json.loads(data)
                if event == "delta":
                    print(frame.get("text", ""), end="")
                elif event == "done":
                    print("\n--- charged:", frame.get("charged_credits"))
            event, data = "message", ""

const TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN";
const BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";

const payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
};

const res = await fetch(BASE + "/run-stream", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${TOKEN}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "Idempotency-Key": "cbd-demo-1"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify(payload)
});

// An idempotent replay comes back as plain JSON with no stream at all.
if (!(res.headers.get("content-type") || "").includes("text/event-stream")) {
  const json = await res.json();
  console.log(json.data.output.output);
} else {
  const reader = res.body.getReader();
  const dec = new TextDecoder();
  let buf = "";
  for (;;) {
    const { done, value } = await reader.read();
    if (done) break;
    buf += dec.decode(value, { stream: true });
    let i;
    while ((i = buf.indexOf("\n\n")) >= 0) {
      const frame = buf.slice(0, i);
      buf = buf.slice(i + 2);
      let name = "message", data = "";
      for (const line of frame.split("\n")) {
        if (line.startsWith("event:")) name = line.slice(6).trim();
        else if (line.startsWith("data:")) data += line.slice(5).trim();
      }
      if (!data) continue;
      const p = JSON.parse(data);
      if (name === "delta") process.stdout.write(p.text || "");
      if (name === "tick") console.error("still writing:", p.t + "s");
      if (name === "done") console.log("\ncharged:", p.charged_credits);
    }
  }
}

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"net/http"
)

const base = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
const token = "YOUR_TOKEN" // from /tokens.html

func main() {
	payload := []byte(`{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}`)
	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", base+"/run-stream", bytes.NewReader(payload))
	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+token)
	req.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
	res, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	defer res.Body.Close()
	out, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)
	fmt.Println(string(out))
}

import java.net.URI;
import java.net.http.*;

public class Main {
    static final String BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
    static final String TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        String payload = """
{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
""";
        HttpRequest req = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
            .uri(URI.create(BASE + "/run-stream"))
            .header("Authorization", "Bearer " + TOKEN)
            .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
            .method("POST", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.ofString(payload))
            .build();
        HttpResponse<String> res = HttpClient.newHttpClient()
            .send(req, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
        System.out.println(res.body());
    }
}

require 'net/http'
require 'json'
require 'uri'

BASE  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api"
TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN" # from /tokens.html

payload = {
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}

uri = URI("#{BASE}/run-stream")
req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri)
req["Authorization"] = "Bearer #{TOKEN}"
req["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
req.body = JSON.dump(payload)
res = Net::HTTP.start(uri.hostname, uri.port, use_ssl: true) { |h| h.request(req) }
puts JSON.pretty_generate(JSON.parse(res.body)["data"])

<?php
$base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
$token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

$payload = json_encode([
  "task" => "check",
  "sheet" => "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry" => "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules" => "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
]);

$opts = ["http" => [
    "method"  => "POST",
    "header"  => "Authorization: Bearer $token\r\nContent-Type: application/json\r\n",
    "content" => $payload,
]];
$res  = file_get_contents($base . "/run-stream", false, stream_context_create($opts));
$json = json_decode($res, true);
print_r($json["data"]);

using System.Net.Http;
using System.Text;

const string Base  = "https://api.skillsafe.ai/v1/app-api";
const string Token = "YOUR_TOKEN"; // from /tokens.html

var http = new HttpClient();
http.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Authorization", $"Bearer {Token}");

var payload = """
{
  "task": "check",
  "sheet": "<a job sheet - DURATION at minimum; the grammar is in /llms.txt>",
  "worry": "it graded fine last time and this one will not come clean",
  "rules": "<the working rules for this lane, sent by the app>"
}
""";
var content = new StringContent(payload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
var res = await http.SendAsync(new HttpRequestMessage(new HttpMethod("POST"), Base + "/run-stream")
{
    Content = content
});
Console.WriteLine(await res.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());

6. Read the result

output.output is Markdown in the envelope this app's system prompt guarantees: every section is a level-two heading spelled exactly as listed in the lane table above, in that order; tables are GitHub pipe tables with the declared columns; prompts are in fenced blocks opened with three backticks and the word text; checklists are - [x] lines.

So parsing is a split on /^## / - but do it fence-aware, because a prompt block can legitimately contain a line starting with ##. Count the sections you got against the ones the lane declares: a short list means the run was truncated, not that the contract changed.

def sections(md):
    out, name, buf, fence = {}, None, [], False
    for line in md.split("\n"):
        if line.lstrip().startswith("```"):
            fence = not fence
        if not fence and line.startswith("## "):
            if name:
                out[name] = "\n".join(buf).strip()
            name, buf = line[3:].strip(), []
            continue
        if name:
            buf.append(line)
    if name:
        out[name] = "\n".join(buf).strip()
    return out

The artifact most callers want is the fenced text block inside ## The Sheet or ## Corrected Sheet - that is a complete sheet in the grammar above, so it can be fed straight back into another lane with nothing carried alongside it. Every other section is prose and tables meant to be read.

Rate limits and good manners

/estimate and /me are free. Call them as much as you like, within reason.
A 429 means back off with a delay, not retry immediately.
Send an Idempotency-Key on every /run. Derive it from a hash of the body plus an attempt counter, so a retry of the same request reuses the key and a deliberate re-run gets a new one.
The engine in the web app is client-side only and has no endpoint. What it computes is published in full in llms.txt - the windows are ceil(duration / 30) and what is encoded is windows x 30, so the padding is the difference and it is real encode; the seams are windows - 1; protecting them makes the hop 30 - 2 x overlap and the surcharge 30 / hop - 1, which never depends on the file; the timestamp tick is 30 / 1500 = 0.02 s exactly; a frame is den / num seconds and the two grids coincide on the rational LCM, lcm(numerators) / gcd(denominators); the hosted ceiling is 25 MiB / bytes-per-second, which at the model's own 16000 x 1 x 2 = 32,000 B/s is 13:39 of audio; and the drift from trimming is all the silence removed before a given time, not a fraction of it - so you can compute every figure this app produces in your own pipeline without it. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type: it has opened no audio file, measured no machine and transcribed nothing; the window, the hop, the sample rate and the encoder length are the published shape of the Whisper family rather than this page's policy; no price per window is known here, only the work that a provider's rounding is applied to; and the speech share is a number you supply rather than a measurement. The window count, the padded tail, the seams and how many fall mid-speech, the trim plan with the drift it causes, the upload arithmetic with the ceiling as a duration, the split plan with every boundary and piece, both grids with the count of frame boundaries the model can name, every pasted cue measured against both, and every finding are all sent with each run as prescan, and the system prompt requires answering them.