Avatar Consent

How HeyGen verifies that the person in a digital twin agreed to be cloned — the three levels of consent access, and the API flow for collecting it.

Before you can generate video with a digital twin (type: "digital_twin"), HeyGen needs proof that the person depicted agreed to be cloned. This protects the avatar subject, your account, and HeyGen — and it’s what lets you use a real person’s likeness responsibly at scale.

The consent API step applies only to digital twin avatars. A group created from a photo (type: "photo") or prompt (type: "prompt") has no consent request to make and reports consent_status of null. If you add a photo or prompt look to an existing group, it retains that group’s consent status.

A photo avatar is still built from a real person’s image. Having no API step to complete is not permission to use someone’s likeness. HeyGen runs no consent check and keeps no consent record for a photo avatar, so getting the subject’s agreement before you create one, and keeping your own record of it, is your responsibility. Your account team can answer questions about your contract terms.

The three levels of access

Consent is offered as three increasing levels of access. Each level removes friction from the flow, and each is unlocked for a progressively narrower set of accounts. Higher levels are more powerful and correspondingly more restricted.

Level	Flow	Who it’s for	Availability
1. Record via webcam	The avatar subject records a short consent statement on camera through HeyGen’s hosted consent page.	All customers	Available today
2. Upload a consent video	You supply a pre-recorded consent video instead of recording live — more flexible, but consent is still explicitly captured.	Enterprise only	Available today — contact sales
3. Skip the consent flow	Consent collection is waived entirely for accounts that have signed an indemnity agreement.	Enterprise only	Contact sales

Collect consent via API

One endpoint drives both Level 1 and Level 2: POST /v3/avatars/{group_id}/consent. By default it starts the webcam flow and returns a URL for the avatar subject — the link is valid for 24 hours; enterprise accounts can pass a pre-recorded consent_video instead.

Record via webcam (Level 1)

curl -X POST "https://api.heygen.com/v3/avatars/group_xyz789/consent" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $HEYGEN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "reroute_url": "https://heygen.com/consent-done"
  }'

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
reroute_url	string	No	Redirect URL after the subject completes consent. Defaults to HeyGen’s own completion page. Applies to the webcam flow only.

Response

{
  "data": {
    "avatar_group": {
      "id": "group_xyz789",
      "name": "My Digital Twin",
      "consent_status": "pending",
      "looks_count": 1,
      "created_at": 1717000000
    },
    "url": "https://heygen.com/consent/abc123..."
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
url	string	Consent page URL. Send this to the avatar subject to complete approval. The link expires after 24 hours — call the endpoint again to issue a fresh one. Returned for the webcam flow; when you upload a consent_video, the group is all you need, so the field is omitted.
avatar_group.consent_status	string	Current consent status of the group: pending (awaiting the subject or under review), accepted (consent cleared), or rejected (resubmit). null for photo and prompt groups.

Upload a consent video (Level 2)

Enterprise accounts can submit a pre-recorded consent statement directly — same endpoint, with consent_video in place of the flow parameters:

curl -X POST "https://api.heygen.com/v3/avatars/group_xyz789/consent" \
  -H "X-Api-Key: $HEYGEN_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "consent_video": { "type": "url", "url": "https://example.com/consent.mp4" }
  }'

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
consent_video	object	Yes, for this flow	The pre-recorded consent video, as {"type": "url", "url": "https://..."} or {"type": "asset_id", "asset_id": "..."} (see Upload Assets for uploading).

The video is submitted immediately for review — the subject never visits a consent page, so the response contains the avatar_group alone and no url. Because there is no hosted page in this flow, send consent_video on its own, without the webcam-flow parameters. This flow is enterprise-only — please reach out to sales or your account team to request access.

What the consent video must contain

Because the upload flow has no hosted page prompting the subject, you provide the statement yourself. Consent is validated semantically, so minor wording differences are fine, and the statement can be in any language. Translate it however fits your subject. The current recommended statement:

“Hey there! I’m speaking with LOTS of energy, while staying natural and confident. This helps HeyGen capture my voice, my expressions, and my motion, so my avatar can behave JUST like me in ANY video!”

Requirement	Detail
Consent statement	The subject clearly reads the statement above, in any language (translate as needed).
Same person	Must be the same person as the training footage (identity-matched).
One visible face	A single, clearly visible face on camera.
Audio	Clearly audible.
Length	Under 35 seconds. A short clip is enough, and longer clips are rejected.
Format	A standard video file (for example MP4), supplied as a public HTTPS URL or an uploaded asset_id.

Record the consent clip separately from the training footage. Training footage works best at about 2 minutes of natural talking (see Footage that trains well), while the consent clip must be under 35 seconds.

No passcode is required for the upload path — a spoken code applies only to the interactive webcam flow (Level 1).

Check consent_status on the avatar group via GET /v3/avatars/{group_id} to know when consent is complete. It is null for a group created from a photo or a prompt, which has no consent step. The status belongs to the group, not the individual look.

Track the result

There is no webhook for consent. Poll GET /v3/avatars/{group_id} after submitting; review usually completes within a few minutes. The instant_avatar.success and instant_avatar.fail webhook events report twin training, not consent.

When consent_status is rejected, the group’s status is failed and error.message explains why in plain language you can show the subject:

{
  "data": {
    "id": "group_xyz789",
    "name": "My Digital Twin",
    "consent_status": "rejected",
    "status": "failed",
    "error": {
      "code": "moderation_failed",
      "message": "Please make sure your consent video is under 35s."
    },
    "looks_count": 1,
    "created_at": 1717000000
  }
}

Fix the issue and call the consent endpoint again.

Resubmit after a rejection

You can call POST /v3/avatars/{group_id}/consent again for a group whose consent_status is rejected, with a new webcam link or a new consent_video. While a submitted consent video is still under review, the endpoint returns a 400 asking you to wait, and once consent is accepted it returns a 400 because consent is already complete. Send the Idempotency-Key header so a network retry does not create a second submission.

Where consent fits

Consent is one step in the digital twin flow. To create the avatar itself, see Create Avatar; to browse the resulting characters and looks, see Avatars and Avatar Looks.