ccvideo — Claude-style product promo videos

You are producing a short promo video (20–45 s, 1920×1080 @ 30 fps) in the visual language of Anthropic's Claude launch videos: a warm terracotta canvas, a single macOS terminal window running a Claude Code session, text that types and streams in, brief camera pushes between locked framings, serif title cards.

Prerequisites

1. A Remotion project must exist. If not, scaffold one: npx create-video@latest --yes --blank --no-tailwind . then npm i.
2. Packages (install with npx remotion add <pkg> so versions match): @remotion/google-fonts, @remotion/transitions, zod (declare zod explicitly — the library imports it directly; do not rely on it being a transitive dependency).
3. The component library must exist at src/ccvideo/. If it does not, copy every file from this skill's templates/ directory into src/ccvideo/. Do not rewrite these components from scratch.
4. The capture/verify tooling must exist at scripts/ in the project root. If it does not, copy this skill's scripts/ directory (including scripts/lib/) there. All scripts resolve captures/ against the directory you run them from, so always run them from the project root.

Ground truth (non-negotiable content rules)

Video content is never hand-written into scene components. Every fact shown — numbers, paths, endpoints, command output, line counts — must come from a capture of something that really ran:

• Each video has a captures/<name>/ directory holding raw artifacts (API responses, extracted session events) plus a props.json built from them deterministically. props.json is the single source of truth the composition renders.
• Capture first. Before making the video, run the real thing:
  • node scripts/capture-xapi-cli.mjs — live X data via the xapi CLI (npx xapi-to, key in ~/.xapi/config.json; the xapi skill in .agents/skills/xapi/ documents all its capabilities).
  • node scripts/capture-x-user.mjs — official X API variant (needs X_BEARER_TOKEN; --sample writes placeholder data with raw-meta.json marked sample: true — never publish a sample capture).
  • node scripts/transcript-to-props.mjs <session.jsonl> --prompt-match <str> --out captures/<name> — replay a real Claude Code session turn (transcripts live in ~/.claude/projects/<project-slug>/*.jsonl).
  • New data source? Write a new capture script following the same pattern: fetch reality → save raw → build props via a shared deterministic builder in scripts/lib/.
• Verify before publishing: node scripts/verify-props.mjs captures/<name> rebuilds props from the raw artifacts and fails on any hand-edit. Fix by re-capturing, never by editing props.json.
• Honest-replay boundary: pacing is a performance (typing speed, spinner time), but capability must be real — the video may only show what the captured run actually did. This extends to chrome: session-header facts (Claude Code version, cwd) come from the capture (claude --version, real cwd) or the header is omitted; the spinner's token counter renders only when the capture provides a real thinkingTokens value (otherwise seconds only). Sample captures fail verify-props outright (--allow-sample exists solely for pipeline testing).
• Captures aim to be commit-safe, with defense in depth — not a guarantee: transcript-to-props persists only the inputs the video actually uses (the selected events' shown lines + counts, one truncated command output, the summary bullet lines), scrubs secret-shaped strings (API keys, Bearer tokens, URL credentials, env/JSON password fields, private keys), and rewrites both normal and slug-flattened home paths to ~ — all before props are built, so props, video, and archived raw see identical redacted content. Pattern lists can never be complete: always review a capture before committing, and treat any redaction warning as a stop sign.

Workflow

1. Capture first (see Ground truth): produce captures/<name>/props.json from a real run.
2. Beat sheet from the capture. Presentational text (card titles, thinking word) lives in the capture script's constants/flags — pick the one prompt, the code beat, the run output, the summary bullets. Aim for the classic arc: code → created → ran+output → summary.
3. Compose: register a <Composition> in src/Root.tsx using GroundedVideo from src/ccvideo with schema={groundedVideoSchema}, defaultProps imported from the capture's props.json, and calculateMetadata deriving duration via groundedVideoDuration — durations follow content automatically. Custom scene work beyond the standard arc: build with the library primitives, same rules.
4. Verify with stills before declaring done. Render one still per beat: npx remotion still <CompId> --frame=<n> --scale=0.5 out.png and look at them. Check: nothing clipped by the terminal window (a [ccvideo] overflow warning in render output means trim beats), timing feels unhurried, colors match the palette.
5. Run node scripts/verify-props.mjs captures/<name>, then preview with npx remotion studio --no-open; final render with npx remotion render <CompId> out/<CompId>.mp4 (add --props=captures/<name>/props.json to render a different capture without touching code; add --scale=2 for a 4K master like the official demos — compositions stay 1920×1080 @ 30 fps in code).

Two themes

Pick per product, both share the brand terracotta #D97656/#D97757:

• Terracotta (default) — warm canvas, Claude Code REPL session. For agent/AI-workflow stories. Components: GroundedVideo/DataSession.
• Dark (the ant CLI demo grammar) — near-black canvas #0B0B0B, warm-black terminal #181716 separated only by a subtle border, shell prompt ▶ ~/dir > (arrow #8B92C9, chevron #5FA97B), cream serif #D6D4CF. Structure is chaptered: pixel-logo wordmark card → [interstitial card (mono kicker + thin divider + serif claim) → fresh shell beat (type real command, real output fades in, idle prompt returns)] per chapter → wordmark outro. For CLI/developer-tool products. Components: DarkVideo/ShellBeat/InterstitialCard/WordmarkCard, palette dark in theme.ts, schema darkVideoSchema (built from captures like the light theme — e.g. props-dark.json written by capture-xapi-cli.mjs, verified by verify-props.mjs).

The look (non-negotiable style rules)

• Canvas #CC7D5D, terminal #2B2C36, titlebar #3A3634. Body text #E3E4EB, dim #9899A1, comments #6C6E6A, line numbers #83848C. Accents: periwinkle #B8B9F2 (paths, inline code, strings), teal #85BEC5 (keywords), gold #F2C43D (status arrows). All defined in src/ccvideo/theme.ts — import, never hardcode.
• Fonts: JetBrains Mono for everything terminal, Source Serif 4 for title cards. Loaded in theme.ts via @remotion/google-fonts, with Noto Sans SC already appended as CJK fallback for both stacks — Chinese prompts render out of the box.
• Terminal window 1560×950 centered (985 when a session header is shown; dark theme 1860×1010), 14 px radius, deep soft shadow, three traffic lights, mono titlebar text that mirrors the task, e.g. dev — · Implement X — claude — 106×31.
• The Claude Code session must look real: > input row above a gold ⏵⏵ auto mode on (shift+tab to cycle) · esc to interrupt status bar (both always visible, pinned to the bottom); a ✻ Cogitating… spinner in a fixed-height slot just above the input row; ● tool-result bullets; a numbered code block ending in … +N lines (ctrl+o to expand); a bold What it does summary with - bullets.
• Camera: no sustained zoom or pan on terminal scenes, ever — slow fractional scaling makes small mono text visibly drift and swim. The only allowed camera motion is <CutZoom>: brief, strongly-eased moves (~0.6 s) between otherwise locked framings — push into dense content, hold, pull back for the payoff. Text may be mid-scale only during a deliberate fast move, never for seconds. Keep the same origin on the pull-out as the push-in so it doesn't read as a lateral slide. DataSession applies this automatically around the run beat. <SlowZoom> remains title-cards-only.
• Session authenticity chrome (all schema-driven, all optional): header (pixel logo + Claude Code vX + model/cwd line, always visible), windowTitleIdle → windowTitle swap at prompt submit, prompt echo as a highlighted block, spinner with live (Ns · ↓ N tokens) counters and an optional ⎿ Tip: line, status bar that gains esc to interrupt only while working. Extra beat kinds: answer (rich prose block), alert (red-highlight row), tool beats may carry ⎿ children lines.
• No transcript drift. Terminal text may only fade in place: no positional entrance animations inside the window, and never mount/unmount an element that reflows lines below it — transient rows (spinners, progress) live in fixed-height slots so their disappearance shifts nothing.
• Title cards: serif headline in near-black #1F1508 on the terracotta, mono subtitle at 68 % opacity, fade-up entrance. Headline ≥ 132 px, subtitle ≥ 52 px at 1920 wide.

Component API (src/ccvideo)

Data-driven layer (preferred for whole videos):

• <GroundedVideo {...props}> — intro card → session → outro card, entirely from a groundedVideoSchema value (a capture's props.json).
• <DataSession {...props.session}> — renders any sessionSchema value: optional header, prompt typing, spinner, then beats (discriminated union: code, tool, run, summary, answer, alert). Applies the run-beat cut-zoom automatically; warns at render time if content will overflow.
• sessionTiming(props, fps) / groundedVideoDuration(props, fps) — pure timing derivation; use in calculateMetadata.
• <Rich segments> — renders JSON segments {t: 'plain'|'kw'|'code'| 'comment'|'dim'|'bold', s}; the bridge from props.json to styled text.

Presentation primitives:

• <TerminalWindow title width? height? variant?> — window on the canvas (variant="dark" for the dark theme). Children are a flex column; give the transcript flex: 1 so <InputBox> + <StatusBar> pin to the bottom.
• <TypeText text from cps? cursor?> / <Cursor> — typewriter, 35–45 cps.
• <InputBox typedText? from? cps?> — > row; no typedText = blinking cursor.
• <StatusBar mode? hint?>.
• <Thinking from? until? word? stats? tokens? tip?> — spinner; stats shows live (Ns) — plus ↓ N tokens only when tokens carries a real captured count; tip adds a ⎿ Tip: line. Put it in a fixed-height slot between transcript and input; until fades it out in place.
• <Line from?> — one output row, 8-frame fade-in (opacity only).
• <ToolLine from> — ● bullet row.
• <CodeBlock from lines stagger? startLineNo? expandNote?> — numbered lines.
• Token spans: <K> keyword, <C> code/path, <Cm> comment, <Dim>, <B>.
• <SessionHeader version modelLine>, <PromptEcho>, <AlertLine from?>, <ToolChild from?> — session chrome (see style rules).
• <CutZoom cuts={[{from, scale?, origin?, ease?}]}> — brief eased moves between locked framings; the only camera motion allowed on terminal scenes.
• <SlowZoom from? to?> — title cards only, never around a terminal.
• <TitleCard title subtitle? titleSize?>.

All animation is frame-driven (useCurrentFrame + interpolate, clamped, inline in style). Never use CSS transition/animation.

Timing cookbook (30 fps session scene, ~14 s)

DataSession derives all of this automatically via sessionTiming — the table below is for hand-built custom scenes only.

Sequence the swaps with <Sequence from/durationInFrames layout="none">. Let output beats breathe — when in doubt, slower. Transitions overlap scenes: total duration = sum of scenes − sum of transition frames.

Worked examples (patterns to reproduce)

The bundled scripts are themselves complete worked examples:

• API-capture video (scripts/capture-xapi-cli.mjs + both builders in scripts/lib/build-props.mjs) — one capture run produces a terracotta Claude Code session video and a dark chaptered CLI video from the same raw data. The run-output beats replay the script's real stdout, +N lines is the script's real line count, and the session header carries the real claude --version and cwd.
• Session-replay video (scripts/transcript-to-props.mjs) — converts a real Claude Code session turn (JSONL transcript) into a video script, with redaction and minimal storage built in. Handles CJK prompts via the bundled font fallback.

Register the resulting props.json on a GroundedVideo (terracotta) or DarkVideo (dark) composition as described in the Workflow section.