aktsmm Video Watch
Prepare video artifacts that GitHub Copilot can inspect: captions, frame contact sheets, a frame index, a manifest, and a prompt packet.
This skill is inspired by bradautomates/claude-video, but it targets GitHub Copilot workflows. Do not assume Claude Code Read parallelism. Generate files first, then inspect only the artifacts needed for the user's question.
When to Use
- The user asks to watch, inspect, summarize, compare, or diagnose a video.
- The input is a video URL supported by
yt-dlp, or a local.mp4,.mov,.mkv, or.webmfile. - The task depends on both what is said and what appears on screen, such as bug reproductions, product demos, launch videos, tutorials, webinars, ads, or screen recordings.
Not the Best Fit
- Do not bypass DRM, paywalls, authentication, or site terms.
- Do not request or store cookies, bearer tokens, signed URLs, or private media credentials.
- If an official API or existing transcript answers the task without video processing, prefer that lighter path.
Core Workflow
- Run preflight if dependencies are uncertain:
python .github/skills/video-watch/scripts/preflight.pyUsepython .github/skills/video-watch/scripts/preflight.py --url-modefor URL inputs. - Produce artifacts:
python .github/skills/video-watch/scripts/video_watch.py <url-or-path> --question "<what to answer>"Use--transcript-file <path>when another tool, Azure Speech, or Speech Translator Desktop Plus already produced a transcript. For private or authenticated media, prefer--detail transcript --metadata-only --transcript-file <path>and do not pass cookies, bearer tokens, or signed URL credentials. - Read artifacts in this order:
manifest.json→prompt.md→transcript.md→frame-index.md→contact-sheet.jpg→ selected files inframes/only if needed. - Answer from the artifacts. State when the answer is transcript-only, frame-only, or limited by sparse sampling.
- For named moments, rerun with
--start/--endto focus the frame budget.
Detail Modes
| Mode | Use |
|---|---|
transcript |
Captions or sidecar transcript only. Fastest. |
efficient |
Small visual pass for quick triage. |
balanced |
Default contact sheet for most screen recordings and demos. |
token-burner |
Larger visual pass when the user explicitly needs broad visual coverage. |
Rubber Duck Checkpoints
- Before changing this skill's workflow, review the plan for primitive choice, hidden dependencies, safety boundaries, and Copilot artifact order.
- After editing, review
SKILL.md, scripts, and references for self-contained behavior, trigger quality, line count, and executable validation. - Treat the critic as read-only. The producer applies changes and reruns validation.
References
| Need | Reference |
|---|---|
| Detailed workflow | references/workflow.md |
| Dependencies and setup | references/dependencies.md |
| Frame budget and contact sheets | references/frame-budget.md |
| Optional Scout/Whisper/Azure Speech backends | references/backends.md |