Choosing a Runware model

Runware's catalog is large and changes weekly. The rule: never hardcode a single model as the only answer. Start from a sensible default for the capability, then confirm it's live and current with a real lookup before running.

How to discover

• List / search the catalog (SDK, MCP list_models / model_search, or CLI) filtered by capability and modality. Each model card carries name, air, status, capabilities, pricing, and a headline.
• Capabilities are tagged as io:<from>-to-<to> and op:<operation>:
  • io:text-to-image, io:image-to-image, io:text-to-video, io:image-to-video, io:video-to-video, io:text-to-audio, io:audio-to-video (lipsync), io:image-to-3d, io:text-to-3d, io:text-to-text, io:image-to-text (vision).
  • op:edit, op:remove-background, op:upscale, op:extend, op:vectorize, op:caption, op:mask, op:train, and the ControlNet preprocessors (op:depth-estimation, op:pose-estimation, …).
• Match the customer's outcome to a capability, then to a model.

Status matters

status tells you whether a model is usable: prefer live. Treat deprecated as replaced (check replacedBy), coming-soon / draft as not yet callable, unlisted as reachable only if you already have its ID.

Routing principles

• Default to a flagship for quality, offer a fast/cheap tier for drafts. Most families have both (e.g. a [max]/pro tier and a fast klein/flash/turbo tier).
• Route by sub-task, not by brand. A single outcome often spans models: e.g. text-heavy images favor a model strong at typography; a premium still vs a fast draft are different picks.
• Cost-aware. Check the card's pricing (or dry-run via runware-run) before a batch.
• Hosted models carry a "Runware Optimized" marker - good defaults for reliability/price.

Quality bar

• The chosen model is live and actually supports the required capability (verified against its card, not assumed).
• A cheaper/faster alternative was considered for drafts or high-volume runs.

Related skills

runware-run (call the model you picked), runware-prompting (prompt it well), and every outcome skill (each names its default routing, then defers here to confirm).