scourtain/reels-engine

Reel style

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.

A style is the look only: font, captions, colors, zoom. It never changes the cut. If a member wants tighter or looser pauses, that is the edit rules, not a style: change gap_between_ms (100-250) or gap_within_target_ms in HOME/edit-config.json, then re-run finish.

A member's styles are the files in HOME/styles/*.json, one per content series ("tips", "stories"). Their default is default_style in HOME/brand-kit.json. The engine has one built-in, starter, used only until they have their own. Never offer clean, punchy, or editorial: those are gone. (An old home may still hold those three files. They still work; leave them alone unless they ask.)

File shape and every knob: references/style-file.md.

What to do

• List: read HOME/styles/ and describe each style in one plain line (font, one word or word groups, soft shadow / outline / none, where the captions sit, zoom), with the default marked. No styles yet: say they are on the starter look and offer to set up their own.

• New style: run references/style-interview.md.

• Good to know: a member can also change a style's font, captions, text style and colors on the screen that follows Send to Claude in /reels-engine:reel ("Change the look"). That writes to the same style file, so read the file fresh before you edit it.

• From an example they bring ("make it look like this reel", with a saved video or screenshots): follow references/from-example.md. Never ask for one.

• Edit in plain words: change the file, then always show them: ENGINE sample <name>, and ask if it's right. Keep going until they say yes.

  They say	Change
  bigger / smaller captions	captions.size +12 / -12 (starts at 64 for word groups, 88 for one word)
  one word at a time	captions.mode: "word"
  a few words at a time	captions.mode: "group", captions.words_per_line: 3
  more / fewer words per line	captions.words_per_line up or down, 2 to 4
  all caps / normal case	captions.case: "upper" / "sentence"
  switch the font, "use Montserrat"	font.family to one of the five, font.file: null. Not sure which: open the picker (step 1 of references/style-interview.md)
  use my own font	see "Their own font" in references/style-file.md
  change the colors, "a different focus color"	captions.highlight_color (the focus color: the word being said), captions.color (every other word). They gave a hex or a color name: set it. They want to see options: open the picker (step 1 of references/style-interview.md)
  make the word pop / no highlight	captions.highlight: "pop" / "none" ("color" is the default)
  outline the words / go back to the soft shadow / plain text, no shadow	captions.treatment: "outline" / "shadow" / "none"
  more / less zoom	next level up or down: off → minimal → medium
  move the captions (above my head, below my head, lower, beside my head)	captions.position: above / below / low / beside-left. This changes the default for every reel in this style. For one reel only, that is /reels-engine:reel ("move the captions on this reel")

• Set the default: set default_style in HOME/brand-kit.json to the style's name. Keep every other key.

• Delete: confirm first ("Delete the stories style? This can't be undone."). Never delete their last style. If it was the default, ask which style is the new default and set it.

• Re-render the last reel in another style: set style in the newest project's cut-list.json, then ENGINE finish "PROJECT".

Rules

• Samples play a few seconds of their newest reel. No reel yet: ENGINE sample says so. Tell them the style is saved and they'll see it on their first reel, and use the picker for the font, caption look and colors.
• A sample takes about half a minute. Say so before you run it.
• There is no full-screen word moment in this version. If they ask, say so.
• The hook card's look, and whether a reel starts with it on, are remembered in the style as hook: { preset, on } (see references/style-file.md). Members normally choose them on the screen after Send in /reels-engine:reel, so only set them here when a member asks to change their default hook look.
• Style names are short, lowercase, kebab-case, and match the file name.