name: showtime description: > Use when the user wants a video made, edited or finished: a launch or promo video, product demo, explainer, trailer or teaser, tutorial or walkthrough, a screen recording turned into a demo, social short, reel, TikTok or YouTube Short, photo slideshow, animated chart or data story, motion graphics or animation, an animated logo intro, outro or sting, lower thirds, an audiogram, music video; captions or subtitles for a video; a voice-over or narration; music or sound effects for a video; a video thumbnail or poster frame; footage edits such as cutting the ums, removing silences, tightening a talking head, podcast or interview clips; reframing to vertical; re-voicing or subtitling a video in another language; turning a repo, website, pull request or changelog into a video; or when they type /showtime. Not for editing still images, writing a caption for a photo post, or code unrelated to a video. compatibility: Any Agent Skills client with a shell, on macOS, Linux or Windows. Needs Python 3.8+ (or uv) and Node.js 20+; a one-time showtime setup downloads the local tools and models into ~/.showtime (or $SHOWTIME_HOME) and needs the network for that step.

showtime

You direct; showtime does the work on this machine: HTML/canvas scenes rendered frame-exactly, local voices, music, sound effects, transcript-driven footage edits, captions, QA and exports.

Running it. Paths are relative to the folder holding this SKILL.md, <folder> (Claude Code: ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}; if that reads ${...}, use the folder you read this from), never the plugin root (no bin/). showtime means showtime on PATH, else "<folder>/bin/showtime" <cmd> (no exec bit: prefix sh; Windows: & "<folder>\bin\showtime.cmd" in PowerShell, no & in cmd). Host kills long commands: --background, then showtime status <id> --wait 240. Never call a bare ffmpeg.

<job> is the folder showtime job init prints (showtime-out/<slug>-<timestamp>/) or its name (launch = the newest launch-*). Renders never overwrite (final-2.mp4); commands given <job> use its latest file and say which.

Modes#

• Quick (default). Open with one line of assumptions ("Quick mode: 20 s, 16:9, upbeat; no voice-over.") and start working; do not wait for a reply. Ask (1-2 questions, each with a recommended answer) only when the request is ambiguous: nothing to work from, or two readings that make different videos. Wait for a yes only before something destructive (dropping content the user recorded, touching their files) or expensive (a large install, a render over ~10 min).
• Studio (opt-in) when the user says studio, brainstorm, show me options or concepts first, storyboard it first, or wants control. Offer it once, in the opening line, only for high-stakes work with an open direction; the offer counts as one question and does not block: continue in quick mode unless they take it. Studio settles concept, look, sound and storyboard, then builds with the workflow file (references/studio.md: every showtime studio command; boards: references/boards.md).
• Switching either way, the delivery card and question rules: references/modes.md.

Pipeline#

Log each stage boundary: showtime job note <job> --stage <name> --verified ... --assumed ... --next ....

0. Setup check. showtime doctor --quick. If anything is missing, showtime setup --estimate, tell the user size and time, then showtime setup. First run: references/onboarding.md. Done when: doctor reports 0 fail.
1. Understand. showtime job init <slug> --goal "<request>" (add --platform reels|youtube|... when a destination is named; qa checks against it). Gather the inputs: repo, URL, footage, brief. Inspect before asking; with no path given, look in the working folder (one candidate: use it and say so). Brand kit only when the look must match a product: brand.json, else showtime brand init ... -o <job>/brand.json. Done when: you can write the one-sentence contract (references/story.md) and SHOWTIME.md lists the assumptions.
2. Plan. Story, tone, structure, voice script, storyboard with a duration per scene. For voice-led videos run showtime voice script <script> --fit <seconds> first: the real line lengths (timeline.json slots) set the scene lengths, and in a project showtime retime <project> --from-voice <project>/voice/timeline.json applies them. Done when: durations sum to the target and every claim traces to a source.
3. First look. Project: showtime new <template> <job>/project --duration <len> (the whole timeline scales; later: showtime retime), then showtime check <project> and showtime snap <project> --every 1. Footage (EDL in <job>/edit/): showtime edit render <job> --preview, then showtime edit view <job>. Read the images, fix what is wrong. Quick mode: show the user and keep going; studio: the animatic is the gate. Done when: check reports 0 errors and every WARN is read (footage: edit check passes and you read every view PNG).
4. Build. Project: compose the hook complete at t=0 ("poster": 0), then showtime render <project> --job <job> (final.mp4, poster.jpg; a later poster is baked into frame 0 only when it matches the opening). Footage: showtime edit render <job> -o <job>/final.mp4; poster via showtime deliver poster <job> --at <t> --bake (the baked file becomes the latest final and ships). Say the time for anything over 30 s. Done when: the render finished cleanly.
5. Verify. showtime qa <job> in the same turn, then look at its sheet.jpg. Publish-bound: showtime review-pack <job> and the critic (references/review.md); with no sub-agent tool, answer its CRITIC.md yourself, say so, and ask the user for a second look. Done when: qa says PASS or WARN, you quoted the verdict with LUFS and true peak, and FAILs are fixed.
6. Deliver. share.txt (references/platforms.md), credits when qa asks, showtime deliver exports on request. End with the delivery card: paths, assumptions, cheap vs costly changes, three next options. Done when: the card is sent and the job note says deliver.

Situation → workflow#

References (read when)#

Red flags#

Rules#

• Nothing is uploaded, ever (media search and site capture only fetch). Outputs are never overwritten; each job has its own folder.
• Never invent claims, numbers, quotes, logos or UI presented as real (references/story.md).
• Prefer CC0/OFL assets; CC-BY needs its credit line shipped with the video. Never bypass bot walls.
• The user's instructions override every default here.

Crew#

Studio and publish-bound jobs can hand work to specialist sub-agents: showtime:<role>, elsewhere a sub-agent told to read references/crew/<role>.md. Quick mode: none, except researcher and critic when publish-bound, motion designers at 6+ scenes. They get file pointers, never the chat; only you talk to the user, keep the ledger, merge and render (references/crew.md).

Resuming#

If the folder has showtime-out/ or a SHOWTIME.md: run showtime status, read SHOWTIME.md, and ask only its open questions. Never re-ask a logged decision.

View or edit this page on GitHub