General limitations
| Limitation | Details |
|---|---|
| No export endpoint | After editing via the API, open the project in Descript to export. An export endpoint is under development. |
| No local file upload | Media must be hosted at a public or pre-signed URL. Direct file uploads from your computer aren’t supported yet. |
| File size limit | Imported files are limited to 1GB. |
| Job history retention | Job status records are available for 30 days after creation. Projects themselves are unaffected. |
Import API
| Issue | Details |
|---|---|
| No import into existing projects | You can only import media into new projects. Adding media to an existing project is not yet supported. |
| No explicit transcription language | The transcription engine auto-detects language. You can’t manually specify it. |
| No explicit FPS setting | Composition frame rate is set automatically. Manual FPS configuration is not available. |
Agent API
| Issue | Details |
|---|---|
| May report success prematurely | Agent edits may return "status": "success" while some operations are still processing. If edits look incomplete, wait a minute and check the project in Descript. |
| Visual operations are approximate | Edits that involve placing or moving visual elements (layers, images, text overlays) may not produce visually polished results. The agent is strongest with audio operations and content editing. |
| No composition targeting | The composition_id parameter is accepted but not functional. Agent edits apply to the entire project. |
| One-shot prompts only | The API doesn’t support multi-turn conversation. Frame your edits as complete, self-contained instructions. |
Permissions & access
| Issue | Details |
|---|---|
| Cross-drive 403 errors | Tokens are scoped to a single Drive. Attempting to edit a project in a different Drive returns 403, even if your account has access to both Drives. |
| Team access setting | Setting team access levels for projects created via the API is not yet supported. |
| Occasional 502 errors | Agent edit jobs may intermittently return 502 Bad Gateway. These are transient — retry the request after a short delay. |
File handling
| Issue | Details |
|---|---|
| Google Drive share links | The direct API doesn’t accept Google Drive share links. Convert to direct download format or use the CLI (which converts automatically). See Common Workflows. |
| Dropbox share links | Same as Google Drive — convert share links to direct download URLs, or use the CLI. |
| Pre-signed URL expiration | Media URLs must remain valid for 12-48 hours during processing. Use pre-signed URLs with appropriate expiration times. |
Jobs API
| Issue | Details |
|---|---|
| No running jobs filter | You can’t filter the jobs list to show only currently running jobs. |
Reporting issues
Found something not listed here? Report it through:- Descript API Discord — Community discussion and direct feedback to the team
- Your Descript account’s support channel — For account-specific issues