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Input Staging

By default, Xora stages every input: it copies your file from the URL you provide into engine storage, then processes from that copy. This is reliable for any HTTPS origin.

For hosts that support HTTP byte-range requests (most CDNs, S3/R2 presigned URLs, and many file servers), you can set stageInput: false to skip staging. ffmpeg reads your original URL directly, which is often much faster for lightweight jobs like extract audio or thumbnails.

When to use `stageInput: false`

Good candidates	Keep default (`true` or omit)
extractAudio, thumbnail, webReady, proxy	Unknown or flaky origins
Long transcodes from range-capable CDNs	Origins without `Accept-Ranges: bytes`
Large files you already host on S3/R2	When you need a durable copy in engine storage

API usage

Add stageInput: false to any job body (recipe or ffmpeg):

curl -X POST https://api.xora.sh/v1/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "recipe",
    "input": { "url": "https://cdn.example.com/interview.mp4" },
    "output": { "format": "mp3" },
    "recipe": { "name": "extractAudio" },
    "stageInput": false
  }'

await fetch('https://api.xora.sh/v1/jobs', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    Authorization: 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    mode: 'recipe',
    input: { url: 'https://cdn.example.com/interview.mp4' },
    output: { format: 'mp3' },
    recipe: { name: 'extractAudio' },
    stageInput: false,
  }),
});

requests.post(
    "https://api.xora.sh/v1/jobs",
    headers={
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "mode": "recipe",
        "input": {"url": "https://cdn.example.com/interview.mp4"},
        "output": {"format": "mp3"},
        "recipe": {"name": "extractAudio"},
        "stageInput": False,
    },
)

With presets

Store stageInput in the preset body, or override it when running the preset:

{
  "presetId": "preset_abc123",
  "input": { "url": "https://cdn.example.com/video.mp4" },
  "stageInput": false
}

Job pipeline effect

`stageInput`	Origin supports ranges	Steps
`true` (default)	any	`probe` → `stage_input` → transcode
`false`	yes	`probe` → transcode (direct URL)
`false`	no	`probe` → `stage_input` → transcode (fallback)

Parallel chunk jobs (long transcodes) also benefit: chunk workers range-read your URL instead of a staged copy when staging is skipped.

Extract Audio — common use case for stageInput: false
Job Lifecycle — states and progress
Presets — save stageInput in preset definitions