## Problem Studio timeline editing still had two rough edges that made the latest alpha feel less polished when testing it like a video editor would: - Timeline clips for anonymous DOM nodes could surface internal fallback identities like `__node__index_*`, which made the timeline look broken instead of authored. - Elements without a stable `id` could still appear in the timeline and canvas editor, but authors did not get direct lint guidance that those elements are weaker targets for Studio and agent edits. ## What this fixes - Adds a non-blocking `studio_missing_editable_id` lint warning for timeline-visible elements that do not have an `id`. - Makes the warning point to the exact element and recommend stable, human-readable ids such as `hero-title` or `scene-1-card`. - Stops using synthetic node-index ids as runtime clip identity for anonymous DOM nodes. - Gives anonymous clips readable labels from authored metadata, composition ids, DOM ids, class names, asset filenames, text content, or a simple ordinal fallback. - Keeps those labels display-only in Studio and uses key-first identity for matching, dragging, resizing, and manifest merge preservation. - Covers the duplicate-label case where two anonymous clips both render as `Card` but still stay separate timeline entries. ## Root cause The runtime manifest used synthetic node-index ids as both identity and display fallback for timeline nodes that had no stable author-provided id. Studio then treated those internal values as user-facing clip names. The first pass improved the display label, but it also risked using that friendly label as internal identity. Two anonymous clips with the same label could then collapse into the same logical timeline element. The fix separates display labels from internal identity and prefers the timeline key whenever Studio needs to match an element. The linter also had correctness checks for render and runtime behavior, but it did not teach authors when a timeline-visible element would be harder for Studio and agents to patch reliably. That left missing ids as a silent authoring quality issue instead of actionable guidance. ## Verification ### Local checks - `bun run --cwd packages/core test -- src/lint/rules/core.test.ts src/runtime/timeline.test.ts` -> 41 tests pass - `bun run --cwd packages/studio test -- src/player/hooks/useTimelinePlayer.test.ts src/player/components/timelineTheme.test.ts` -> 23 tests pass - `bun run --cwd packages/core typecheck` - `bun run --cwd packages/studio typecheck` - `bun run --cwd packages/studio build` -> passes with the existing Vite chunk-size warning - `bunx oxlint $(git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD)` -> 0 warnings, 0 errors - `bunx oxfmt --check $(git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD)` - `git diff --check origin/main...HEAD` ### Browser verification - Created a scratch project at `/tmp/hf-pr533-conflict-verify` with two timed anonymous `.card` clips that both label as `Card`. - Started the local Studio dev server for `pr-533-conflict-verify`. - Used `agent-browser` to verify the timeline renders two separate `Card` clips instead of collapsing duplicate anonymous labels. - Used `agent-browser` to open the Studio lint modal and verify it shows human-readable missing-id warnings, not internal node-index labels. - Used `agent-browser` to click Play after the lint pass and confirm the timeline remains usable. - Recorded the tested Studio flow with `agent-browser`. ## Notes - Rebased onto current `main`; conflict resolution preserved both the newer mainline Studio shortcut/lint behavior and this PR's anonymous-clip identity split. - GitHub Actions are running on the rebased head. - Scratch verification files are intentionally not committed. - Local screenshots and recording from this rebase pass are under `.codex-artifacts/pr-533-conflict-rebase-2026-04-29/`.
Write HTML. Render video. Built for agents.
Hyperframes is an open-source video rendering framework that lets you create, preview, and render HTML-based video compositions — with first-class support for AI agents.
Quick Start
Option 1: With an AI coding agent (recommended)
Install the HyperFrames skills, then describe the video you want:
npx skills add heygen-com/hyperframes
This teaches your agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Codex) how to write correct compositions and GSAP animations. In Claude Code, the skills register as slash commands — invoke /hyperframes to author compositions, /hyperframes-cli for CLI commands, and /gsap for animation help.
For Claude Design, open docs/guides/claude-design-hyperframes.md on GitHub and click the download button (↓) to save it, then attach the file to your Claude Design chat. It produces a valid first draft; refine in any AI coding agent. See the Claude Design guide.
For Codex specifically, the same skills are also exposed as an OpenAI Codex plugin — sparse-install just the plugin surface:
codex plugin marketplace add heygen-com/hyperframes --sparse .codex-plugin --sparse skills --sparse assets
For Claude Code, the repo also ships a Claude Code plugin manifest: test it locally with claude --plugin-dir .. The manifest intentionally omits skills because Claude Code auto-discovers the root skills/ directory by convention, and for marketplace submission use the title HyperFrames by HeyGen plus the black/white icon assets at assets/claude-code-icon-dark.svg and assets/claude-code-icon-light.svg for the two theme slots.
For Cursor, the same skills are packaged as a Cursor plugin — install from the Cursor Marketplace, or sideload by cloning this repo and pointing Settings → Plugins → Load unpacked at the repo root.
Try it: example prompts
Copy any of these into your agent to get started. The /hyperframes prefix loads the skill context explicitly so you get correct output the first time.
Cold start — describe what you want:
Using
/hyperframes, create a 10-second product intro with a fade-in title, a background video, and background music.
Warm start — turn existing context into a video:
Take a look at this GitHub repo https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes and explain its uses and architecture to me using
/hyperframes.
Summarize the attached PDF into a 45-second pitch video using
/hyperframes.
Turn this CSV into an animated bar chart race using
/hyperframes.
Format-specific:
Make a 9:16 TikTok-style hook video about [topic] using
/hyperframes, with bouncy captions synced to a TTS narration.
Iterate — talk to the agent like a video editor:
Make the title 2x bigger, swap to dark mode, and add a fade-out at the end.
Add a lower third at 0:03 with my name and title.
The agent handles scaffolding, animation, and rendering. See the prompting guide for more patterns.
Option 2: Start a project manually
npx hyperframes init my-video
cd my-video
npx hyperframes preview # preview in browser (live reload)
npx hyperframes render # render to MP4
hyperframes init installs skills automatically, so you can hand off to your AI agent at any point.
Requirements: Node.js >= 22, FFmpeg
Why Hyperframes?
- HTML-native — compositions are HTML files with data attributes. No React, no proprietary DSL.
- AI-first — agents already speak HTML. The CLI is non-interactive by default, designed for agent-driven workflows.
- Deterministic rendering — same input = identical output. Built for automated pipelines.
- Frame Adapter pattern — bring your own animation runtime (GSAP, Lottie, CSS, Three.js).
Hyperframes vs Remotion
Hyperframes is inspired by Remotion — we used Remotion at HeyGen in production, learned a ton from it, and kept attribution comments in the source for the patterns it pioneered (Chrome launch flags, image2pipe → FFmpeg streaming, frame buffering). Both tools drive headless Chrome and both are deterministic. They differ on one decision: what the primary author writes. Remotion's bet is React components; Hyperframes' bet is HTML.
| Hyperframes | Remotion | |
|---|---|---|
| Authoring | HTML + CSS + GSAP | React components (TSX) |
| Build step | None; index.html plays as-is |
Required (bundler) |
| Library-clock animations (GSAP, Anime.js, Motion One) | Seekable, frame-accurate | Plays at wall-clock during render |
| Arbitrary HTML / CSS passthrough | Paste and animate | Rewrite as JSX |
| Distributed rendering | Single-machine today | Lambda, production-ready |
Licensing: fully open source vs source-available
Hyperframes is completely open source under Apache 2.0 — an OSI-approved license. Use it commercially at any scale, with no per-render fees, no seat caps, no company-size thresholds.
Remotion is source-available, not open source. The code is on GitHub under a custom Remotion License that requires a paid company license above small-team thresholds. It's a great product with a real team behind it — but if open-source licensing matters to you (OSI compliance, redistribution rights, no per-use fees), that's a first-order decision point.
Full write-up with benchmarks, an honest list of where each tool wins, and a GSAP side-by-side: Hyperframes vs Remotion guide.
How It Works
Define your video as HTML with data attributes:
<div id="stage" data-composition-id="my-video" data-start="0" data-width="1920" data-height="1080">
<video
id="clip-1"
data-start="0"
data-duration="5"
data-track-index="0"
src="intro.mp4"
muted
playsinline
></video>
<img
id="overlay"
class="clip"
data-start="2"
data-duration="3"
data-track-index="1"
src="logo.png"
/>
<audio
id="bg-music"
data-start="0"
data-duration="9"
data-track-index="2"
data-volume="0.5"
src="music.wav"
></audio>
</div>
Preview instantly in the browser. Render to MP4 locally or in Docker.
Catalog
50+ ready-to-use blocks and components — social overlays, shader transitions, data visualizations, and cinematic effects:
npx hyperframes add flash-through-white # shader transition
npx hyperframes add instagram-follow # social overlay
npx hyperframes add data-chart # animated chart
Browse the full catalog at hyperframes.heygen.com/catalog.
Documentation
Full documentation at hyperframes.heygen.com/introduction — Quickstart | Guides | API Reference | Catalog
Packages
| Package | Description |
|---|---|
hyperframes |
CLI — create, preview, lint, and render compositions |
@hyperframes/core |
Types, parsers, generators, linter, runtime, frame adapters |
@hyperframes/engine |
Seekable page-to-video capture engine (Puppeteer + FFmpeg) |
@hyperframes/producer |
Full rendering pipeline (capture + encode + audio mix) |
@hyperframes/studio |
Browser-based composition editor UI |
@hyperframes/player |
Embeddable <hyperframes-player> web component |
@hyperframes/shader-transitions |
WebGL shader transitions for compositions |
Skills
HyperFrames ships skills that teach AI agents framework-specific patterns that generic docs don't cover.
npx skills add heygen-com/hyperframes
| Skill | What it teaches |
|---|---|
hyperframes |
HTML composition authoring, captions, TTS, audio-reactive animation, transitions |
hyperframes-cli |
CLI commands: init, lint, preview, render, transcribe, tts, doctor |
hyperframes-registry |
Block and component installation via hyperframes add |
website-to-hyperframes |
Capture a URL and turn it into a video — full website-to-video pipeline |
remotion-to-hyperframes |
Translate a Remotion (React) composition into a HyperFrames HTML composition |
gsap |
GSAP animation API, timelines, easing, ScrollTrigger, plugins, React/Vue/Svelte, performance |
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.
Cloning the repo
The repo uses Git LFS for golden regression-test baselines under packages/producer/tests/**/output.mp4 (~240 MB of .mp4 files). If you're cloning the full repo for development, install Git LFS first:
# macOS
brew install git-lfs
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install git-lfs
# Windows
winget install GitHub.GitLFS
# (or install Git for Windows, which bundles Git LFS as an optional component)
# Then (once, per machine)
git lfs install
If you hit git-lfs filter-process: command not found during git clone or npx skills add heygen-com/hyperframes, install Git LFS and retry. You can also skip LFS content if you only need the source files:
GIT_LFS_SKIP_SMUDGE=1 git clone https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes.git
