General Video

General video

Before relying on this workflow, run:

npx hyperframes skills update general-video

A successful no-op means the skill is current. Surface an update failure instead of continuing from memory.

1. Apply cross-cutting source adapters

• Media: For any audio, image, icon, logo, voice, grade, LUT, caption, or media-operation need, load /media-use and follow its adoption, resolution, provider, provenance, and reuse contracts. Before the first authenticated provider action, run npx hyperframes auth status and relay its output verbatim. If signed out, apply the gate in ../hyperframes-core/references/brief-contract.md: collaborative waits for sign-in or an explicit offline choice; autonomous states the status and continues through an available offline provider. Surface a blocker when no offline provider can satisfy a required capability. Local adoption alone does not require an auth gate.
• Figma: If any input is a figma.com URL, run /figma first. Build from its exported assets, tokens, components, or storyboard frames. Do not use raw Figma MCP calls because they skip SVG sanitization, media provenance, and brand-token binding.

These adapters do not change the workflow selected by /hyperframes.

2. Start from project state

Apply the first matching row; do not evaluate lower state rows:

For a new project, choose a kebab-case directory name from the brief and scaffold before writing the brief:

npx hyperframes init "videos/<project>" --non-interactive --example=blank

Then write BRIEF.md at the project root using ../hyperframes-core/references/brief-format.md. In an existing project, the root is the directory containing hyperframes.json. Record only the confirmed preference-backed fields named by the brief format, using node <MEDIA_DIR>/scripts/prefs.mjs record --hyperframes <PROJECT_ROOT>; never record inferred defaults. Here <MEDIA_DIR> is the installed /media-use skill directory and <PROJECT_ROOT> is the directory containing hyperframes.json. If the intent layer adopted a recipe, apply it now with node <MEDIA_DIR>/scripts/recipe.mjs use --hyperframes <PROJECT_ROOT> --name <name> and do not ask again.

3. Interpret the run shape

Use only the canonical terms from ../hyperframes-core/references/brief-contract.md:

Do not invent synonyms for these states. An ongoing “just build it” signal is handled by the intent layer and arrives as flow: automation, storyboard: no.

• For flow: automation, choose the route and state it in one line in the first progress update.
• For a specific edit, make the edit without inventing a new route.

Companion flow

When flow: companion:

• Read BRIEF.md and reconcile accepted ## Assets and ## Customizations with project artifacts. Complete accepted work that is still pending; leave completed work alone; do not offer an accepted capability again as if it were new.
• Arrive as the director, not the contractor. A user who chose companion chose involvement and quality; the honest response is the best version you can design, not the smallest one you can defend. The first plan is the ceiling treatment: the story arc (borrow the nearest genre lens — menu § Genre lenses), the design spec, each scene's motion treatment cited by name (§ 5's plan discipline), the transitions, the audio identity — music and sound marks, or deliberate silence — the user's material placed, and a designed open and close. Say what each layer adds in one line; flag the expensive ones (render time, sign-in, billing) as you name them. The user trims a treatment down; they should never have to assemble one approval by approval.
• The ceiling belongs to the concept, not the toolbox. Every layer must serve the brief's message — a treatment that would dress any video the same way is decoration. Craft rises to the ceiling; content never grows past what was asked (§ 6).
• Between checkpoints, ../hyperframes/references/capability-menu.md works two ways. As the trigger list: offer a relevant capability when the user mentions its input or the build reaches its need. As each pass's upgrade channel: a plan, sketch, or build checkpoint may carry one or two traced offers pointed at material the user is looking at ("scene 3's stat wants the count-up treatment"). Read it before offering; never dump the full catalog.
• After the user accepts a capability, produce its artifact and record the decision in the matching BRIEF.md body section immediately. Rewrite a frontmatter field and record the confirmed preference only when the user explicitly changes it.
• Keep the same storyboard, validation, final-preview, and render-approval gates. Companion changes who steers, not what quality requires.

4. Load required knowledge before each stage

These reads are mandatory when their condition matches:

Do not replace these reads with recollection. Progressive disclosure saves context only when the matching reference is actually loaded.

5. Execute the composition

Use this dependency order. Skip a stage only when its input is absent.

1. Plan. State the viewer arc, structure, rhythm, and duration driver. Use one file for a short single scene; use sub-compositions for three or more hard scene cuts or any reused scene. Read /hyperframes-creative → references/story-spine.md for narrated arcs, references/beat-direction.md for rhythm, and /hyperframes-core → references/composition-patterns.md for structure. For an open-ended multi-scene brief, expand the prompt through /hyperframes-creative → references/prompt-expansion.md. A multi-scene plan cites each scene's shape: a blueprint id from /hyperframes-animation → blueprints-index.md when one fits, or the named rules it composes from rules-index.md when none does — motion names come from those indexes, never invented. Story truth decides which scenes exist; the citation dresses them.
2. Review the plan when requested. For storyboard: yes, write one ## Frame N per scene with status: outline and a declared src, then run the shared review loop. For storyboard: no, continue without opening the board.
3. Resolve dependencies. Install registry blocks before parallel work. Stage user assets, adopt existing media, and resolve only what the brief requires. Start audio early when its timings drive duration.
4. Build static hero layouts. Implement every scene at its most visible moment before adding motion. The confirmed wireframe, when present, is this end state and must not be redrawn. Follow /hyperframes-core for the layout contract.
5. Animate. Build each scene from its cited blueprint or rules: read the full recipe body (/hyperframes-animation → blueprints/<id>.md, rules/<id>.md) before writing its motion, and keep to it. Use /hyperframes-animation for runtime adapters and scene transitions. Keep animation details in that owning skill rather than re-defining them here.
6. Assemble. Mount scenes, media, transitions, captions, and audio using the production loop. Real voice duration overrides estimates.
7. Verify. Use npx hyperframes lint for fast feedback after the first HTML pass and structural changes. For the final gate, run npx hyperframes check; it reruns lint internally, so do not run a redundant standalone lint immediately before it. For sub-compositions, inspect midpoint snapshots. For multi-scene work, review the animation map.
8. Final approval. Open the final Studio preview only after checks pass. Ask whether to render or revise. Render only after approval.

6. Gates that always apply

Keep scope exact

Build what the user asked for. A title card is not a title card plus three scenes, music, and captions. Offer additions before adding them.

Establish design before HTML

Resolve the design source in this order: frame.md → design.md → DESIGN.md. Treat the first file found as brand truth.

When no design spec exists, complete all four items before writing composition HTML:

1. Ground the visual identity in house-style.md and video-composition.md.
2. Write one sentence naming the concept angle for every non-trivial creation.
3. Choose an embeddable font pairing from /hyperframes-creative → references/typography.md; do not assume an unbundled display font exists in cloud rendering.
4. Define the focal element, edge anchors, supporting detail, and background treatment.

Match density to the requested format and message. Density examples are guidance for produced frames, not permission to invent claims, scenes, or a fixed number of elements.

For a named style or mood, read /hyperframes-creative → references/visual-styles.md. When the user needs to choose visually and no shipped preset fits, read /hyperframes-creative → references/design-picker.md and run the interactive design selection there.

Preserve the composition contract

Timed elements use class="clip"; the root and relevant ancestors are sized; each composition registers one paused, seek-safe timeline on window.__timelines; rendering is deterministic. Do not use render-time network fetches, clocks, or unseeded randomness.

Borrow workflows safely

When the piece resembles a shipped workflow, borrow its genre references as examples. First run npx hyperframes skills update <workflow-name>. Borrow its story shape and taste, not its private scripts, pipeline state, or directory contract. The generic build remains owned by this skill.

7. Done

A run is complete only when:

• requested scope is implemented;
• for flow: companion, the treatment is delivered, not just the scope: every scene's cited blueprint or rules realized, the audio identity present (or the silence chosen and said), the open and close designed rather than defaulted;
• npx hyperframes check passes, including its built-in lint stage;
• design adherence is reviewed against /hyperframes-creative → references/design-adherence.md when a design spec exists;
• contrast findings are resolved;
• sub-composition snapshots are inspected when applicable;
• an autonomous handoff includes an inspected contact or snapshot sheet; multi-scene sheets use scene midpoints;
• the handoff names the final preview or rendered artifact as applicable and reports the actual duration for a time-based deliverable;
• hyperframes-animation/scripts/animation-map.mjs is reviewed for multi-scene work;
• the user approves the final Studio preview before render;
• the rendered file is verified when a render was requested.

After final approval, offer once to freeze the run as a recipe, following ../hyperframes-core/references/review-loop.md § 4.