Claude Design Animation Capture

Claude Design Animation Capture

Convert a Claude Design Animation export (ZIP or unzipped folder) into a clean 1080x1920 H.264 MP4 ready for Reels, Shorts, TikTok, or any social upload.

Claude Design (Anthropic Labs, Research Preview) ships an Animation template that exports an HTML + JSX bundle, not a video file. This skill bridges that gap. It spins up a tiny local HTTP server to serve the React + Babel HTML, drives Playwright headless Chromium to record the playback at the requested dimensions, then runs ffmpeg to crop, trim, and transcode to a single MP4.

When to Use

• You exported a Claude Design Animation project as a ZIP and want an MP4 to upload to LinkedIn, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or X.
• You want the same pixel-accurate playback the Claude Design preview shows, captured headlessly without screen-recording.
• You want a repeatable, scriptable pipeline — same input ZIP, same output MP4, every time.

Do NOT use this skill to:

• Capture Claude Design Wireframe, High Fidelity, or Slide Deck templates. They export different structures and don't have the timeline contract this skill relies on. Animation only.
• Render hosted Hyperframes URLs. Use the official Hyperframes CLI for those.
• Edit, trim, or merge multiple animations. This skill captures one export end-to-end. Compose afterwards in your editor of choice.

Prerequisites

Node 20+, plus two user-installed tools.

Playwright (and a Chromium binary):

# From this skill's folder, or anywhere you want a local install:
npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

ffmpeg on PATH:

# macOS
brew install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

# Windows
winget install Gyan.FFmpeg
# Then close and reopen your terminal so ffmpeg is on PATH.

The skill itself has zero npm dependencies. Playwright and ffmpeg are user-installed because bundling them would push the skill from kilobytes to ~300 MB.

Workflow

Phase 1, gather inputs.

Ask the user for the following. If anything is missing, ask one short follow-up question.

• Input (required): Path to the Claude Design Animation export. Either a .zip file (Share -> Download as ZIP from Claude Design) or an already-unzipped folder.
• Output (optional): Where to write the MP4. Defaults to ./<inputName>.mp4 in the current working directory.
• Duration (optional): How many seconds of the animation to capture. Defaults to 24. Match the actual length of the Animation in Claude Design.
• Width / Height (optional): Output dimensions. Defaults to 1080x1920 (vertical, social-ready).

Phase 2, run the script.

Invoke the bundled script:

node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/run.js \
  --input "{path to ZIP or folder}" \
  [--output "{path/to/output.mp4}"] \
  [--duration {seconds}] \
  [--width {px}] [--height {px}] \
  [--port {int}] [--keep-temp]

If ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} is not available, use the absolute path printed by the plugin manager.

The script:

1. Resolves the input. If a ZIP, unzips into a temp folder. If a folder, uses it directly.
2. Finds the entry HTML file (prefers index.html, falls back to hint-matching names).
3. Spawns a minimal local HTTP server on a free port.
4. Launches headless Chromium via Playwright at the requested dimensions plus 80px for the playback bar.
5. Hides the playback bar, waits for fonts, snaps the animation to t=0, records.
6. Runs ffmpeg to seek to the t=0 mark, take exactly duration seconds, crop to the requested dimensions, transcode to H.264 at 30fps CRF 18 with +faststart for fast streaming.
7. Cleans up temp files unless --keep-temp was passed.

Total time: usually 60-120 seconds for a 24-second animation.

Phase 3, report back.

Confirm to the user:

• Output path: {absolute path}
• File size: {N MB}
• Duration: {N seconds}
• Codec: H.264, 30fps, yuv420p, MOV +faststart

If the script fails, summarise the cause in plain English and point at references/troubleshooting.md for the full failure-mode list.

Inputs Needed, Minimum

To produce an MP4, the skill needs at least:

1. --input pointing at a ZIP or a folder
2. ffmpeg on PATH
3. Playwright + Chromium installed

Everything else (output, duration, dimensions, port) has sensible defaults.

Examples

Example 1, the bundled verification example:

"Test the skill works on my machine."

Run from this skill's folder:

node scripts/run.js --input ./example --duration 6 --output ./test.mp4

Produces a 6-second MP4 at 1080x1920 showing "Demo" fading in, holding, fading out. If this works, your Playwright + ffmpeg setup is good.

Example 2, real Claude Design export:

"Render my Claude Design Animation export to MP4."

node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/run.js \
  --input "C:/Users/me/Downloads/my-animation-export.zip" \
  --duration 24

Defaults to ./my-animation-export.mp4 next to the working directory. Vertical 1080x1920, ready for Reels.

Example 3, custom dimensions for landscape:

"Same export but I want 1920x1080 landscape for YouTube."

node ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/run.js \
  --input ./my-animation.zip \
  --output ./my-animation-landscape.mp4 \
  --duration 24 \
  --width 1920 \
  --height 1080

Note: the underlying viewport is still rendered at width x (height + 80), so the source animation must be designed for the requested aspect ratio. The skill crops, it does not letterbox.

References

• references/workflow.md — step-by-step Claude Design -> ZIP -> MP4 walkthrough.
• references/troubleshooting.md — common failure modes (ffmpeg not found, Chromium missing, blank capture, font fallback, choppy playback, playback bar visible).

Disclaimer

• Animation template only. Claude Design's Wireframe, High Fidelity, and Slide Deck templates export different structures. They are not supported.
• Tested on Windows. Mac and Linux paths are written by reasoning and follow Node's cross-platform APIs, but haven't been verified by the maintainer. Issues and pull requests welcome at https://github.com/Jody09-dotcom/constructionx-skills.
• Claude Design is in Research Preview. Anthropic may change the export format. If a future export breaks this skill, raise an issue.
• No audio. The skill captures video only. Add music or voiceover at upload time, per platform.