Important: Sora is no longer available as a production service. OpenAI says the Sora web and app experiences ended on April 26, 2026, and the Sora API was discontinued on September 24, 2026. As of November 9, 2026, you cannot follow a current, runnable Sora 2 API tutorial to generate new videos. This guide offers a practical prompt-writing method for understanding or adapting Sora-era creative briefs—not a way to access the retired service. (help.openai.com)
How to write a Sora 2 prompt
There is no universal prompt formula here. Use the pattern below as editorial guidance, not an official OpenAI rule or a guarantee of a particular result. OpenAI’s Sora 2 announcement shows prompts describing a subject, action, setting, and visual treatment, including a multi-shot example. Those examples illustrate descriptive writing; they do not establish that a specific prompt structure always works. (openai.com)
A practical prompt pattern
Describe the idea in this order, adding only details that matter to the brief:
- Subject: Who or what is on screen?
- Action: What happens, in clear and observable terms?
- Setting: Where and when does it happen?
- Visual direction: What should the lighting, palette, framing, or overall style feel like?
- Sequence: If the idea needs more than one beat, describe what changes and what should remain consistent.
- Sound or dialogue: If relevant to the creative brief, describe the intended sound in plain language. Do not assume that a particular audio control or result is available in a product or API.
This order is a drafting aid, not a required syntax. Keep the main action easy to identify; if a brief contains many competing actions or visual details, simplify it before adding more.
Copyable template
[Subject] [action] in [setting and time].
The scene is framed as [shot or viewpoint] and lit by [lighting].
The visual treatment is [style, palette, or mood].
[If needed: describe the sequence of events and what should stay consistent.]
[If needed: describe dialogue, sound effects, or background sound.]
Worked example
A red paper kite catches the wind above a quiet seaside park at sunset. A child runs across the grass holding the string as the kite rises and sways overhead. Wide view of the park, warm low sunlight, soft pastel colors, gentle and playful mood. Keep the kite red and visible as it moves across the sky. Light wind and distant waves; no dialogue.
Why these details are included: The subject and action establish what the viewer should follow. The seaside park and sunset set the scene. The wide view, warm light, and pastel colors describe the intended visual treatment. The final continuity note clarifies which detail should remain recognizable as the kite moves. The sound sentence is part of the creative brief, not a claim about a supported audio setting or guaranteed audio output.
How to revise a prompt that misses the brief
Treat revision as a diagnosis, not a magic phrase. Compare the result with the brief, identify the most important mismatch, and change the sentence that describes it. Then assess the next result against the same brief. This is a general creative workflow, not a verified Sora 2 troubleshooting procedure or a claim that changing a prompt will reliably fix a particular output.
Illustrative example—not a reported test: Suppose a draft asks for a kite above a park, but the kite is hard to notice. Make its role and movement more explicit:
Before: “A child plays in a seaside park at sunset with a kite.”
After: “A child runs across a seaside park at sunset, holding the string of a large red kite. The kite stays clearly visible above the child as it rises and sways in the wind.”
The revision gives the kite more prominence and describes its movement. It does not guarantee that a generator will depict it as intended. If the brief has several problems, revise one priority at a time so you can tell which instruction you changed.
Production API: Sora is discontinued
Do not use old Sora API examples as instructions for a new production integration. OpenAI’s discontinuation notice gives September 24, 2026 as the Sora API shutdown date; that date has passed. The official deprecations documentation also lists the Videos API and Sora 2 model aliases and snapshots for removal on that date. (help.openai.com)
That means this guide cannot responsibly provide a working Sora 2 endpoint, model identifier, request body, authentication procedure, or video-retrieval walkthrough. Historical code or third-party claims that an API existed do not make it usable now. If you are planning a production system, choose a currently supported video-generation service and follow that provider’s current official API documentation; do not assume its fields, behavior, or prompt requirements match Sora’s.
What Sora 2 information is useful—and what is not
OpenAI’s 2025 Sora 2 announcement described it as a video-and-audio generation model and discussed following intricate instructions across multiple shots. Those are historical descriptions of the product, not evidence that the service remains available or that it will produce a specific result from a prompt. (openai.com)
Older guides about the original Sora should not be treated as Sora 2 API documentation. For example, the Prompting Guide page discusses Sora generally and gives descriptive prompt examples, but it does not establish a Sora 2 prompt formula or current API steps. Use such examples, at most, as inspiration for describing a scene—not as verified Sora 2 rules. (openai.com)
Quick checklist
Before handing off a video prompt or adapting it for another tool, ask:
- Is the main subject clear?
- Is the action described in visible, concrete terms?
- Have I specified only the setting and visual details that matter?
- If there are multiple beats, is their order understandable?
- Have I separated creative direction in the prompt from technical controls supplied by a particular product?
- Have I confirmed that the generation service and its API are still available before planning production around them?
Bottom line: Write a Sora-era video brief by clearly describing the subject, action, setting, and visual treatment, then revise the specific detail that misses the brief. But Sora 2 itself is no longer a production option: its web/app service and API have been discontinued.