scourtain/reels-engine

Reel setup

ENGINE = node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/engine/bin/reels.js" HOME = $REELS_HOME if set, otherwise ~/Movies/Reels on a Mac and ~/Videos/Reels on Windows. ENGINE init-home prints it. In commands, always put HOME and PROJECT paths in double quotes, written out in full as the engine prints them (a ~ inside quotes does not work). On Windows they have backslashes and often spaces, which break without the quotes.

On Windows (check with uname -s: it starts with MINGW or MSYS in Claude Code's shell on Windows), skip steps 1 and 2 below and do this instead:

• Node and ffmpeg: check node --version (22 or newer) and ffmpeg -version. Install what is missing with winget install --id OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS -e and winget install --id Gyan.FFmpeg -e. Windows may show a "Do you want to allow this app to make changes" window: the member clicks Yes. If a tool still is not found right after installing, the engine also looks in winget's own folder; if ENGINE doctor still shows it red, ask the member to close and reopen Claude, then check again.
• Whisper (the transcriber): find the Windows download with curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/ggml-org/whisper.cpp/releases/latest and take the asset named exactly whisper-bin-x64.zip. If no asset has that name, stop and tell the member: "Windows setup needs an update for the newest Whisper download. Sam has been told." Otherwise mkdir -p "HOME/tools/whisper", curl -L --fail -o "HOME/tools/whisper.zip" <that asset's browser_download_url>, /c/Windows/System32/tar.exe -xf "HOME/tools/whisper.zip" -C "HOME/tools/whisper" (Windows' own tar reads zip files; the tar that comes with Git Bash does not), then delete the zip. Check that whisper-cli.exe landed: ls "HOME/tools/whisper" "HOME/tools/whisper/Release". If it is in neither folder, stop and tell the member the same message: "Windows setup needs an update for the newest Whisper download. Sam has been told." ENGINE doctor should now show whisper-cli green.
• Then continue from step 3 below. In ENGINE doctor, the optional – person cutout line says "only on a Mac for now": tell the member once, "The two hook looks that put type behind your head are Mac-only for now. The other four work." Do not offer any fix for it.

1. Homebrew (the tool installer): check which brew, then /opt/homebrew/bin/brew and /usr/local/bin/brew. If none exists, the member installs it with a normal Mac installer, no Terminal: send them to https://github.com/Homebrew/brew/releases/latest, have them download the file that ends in .pkg, double-click it, and click through (it asks for their Mac password in the usual Mac window; you never type or ask for it). Wait for them to say it's done, then check again. If brew is still not found by name, call it by its full path (/opt/homebrew/bin/brew) for the next step.
2. Tools: brew install node ffmpeg whisper-cpp (skip what's already there). Then ENGINE doctor. Fix anything red using its fix hint.
   • A line starting with – is optional. – person cutout means two hook card looks (type behind your head) are switched off on this Mac; everything else works. Offer the fix once: "Want the two behind-the-head hook looks? Run xcode-select --install in Terminal, click Install, then say 'check again'." Do not block setup on it.
3. Renderer browser + speech model (one-time downloads, about 700MB): run npx -y [email protected] browser ensure. Then make sure the speech model is there: check for ~/.cache/hyperframes/whisper/models/ggml-small.en.bin or HOME/models/ggml-small.en.bin. If neither exists, download it: mkdir -p "HOME/models" && curl -L --fail -o "HOME/models/ggml-small.en.bin" https://huggingface.co/ggerganov/whisper.cpp/resolve/main/ggml-small.en.bin
4. Workspace: ENGINE init-home. It prints the Reels folder and never overwrites existing files.
5. The basics, one question at a time, saved to HOME/brand-kit.json (keep every other key that is already in the file):
   • Instagram handle → handle
   • Default reel length in seconds (default 40) → default_target_seconds
6. Vocabulary: ask for names, tools and brand words they say often (their business name, products, apps). Write them one per line to HOME/vocabulary.txt so transcription spells them right.
7. Their style. Run the style interview in ../reel-style/references/style-interview.md: it opens the caption picker page, and what they pick there becomes their default style. Do not ask for an example reel or a link. Skip the interview's naming step: the style is always main (write it straight to HOME/styles/main.json, no draft). Do not offer a second style; they can add one later with /reels-engine:reel-style.
8. Finish with: "You're set. Drag 1-4 clips into the chat and say "new reel" (or type /reels-engine:reel)."

Re-running is safe: skip what's done. Only ask the basics again if they want to change them, and send style changes to /reels-engine:reel-style.