Communitygithub.com

BintzGavin/helios-skills

End-to-end guided workflow for creating an explainer or walkthrough video. Extracts brand identity from the repo, generates a measured soundtrack, and produces a narrative-driven motion.dev composition rendered via Helios CLI. Use when making how-it-works, feature walkthrough, or educational videos.

What is helios-skills?

helios-skills is a Claude Code agent skill that end-to-end guided workflow for creating an explainer or walkthrough video. Extracts brand identity from the repo, generates a measured soundtrack, and produces a narrative-driven motion.dev composition rendered via Helios CLI. Use when making how-it-works, feature walkthrough, or educational videos.

Works with~Claude Code~Codex CLI~Cursor
npx skills add https://github.com/BintzGavin/helios-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/guided/explainer-video

Ask in your favorite AI

Open a new chat with this agent skill pre-loaded.

Documentation

You may be operating inside the brand's repository, or working from an external context.

Do not guess brand identity. Either analyze the codebase or research the provided URL.


EXECUTION PIPELINE

STEP 1 — Gather Context

⛔ STOP. Ask the user these two questions:

  1. "Are we inside your brand's repository, or would you like to provide a URL (e.g. your marketing site) so I can research your brand online?"

  2. "Would you like generated background music? If yes, you'll need an ELEVEN_LABS_API_KEY in your environment. You can get one at https://elevenlabs.io → Profile → API Keys."

Wait for the user to respond to both questions.

Do not attempt to read .env files or verify keys yourself. Trust the user's responses.

If the user provides a URL, use it for brand research in STEP 3 instead of analyzing the codebase. If the user declines music, skip STEP 4 and STEP 5.


STEP 2 — Ensure Helios Runtime Dependencies

Install required packages:

npm install @helios-project/core @helios-project/renderer @helios-project/cli

You will render using DOM mode.


STEP 3 — Extract Brand Intelligence From Repo

If the user provided a URL instead of a repo, fetch that URL and extract the same brand signals from the live site. Skip codebase-specific items (Tailwind config, design tokens, etc.) and focus on visible brand elements.

Analyze:

• Tailwind config or CSS variables • Global stylesheets • Design tokens • Logo assets • Favicon • Documentation structure • Feature descriptions • Onboarding flows • Help text and microcopy • Information architecture • UI components • Existing motion usage

Construct internal brand profile:

• Core value proposition • Target audience • Tone of voice (instructional, supportive, authoritative) • Visual density • Primary palette • Accent palette • Typography character • Information hierarchy patterns • Explanation style (visual-first vs text-heavy)

All creative decisions must align with this.


STEP 4 — Generate Original Music (Skip if no music)

Use ElevenLabs with existing ELEVEN_LABS_API_KEY.

Generate instrumental track matching:

• Calm, supportive tone • Steady progression without dramatic peaks • Subtle background presence (must not compete with narration) • Target runtime

Save audio locally.


STEP 5 — Analyze Audio With ffmpeg (Skip if no music)

Extract:

• BPM • Beat timestamps • Downbeats • Energy peaks

Create beat timing map.

Section transitions should align to downbeats. On-screen text reveals should align to beats.


STEP 6 — Read Motion Design Rules

Before producing the creative specification, read and internalize:

skills/guided/motion-design-rules

Every rule in that skill is mandatory for this composition.


STEP 7 — Produce Creative Specification

You are a senior creative director and instructional design architect designing for Helios using motion.dev.

Input example: explain how our checkout flow works in 60 seconds

Output:

• One structured creative specification • Wrapped in a single code block • No explanation outside it

The specification must include:

• Duration • Aspect ratio (16:9) • Brand summary • Narrative arc (Introduction → Problem → Solution → How It Works → CTA) • Motion language (measured, deliberate, progressive) • Beat synchronized section breakdown • Exact timestamps per section • Voiceover script (conversational, clear) • On screen text (section headers, feature labels, step numbers) • Visual composition (clean layouts, generous whitespace) • Explicit motion.dev animation behavior • Transition logic (smooth crossfades between sections, slide-ins for content) • Layering order • Audio direction • Asset requirements • Step indicators or progress markers

Use motion.dev compatible terminology only.

Narrative structure requirements:

• Opening hook (first 5 seconds) • Problem identification • Solution introduction • Step-by-step walkthrough • Summary and CTA


STEP 8 — Implement DOM Based Helios Composition

Using the creative specification:

Create a composition.html file that:

• Uses HTML + CSS + motion.dev • Implements animations using WAAPI / CSS / motion.dev • Aligns section transitions to downbeats • Uses clear section headers with step numbering • Includes generated audio file • Has exact duration • Prioritizes readability and visual clarity

Expose Helios runtime:

import { helios } from "@helios-project/core";

window.helios = helios;

helios.bindToDocumentTimeline({
  autoSyncAnimations: true
});

Requirements:

• window.helios must be defined • helios.bindToDocumentTimeline() must be called • autoSyncAnimations: true must be enabled • All CSS and WAAPI animations must sync correctly • No randomness • Deterministic timing • Text must remain on screen long enough to read (minimum 3 seconds per key message)


STEP 9 — Render Using Official Helios CLI (DOM Mode)

Render with:

npx @helios-project/cli render ./composition.html -o output.mp4

Requirements:

• 16:9 aspect ratio • Correct duration • Audio attached • CSS and WAAPI fully synchronized • High quality MP4 output

Output file must be:

output.mp4


RUNTIME RULES

If duration ≤ 30 seconds Compress to: Hook → Core Concept → CTA.

If no duration specified Default to 60 seconds.

Maximum 5 sections for any duration. Each section must have a clear on-screen header. Pacing must allow comprehension — never rush information.

Never restate the original prompt. Never explain reasoning. Creative specification must be output inside a single code block only.

Individual skills in this repo

This repo contains 8 individual skills — each has its own dedicated page.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

Make a video, MP4, GIF, animation, music video, short film, explainer, chart animation, product demo, logo reveal or social clip from code. Write one HTML page that draws any frame from its time t, render it frame-exact to MP4 with Helios, check stills and contact sheets, and add a soundtrack. Use whenever the user asks for a video or an animation file.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

>- Story-first motion design philosophy for animated video: motion must earn its place; arc (establish, complicate, resolve); show vs tell; shots as units of thought; quiet vs loud motion; Disney principles with restraint; timing heuristics; composition; grammar by medium (product demos, logos, data viz, explainers); technical commitments (deterministic time, scrubbability, refs); cutting discipline; explicit anti-patterns. Use when planning, storyboarding, critiquing, or implementing programmatic or motion-driven video (Helios, Remotion, explainers, loops, UI capture, logo reveals), or when the user asks for motion direction, pacing, or visual-story structure.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

>- End-to-end production plan template for feeling-first cinematic product promos: brief interrogation, 45s beat structure (cold open through brand), hero-element metaphor, storyboard fidelity ladder, visual system (palette, type, camera, texture), motion mix and easing vocabulary, audio and captions, tooling (animatic through HTML or AE), deliverables matrix, accessibility, review milestones, and compromises to accept or refuse. Use when planning, pitching, storyboarding, or producing polished brand films for any SaaS or consumer product—not category-specific; pair with skills/design/animated-video-philosophy for broader motion principles.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

Patterns for using Helios with Framer Motion. Use when you want to use Framer Motion's physics and transitions but need frame-perfect synchronization with Helios.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

Motion design framework for programmatic video. Defines anti-slideshow architecture, visual layering, physics-based easing, choreography rules, and quality validation. Reference this skill from any guided video skill.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

End-to-end guided workflow for creating a promotional hype video. Extracts brand identity from the repo, generates beat-synced music, and produces a high-energy motion.dev composition rendered via Helios CLI. Use when making brand-aligned promo or hype videos.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

End-to-end guided workflow for creating a social proof or testimonial video. Extracts brand identity from the repo, generates a warm soundtrack, and produces a trust-building motion.dev composition rendered via Helios CLI. Use when making customer testimonial, review highlight, or social proof videos.

BintzGavin/helios-skills

Workflow for rendering a Helios composition to a video file. Use when you need to automate video production or export a high-quality animation.

Related Skills