Photo and video proof

What you'll build

The kid finishes a real-world thing (cleaned room, finished art piece, practiced an instrument, did the chore) and captures evidence on the iPad: a photo, a short video. The artifact attaches to the task as completion proof. The parent sees the picture, not just a checkmark.

Both shapes below are Soon. The platform-level decisions are locked; the surfaces are landing in stages. We're publishing the pattern early so you can plan against it.

Pieces you'll combine

Two routes, pick the one that fits the activity:

• Camera task (runMode: "camera" with cameraTaskSpec): native iPad camera surface managed by Sprout. No canvas authoring. Best when the entire task is the capture moment.
• Canvas with upload (sprout.uploadAsset()): a regular interactive canvas with a capture step inside it. Best when the capture is one step inside a richer activity (a drawing tool that saves the final piece, a quiz where the last question is "show me your work").

Build it (planned shape)

Route A: Camera task (runMode: "camera")

A new task runMode alongside self-check, conversation, and canvas. Sprout owns the camera surface end-to-end: opens the iPad camera, captures photo or short video, lets the kid retry, hands the asset to Sprout as completion proof. Your home agent never touches the file.

task.create({
name: "<capture name>",
assignChildIds: ["<kidId>"],
runMode: "camera",
cameraTaskSpec: {
captureKind: "photo",        // "photo" | "video"
prompt: "<What the kid sees on the camera screen>",
maxDurationSeconds: 15,      // video only
retryAllowed: true,
requireParentReview: true    // pause completion in review state
},
scheduleSpec: { taskType: "schedule", days: ["Mon","Tue","Wed","Thu","Fri"], startMinutes: 1020 },
rewardSpec: { gems: 3 }
})
# Returns { taskId }
# Asset stored in Sprout. Read via task.describe: returns asset id + signed URL.

Route B: Canvas with sprout.uploadAsset()

The existing Interactive canvas pattern, plus a new SDK call. The canvas opens the camera (or photo picker) when the kid taps a capture button; the captured asset flows back to Sprout via sprout.uploadAsset(). The completion call (sprout.score / sprout.complete) fires after the upload resolves.

// In the canvas body:
captureButton.onclick = async () => {
const result = await sprout.uploadAsset({
kind: "photo",                  // or "video"
purpose: "completion-proof",
maxBytes: 8_000_000
});
// result: { assetId, signedUrl, mime, sizeBytes }
showThumbnail(result.signedUrl);
};
submitButton.onclick = () => {
sprout.complete({
summary: "Submitted with photo proof",
assetIds: [latestAssetId]
});
};

An authoring helper skill (analogous to Screen reader) ships alongside uploadAsset: it teaches your agent the canvas constraints around capture buttons, retry handling, thumbnail rendering, and the upload-then-complete sequence. Slug: photo-capture. Status: Soon, lands when uploadAsset lands.

When to use it

• Camera task: the activity is "capture this moment". Daily chore proof, "show me your finished homework", a quick practice clip. The camera is the task.
• Canvas with upload: capture is one step inside a richer activity. A drawing app that saves the finished piece. A reading reflection where the kid photographs their journal page. A multi-stage quiz with a final "show your work" step.
• Anti-pattern: kid privacy moments (bath, bedroom changing, anything sensitive). Sprout will not author or accept these tasks; design for non-sensitive proof only.
• Anti-pattern: storage-hungry video archives. Cap durations short; the platform enforces a ceiling regardless.

Tools touched (planned)

• task.create with runMode: "camera" + cameraTaskSpec (Soon).
• canvas.create + sprout.uploadAsset() SDK method (Soon).
• task.describe: returns asset ids + signed URLs for read-back.

Recommended skills

No skills in the catalog pair with this pattern yet. Browse the catalog.

Roadmap

• Soon Camera task mode. runMode: "camera" with cameraTaskSpec. Sprout-owned capture surface.
• Soon Canvas asset upload. sprout.uploadAsset() SDK method. Capture inside a richer activity.
• Soon Photo capture authoring skill. Authoring helper that teaches your agent the capture-then-complete pattern (analogous to Screen reader).
• Soon Parent-review gate. Optional requireParentReview: true holds completion until a parent thumbs the photo through.

Seen in walkthroughs

Chore + photo proof

Related patterns

• Interactive canvas: the host for Route B.
• Reports and briefs: digest a week of captured photos into a single card.
• Autonomous loop: cadence the capture task daily; cadence the digest weekly.