Nested Jobs

A nested job is a child render whose output is automatically injected as a video or image layer into a parent composition. You define it inline as an asset of type: "job" inside the parent’s assets array - no separate API call required.

How It Works

When Nexrender sees an asset with type: "job", it:

Creates the child job and starts rendering it
Holds the parent in pending state until the child finishes
Takes the child’s outputUrl and injects it into the layer specified by layerName in the parent composition
Renders the parent

The creation response returns immediately with the parent job ID and a children array containing the child job IDs, so you can track either independently.

Basic Example

The simplest nested job: render a child composition and place its output into a layer called "PrecompLayer" in the parent.

curl -X POST https://api.nexrender.com/api/v2/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "template": {
      "id": "PARENT_TEMPLATE_ID",
      "composition": "main"
    },
    "assets": [
      {
        "type": "job",
        "layerName": "PrecompLayer",
        "template": {
          "id": "CHILD_TEMPLATE_ID",
          "composition": "lower-third"
        },
        "assets": [
          {
            "type": "text",
            "layerName": "name",
            "value": "Jane Smith"
          },
          {
            "type": "text",
            "layerName": "title",
            "value": "Lead Designer"
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }'

{
  "id": "01PARENT_JOB_ID_HERE",
  "status": "pending",
  "outputUrl": "https://nx1-outputs-eu.nexrender.com/.../parent.mp4",
  "children": [
    {
      "id": "01CHILD_JOB_ID_HERE",
      "status": "queued",
      "outputUrl": "https://nx1-outputs-eu.nexrender.com/.../child.mp4"
    }
  ]
}

The parent starts as pending. Once the child finishes, the parent is automatically promoted to queued and rendered.

Nested Job Asset Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
`type`	string	Yes	Must be `"job"`
`layerName`	string	Yes	Layer in the parent composition where the child’s output is placed
`template.id`	string	Yes	Template ID for the child job
`template.composition`	string	Yes	Composition to render in the child
`assets`	array	No	Assets to inject into the child job
`preview`	boolean	No	Render the child at preview quality (default: `false`)
`settings.type`	string	No	Output type: `"video"` or `"image"` (default: `"video"`)
`settings.quality`	string	No	`"draft"` or `"full"`
`settings.codec`	string	No	Output codec (e.g. `"video_h264_vbr_15mbps"`) - see full list
`settings.engine`	string	No	AE engine version: `"ae2025"` or `"ae2026"` (default: `"ae2026"`)

Multiple Nested Jobs

You can include more than one nested job asset in a single parent. All children render in parallel - the parent waits for all of them before proceeding.

{
  "template": {
    "id": "PARENT_TEMPLATE_ID",
    "composition": "final-scene"
  },
  "assets": [
    {
      "type": "job",
      "layerName": "IntroClip",
      "template": {
        "id": "INTRO_TEMPLATE_ID",
        "composition": "intro"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "job",
      "layerName": "LowerThird",
      "template": {
        "id": "LOWER_THIRD_TEMPLATE_ID",
        "composition": "name-card"
      },
      "assets": [
        {
          "type": "text",
          "layerName": "speaker",
          "value": "Alex Johnson"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "type": "data",
      "layerName": "BackgroundColor",
      "property": "Color",
      "value": [0.1, 0.1, 0.9]
    }
  ]
}

Regular assets (like the data asset above) and nested job assets can coexist in the same assets array.

Tracking a Nested Job

Track the parent job normally with GET /jobs/:id. The parent stays in pending while children are rendering and transitions to queued - then render:dorender - once all children complete. To check the child job specifically, use its ID from the children array in the creation response:

curl -X GET https://api.nexrender.com/api/v2/jobs/01CHILD_JOB_ID_HERE \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

When to Use Nested Jobs

Nested jobs are useful when one composition depends on the rendered output of another:

A lower-third animation that needs to be composited into a final scene
A branded intro clip rendered from a separate template and inserted at the start
A data-driven chart rendered in isolation and dropped into a presentation layout
Any workflow where intermediate renders feed a final assembly composition

If you need to stitch multiple clips end-to-end rather than compositing them as layers, use a Join Job instead.

Join Jobs

Concatenate multiple rendered clips into a single output video

Tracking Renders

Poll status or receive a webhook when rendering completes

Essentials

Managing Templates

Rendering Jobs

Fonts Management

How It Works

Basic Example

Nested Job Asset Fields

Multiple Nested Jobs

Tracking a Nested Job

When to Use Nested Jobs

Join Jobs

Tracking Renders

​How It Works

​Basic Example

​Nested Job Asset Fields

​Multiple Nested Jobs

​Tracking a Nested Job

​When to Use Nested Jobs

Join Jobs

Tracking Renders

How It Works

Basic Example

Nested Job Asset Fields

Multiple Nested Jobs

Tracking a Nested Job

When to Use Nested Jobs