Workflows vs Forge

Layer gives you two ways to generate assets through the API. They share the same async lifecycle and Creative Unit model, but suit different jobs.

Forge — direct model execution

Forge runs a single model with full control over its parameters. Reach for it when you know exactly which model you want and want to drive it directly.

• Submit: POST /v1/workspaces/{id}/inferences → inference_id
• Poll: GET /v1/workspaces/{id}/inferences/{id}
• Parameters: prompt, dimensions, batch size, style weight, guidance files (reference images, masks, poses, depth maps), video/3D/audio options, and post-processing (upscale, vectorize, remove background).

Workflows — Blueprint pipelines

A workflow is a multi-step pipeline built visually in the Layer app’s Blueprint editor — for example: generate an image → upscale → remove background. It’s callable as a single API run, with inputs and outputs defined by the Blueprint.

• Submit: POST /v1/workspaces/{id}/workflows/{workflow_id}/runs → run_id
• Poll: GET /v1/workspaces/{id}/workflows/{workflow_id}/runs/{run_id}
• The run response includes a per-step steps[] array so you can see progress and pinpoint a failing step.

Choosing

Use Forge when…	Use a Workflow when…
You want one model with specific parameters.	You need several steps chained together.
Your logic lives in your own code.	Your team already built the pipeline as a Blueprint.
You want to vary model/params per request.	You want a stable, named pipeline callable as one unit.

Both are asynchronous — see Async jobs & polling. Note that rate limits apply to forge generation; workflow runs are not currently subject to those per-minute generation limits.