mirror of
https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes.git
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Miguel Ángel
395fb9c084
## Problem HyperFrames already had `--gpu`, but that flag only controlled FFmpeg hardware encoding. The browser capture path still forced Chrome/WebGL through SwiftShader software GL via `--use-angle=swiftshader`, so WebGL-heavy local renders could leave the biggest bottleneck on the CPU path. That made the existing flag naming easy to misread: `--gpu` sounded like it accelerated the whole render, but it did not change the browser frame-capture backend. ## What this fixes - Enables host browser GPU acceleration automatically for local CLI renders. - Adds `--no-browser-gpu` as the local opt-out for software Chrome/WebGL capture. - Keeps `--browser-gpu` as an explicit local browser-GPU request. - Adds `browserGpuMode: "software" | "hardware"` to engine config, with `PRODUCER_BROWSER_GPU_MODE` env support for lower-level producer users. - Keeps Docker browser capture on the deterministic software path. - Maps hardware browser GPU mode to platform-native Chrome backends: - macOS: Metal-backed ANGLE - Windows: D3D11-backed ANGLE - Linux: EGL - Blocks explicit `--browser-gpu --docker` with a clear error because Docker browser GPU passthrough is not cross-platform. - Clarifies docs so `--gpu` means FFmpeg encoder GPU and browser GPU means Chrome/WebGL capture GPU. - Keeps encoder backend selection auto-detected from FFmpeg capabilities: - NVIDIA: NVENC - macOS: VideoToolbox - Linux: VAAPI - Intel: QSV ## Why two flags There are two separate GPU surfaces in the render pipeline: 1. Browser GPU controls Chrome frame capture. - Affects WebGL, canvas, CSS rendering, compositing, and screenshot capture inside the browser. - This is enabled automatically for local CLI renders. - Use `--no-browser-gpu` when you want the software browser baseline. 2. `--gpu` controls FFmpeg video encoding. - Affects the final encode step after frames have already been captured. - The concrete encoder is auto-detected from the host FFmpeg build and hardware. - It can be faster for some machines/codecs, but it is not equivalent to browser rendering acceleration. The controls stay independent because users may want: - `hyperframes render` for the fast local default with browser GPU capture. - `hyperframes render --no-browser-gpu` for the software-browser local baseline. - `hyperframes render --gpu` for browser GPU capture plus hardware FFmpeg encoding. - `hyperframes render --no-browser-gpu --gpu` for software browser capture plus hardware FFmpeg encoding. - `hyperframes render --docker` for deterministic browser capture. ## Why `--gpu` does not imply browser GPU Keeping `--gpu` scoped to FFmpeg encoding avoids a semantic break and keeps the risk profile explicit: - `--gpu` already means encoder acceleration. Expanding it to also change Chrome capture would silently alter behavior for users who only wanted hardware encoding. - Browser GPU and encoder GPU have different portability. Encoder GPU can work in Docker when the host exposes the right devices; browser GPU passthrough is not cross-platform, so this PR intentionally blocks explicit `--browser-gpu --docker`. - The Apple presentation benchmark shows why the controls should stay separate: browser GPU capture was the useful improvement, while macOS VideoToolbox via `--gpu` was slower and produced larger output for this `standard` H.264 run. If HyperFrames later wants a single umbrella acceleration control, it should be explicit, for example `--acceleration browser|encoder|all` or `--gpu=browser|encoder|all`, rather than changing the meaning of the existing boolean `--gpu`. ## Root cause `buildChromeArgs()` always injected `--use-gl=angle --use-angle=swiftshader`. `disableGpu` only appended `--disable-gpu`; it did not provide a hardware-GPU mode. That made the public `--gpu` flag look broader than it was, because render capture stayed software-backed even when encoder GPU was requested. ## Verification ### Local checks - `bun install` - `bun run build:hyperframes-runtime` - `bun run --filter @hyperframes/engine test src/config.test.ts src/services/browserManager.test.ts` - `bun run --filter @hyperframes/cli test src/utils/dockerRunArgs.test.ts src/commands/render.test.ts` - `bun run --filter @hyperframes/cli typecheck` - `bun run --filter @hyperframes/engine typecheck` - `bun run --filter @hyperframes/producer typecheck` - `cd packages/producer && bunx vitest run src/services/renderOrchestrator.test.ts` - `bunx oxlint packages/cli/src/commands/render.ts packages/cli/src/commands/render.test.ts packages/cli/src/utils/dockerRunArgs.ts packages/cli/src/utils/dockerRunArgs.test.ts packages/engine/src/config.ts packages/engine/src/config.test.ts packages/engine/src/services/browserManager.ts packages/engine/src/services/browserManager.test.ts packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.test.ts` - `bunx oxfmt --check ...` on changed source/docs files - `git diff --check` - `bun packages/cli/src/cli.ts render --help | rg -n "browser-gpu|no-browser-gpu|GPU"` - `bun packages/cli/src/cli.ts render packages/producer/tests/css-spinner-render-compat/src --output /tmp/hf-auto-browser-gpu-smoke.mp4 --workers 1 --quality draft --fps 24 --strict` - Render plan prints `GPU: browser GPU (auto)`. - `bun packages/cli/src/cli.ts render packages/producer/tests/css-spinner-render-compat/src --no-browser-gpu --output /tmp/hf-software-browser-gpu-smoke.mp4 --workers 1 --quality draft --fps 24 --strict` - Render plan does not print browser GPU. - `bun packages/cli/src/cli.ts render packages/producer/tests/css-spinner-render-compat/src --docker --browser-gpu --output /tmp/should-not-render.mp4` - Exits 1 with `Browser GPU is local-only`. - `buildDockerRunArgs()` regression coverage asserts Docker container args include `--no-browser-gpu`, preventing nested container renders from re-enabling browser GPU through the local CLI default. - `resolveBrowserGpuForCli()` regression coverage asserts `PRODUCER_BROWSER_GPU_MODE=software` opts out when no CLI browser-GPU flag is supplied, while explicit `--browser-gpu` / `--no-browser-gpu` still win. - `ffmpeg -v error -i /tmp/hf-auto-browser-gpu-smoke.mp4 -f null -` - `ffmpeg -v error -i /tmp/hf-software-browser-gpu-smoke.mp4 -f null -` - `ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration:stream=codec_name,width,height,r_frame_rate -of json /tmp/hf-browser-gpu-smoke.mp4` -> H.264, 1920x1080, 24fps, 5.0s ### Apple presentation benchmark Rendered `/Users/miguel07code/Downloads/apple-presentation.zip` as supplied after extracting to `/tmp/hf-apple-profile/apple-presentation`. Fixed settings: - 1920x1080 - 30fps - `standard` quality - 4240 frames - 141.32s duration - 8-worker cap; render auto-calibration used 6 capture workers - macOS host detected FFmpeg GPU encoder: `videotoolbox` | Mode | Equivalent flags after this PR | Wall time | vs software-browser baseline | Speed | Capture | Encode | Output | | --- | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | ---: | | Software browser + CPU encode | `--no-browser-gpu` | 120.77s | baseline | 1.17x | 97.87s | 10.04s | 8.38MB | | Browser GPU + CPU encode | default local render | 70.10s | 42.0% faster | 2.02x | 50.72s | 9.91s | 8.39MB | | Software browser + encoder GPU | `--no-browser-gpu --gpu` | 133.16s | 10.3% slower | 1.06x | 103.58s | 18.31s | 25.43MB | | Browser GPU + encoder GPU | `--gpu` | 74.12s | 38.6% faster | 1.91x | 46.69s | 17.93s | 25.45MB | Result: browser GPU capture is the meaningful improvement for this WebGL/browser-capture-heavy presentation. VideoToolbox encoding was slower and produced larger files for this current `standard` H.264 path, so `--gpu` should stay separate and opt-in. Why `--gpu` plus browser GPU was slower than browser GPU alone: the combined run captured about 4.0s faster than browser GPU alone, but VideoToolbox encoding was about 8.0s slower than CPU x264 encoding, so the encode loss outweighed the capture gain. ### VideoToolbox flag check I also isolated the encode stage against the already-captured Apple frames to check whether macOS GPU encoding only needed special flags. `ffmpeg -h encoder=h264_videotoolbox` does not expose a CRF/CQ-style quality option like x264. It exposes bitrate-oriented and VideoToolbox-specific options such as `-b:v`, `-realtime`, `-profile`, `-coder`, `-prio_speed`, `-power_efficient`, and `-allow_sw`. That means our current `-q:v` mapping is not equivalent to x264 CRF and can produce very different bitrate/size behavior. Measured full-frame encode variants on this host: | VideoToolbox variant | Encode wall time | Output size | Bitrate | | --- | ---: | ---: | ---: | | Current `-q:v 64 -allow_sw 1` | 18.76s | 25.31MB | 1.43 Mbps | | Current without `-allow_sw 1` | 18.21s | 25.31MB | 1.43 Mbps | | `-b:v 500k -maxrate 750k -bufsize 1000k -profile high -coder cabac -realtime 1 -prio_speed 1 -power_efficient 0` | 20.58s | 7.42MB | 0.42 Mbps | | Same with `-b:v 1500k` | 20.84s | 16.70MB | 0.95 Mbps | | `-b:v 500k -profile baseline -coder cavlc -realtime 1 -prio_speed 1 -power_efficient 0` | 18.11s | 8.94MB | 0.51 Mbps | Conclusion: VideoToolbox can be made size/bitrate-predictable with explicit `--video-bitrate`, but the tested speed-oriented flags did not make it faster than CPU x264 wall time for this render. That reinforces keeping `--gpu` encoder acceleration explicit and separate from browser GPU capture. Artifacts from the local benchmark: - `/tmp/hf-apple-profile/results/cpu.mp4` - `/tmp/hf-apple-profile/results/browser-gpu.mp4` - `/tmp/hf-apple-profile/results/encoder-gpu.mp4` - `/tmp/hf-apple-profile/results/full-gpu.mp4` - `/tmp/hf-apple-profile/results/summary.json` All four benchmark MP4s completed `ffprobe` and full `ffmpeg -f null` decode checks. ### Pixel comparison Compared decoded MP4 output between software-browser and browser-GPU renders: - Apple presentation: - 4240 frames compared - 636 exact matching decoded frame hashes - 3604 different decoded frame hashes - Average PSNR: 57.79 dB - `css-spinner-render-compat` clean fixture: - 120 frames compared - 0 exact matching decoded frame hashes - Average PSNR: 61.57 dB Interpretation: browser GPU output is not strict hash/pixel-identical to the software-browser path after lossy H.264 encode, but the measured deltas are visually tiny. Above 50 dB PSNR is typically visually indistinguishable for normal video review. Use `--no-browser-gpu` or Docker when strict cross-run/cross-machine reproducibility matters more than local speed. ### Browser verification - Started HyperFrames Studio preview for `packages/producer/tests/css-spinner-render-compat/src`. - Used `agent-browser` to open `http://localhost:5191#project/src` and verify the composition loaded in Studio. - Screenshots: - `/tmp/hf-gpu-browser-proof/preview-loaded.png` - `/tmp/hf-gpu-browser-proof/preview-playing.png` - `/tmp/hf-gpu-browser-proof/preview-frame-60.png` - Agent-browser recordings: - `/tmp/hf-gpu-browser-proof/preview-playback.webm` - `/tmp/hf-gpu-browser-proof/preview-seek.webm` ## Notes - Browser GPU is enabled automatically for local CLI renders and disabled in Docker. - `--no-browser-gpu` is the opt-out for software Chrome/WebGL capture. - `--gpu` remains encoder-only and opt-in. - The Apple presentation zip has existing lint errors around unmanaged nested videos and imperative media `play()` calls. The benchmark still compares the same supplied source across modes, but it should not be treated as a clean deterministic-composition fixture.
@hyperframes/engine
Seekable web-page-to-video rendering engine built on Puppeteer and FFmpeg.
Framework-agnostic: works with GSAP, Lottie, Three.js, CSS animations, or any web content that implements the window.__hf seek protocol.
Install
npm install @hyperframes/engine
Requirements: Node.js >= 22, Chrome/Chromium (auto-downloaded by Puppeteer), FFmpeg
What it does
The engine opens your HTML composition in a headless Chrome instance, seeks frame-by-frame using Chrome's HeadlessExperimental.beginFrame API, captures screenshots, and encodes them into video with FFmpeg.
Key services
| Service | Description |
|---|---|
| browserManager | Launches and pools headless Chrome instances (chrome-headless-shell) |
| frameCapture | Manages capture sessions — seek, screenshot, buffer lifecycle |
| screenshotService | BeginFrame-based capture with CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) |
| chunkEncoder | FFmpeg encoding with chunked concat, GPU detection, faststart |
| streamingEncoder | Pipe frames to FFmpeg in real time (no intermediate PNGs on disk) |
| audioMixer | Parse <audio> elements and mix audio tracks via FFmpeg |
| videoFrameExtractor | Extract frames from <video> elements for compositing |
| parallelCoordinator | Split frame ranges across worker processes |
| fileServer | Serve local HTML files to the browser via Hono |
Usage
import {
acquireBrowser,
releaseBrowser,
createCaptureSession,
initializeSession,
captureFrame,
closeCaptureSession,
} from "@hyperframes/engine";
// 1. Launch browser
const browser = await acquireBrowser({ captureMode: "beginFrame" });
// 2. Open a capture session
const session = createCaptureSession({
browser: browser.browser,
url: "http://localhost:3000/my-composition.html",
width: 1920,
height: 1080,
fps: 30,
});
await initializeSession(session);
// 3. Capture frames
for (let i = 0; i < totalFrames; i++) {
await captureFrame(session, i, `/tmp/frames/frame-${i}.png`);
}
// 4. Clean up
await closeCaptureSession(session);
await releaseBrowser(browser);
Most users should use @hyperframes/producer or the hyperframes CLI instead of calling the engine directly.
Documentation
Full documentation: hyperframes.heygen.com/packages/engine
Related packages
@hyperframes/core— types, parsers, frame adapters@hyperframes/producer— high-level render pipeline built on this enginehyperframes— CLI