..
   Copyright 2026 John Harwell, All rights reserved.

   SPDX-License-Identifier:  MIT

.. _user-guide/product-generation:

====================
Product Generation
====================

Stage 4 transforms :term:`Processed Output Data` files into deliverables:
graphs, videos, or any other output a custom plugin produces. Generation is
driven by the ``--prod`` plugin chain: one or more plugin names passed in
order, each executed sequentially. The default chain is ``prod.graphs``. For
what each built-in plugin does, see :ref:`tutorials/plugins/prod`. For the
graph formatting and resource options that apply across plugins, see
:ref:`reference/cli`.

.. _user-guide/product-generation/chain:

Composing the Chain
===================

Plugins are run in the order given. The only ordering constraint between the
built-in plugins is that ``prod.render`` requires frames to exist first: either
captured by the engine during stage 2 via
:ref:`--engine-vc<src/reference/cli:sierra---engine-vc>`, or generated by
``proc.imagize`` during stage 3.

Common compositions:

.. code-block:: bash

   # Default: graphs only
   sierra ... --prod prod.graphs

   # Graphs and render imagized frames into video
   sierra ... --prod prod.graphs prod.render

   # Skip graphs entirely, render engine-captured frames only
   sierra ... --prod prod.render