Threads podcast guest card: pull the guest still with video frames

Meta's announcement does not say how a guest image is produced, so that part is yours. If the episode exists as a video, call Sume's POST /v1/video-frames with the seconds where the guest is on screen and you get back durable image artifacts you can use as the base for a guest card.

Threads facts are from Meta's announcement; Sume behavior is from the Video frames page, both read 2026-10-01.

What did Threads add for podcast guests?

Meta's post lists profile banners, episode link cards, transcript and guest cards, new episode reminders and Podcast Insights. It says creators can share standout moments and featured guests with transcript, video and guest card posts. It does not describe how the guest image is produced, so that step is yours.

How do I get a guest still from the episode video?

Video frames takes one media.sume.com clip and exactly one of at[] (1 to 24 explicit seconds) or fps. Off-host URLs are rejected, so import first with POST /v1/media-imports. Submit returns 202; read the job with GET /v1/video-frames/:id until resource_status is ready, then use frames[{t,url,width,height}].

Pick at values from a moment where the guest faces camera. Each value must be at least 0 and below the clip duration, otherwise the worker fails with frame_time_out_of_range.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-frames \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: guest-card-001" \
  -d '{
    "video_url": "https://media.sume.com/artifacts/artf_demo/talk.mp4",
    "at": [12, 14.5, 17],
    "format": "png"
  }'

Which options matter for a card image?

What if my episode is longer than 300 seconds?

The source must be 300 s or shorter. Cut the part with the guest first using video trim, then extract stills from the cut. A failed instant comes back with a null url and does not fail the whole job, so check each frame before using it.