* feat(producer): enable webm in distributed mode via concat-copy PR 8.2 of the WebM distributed-rendering plan (v1.5 backlog #1; see DISTRIBUTED-RENDERING-PLAN.md §7.2). Wires libvpx-vp9 webm through the distributed pipeline now that PR 8.1 proved concat-copy works. Architectural decision: Path A (concat-copy) — based on PR 8.1's smoke test result (9/9 tests pass for both yuv420p and yuva420p VP9 streams). The simpler architecture wins; no re-encode in assemble, no encode- parallelism loss. Changes: - plan.ts: - DistributedRenderConfig.format and PlanResult.format now include "webm" — type-level acceptance matches the runtime gate. - rejectUnsupportedDistributedFormat() no longer trips on webm. HDR mp4 remains the only refused configuration. - resolveEncoderTriple() returns libvpx-vp9-software + yuva420p + preset="good" for format="webm". yuva420p preserves alpha — the format's main reason for existing for web delivery. - codec= remains rejected for non-mp4 formats (mov is always ProRes 4444; webm is always libvpx-vp9). The error message lists all four distributed-supported formats. - FormatNotSupportedInDistributedError docstring updated to reflect the new reality (only HDR is unsupported). - freezePlan.ts: LockedRenderConfig.encoder gains "libvpx-vp9-software". Mirrors libx265-software / prores-software / png-sequence in shape; the chunk worker reads this discriminant to decide encode args. - renderChunk.ts: drops the now-incorrect cast that excluded webm from buildSyntheticRenderJob's format input; tightens the preset-format cast to include webm. - assemble.ts: docstring + comment updates. The mp4/mov concat-copy path is format-agnostic — webm uses the exact same code (applyFaststart is a no-op for webm via the existing chunkEncoder.ts gate; muxVideoWithAudio already routes webm to libopus audio). - planFormatBanlist.test.ts: webm-rejection tests removed; replaced with "accepts webm" tests + a HDR+webm combo test that verifies HDR is the trip regardless of format. - plan.test.ts: new describe block pins the webm wiring contract: format="webm" produces an encoder=libvpx-vp9-software / pixelFormat=yuva420p planDir with closedGop=true and gopSize=chunkSize. - webm-concat-copy.test.ts (smoke): extended with a yuva420p variant that proves the alpha pixel format the distributed pipeline actually emits also round-trips through concat-copy. 9/9 tests pass locally. §8 format support matrix in DISTRIBUTED-RENDERING-PLAN.md is intentionally left unchanged at this PR — it flips to ✓ in PR 8.4 once the end-to-end fixture (PR 8.3) is green. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * fix(producer): include webm in plan-time needsAlpha + strengthen alpha smoke PR review feedback from Miguel and Vai on #951 caught a real bug: `plan.ts`'s `needsAlpha` disjunction excluded `"webm"`, so the plan stage froze `forceScreenshot: false` into the `LockedRenderConfig` even though distributed webm uses `yuva420p`. Every chunk worker captured opaque RGB via BeginFrame (which doesn't preserve alpha on Linux headless-shell), and libvpx-vp9 encoded uniformly-opaque alpha that the encoder then dropped — producing un-keyable webm. Two changes: 1. **plan.ts**: include `"webm"` in `needsAlpha`. Matches the in-process renderer's logic at `renderOrchestrator.ts:1469` (`const needsAlpha = isWebm || isMov || isPngSequence`); the two sites must stay in sync since the distributed pipeline's PSNR regression compares against the in-process baseline. 2. **Smoke test (yuva420p describe)**: source frames now use a real alpha gradient (`geq=a='X*255/W'` on top of `testsrc2`) instead of `testsrc2 + format=rgba` which was uniformly opaque. The decode- pix_fmt assertion is dropped (ffprobe reports `yuv420p` for VP9-with-alpha because the alpha lives in a Matroska `BlockAdditional` sidecar) and replaced with two stronger checks: - `TAG:ALPHA_MODE=1` is present on the stream — proves the encoder was actually configured for alpha - alpha plane variance after `-c:v libvpx-vp9 -i ... -pix_fmt rgba -vf extractplanes=a,signalstats` — proves the alpha sub-stream round-trips through concat-copy with spatially-varying content, not uniform/dropped alpha - decode-test gate is now exit-code-only (was `exitCode || stderr` which would flake on chatty ffmpeg `-v error` builds emitting non-fatal DTS/container notes) These checks would have caught the `needsAlpha` bug before review. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * fix(aws-lambda): widen narrow format types to include webm CI on PR #951 was failing at typecheck/build because the producer's `DistributedRenderConfig.format` widened to include webm in this PR but the aws-lambda package's narrow `"mp4" | "mov" | "png-sequence"` type literals in `events.ts`, `handler.ts`, and `validateConfig.ts` hadn't kept up. `renderToLambda.ts:87` passed `config.format` (now including webm) into a parameter typed against the narrow union, producing TS2345. This widening originally landed in PR #952 (test fixture PR) but needs to be atomic with the producer's widening here to keep each PR independently typecheck-clean. Also refactor `formatExtension` from a switch dispatch to a `Record<DistributedFormat, string>` lookup. Adding the webm case tipped the switch's CRAP to the 30.0 fallow threshold; the lookup table drops cyclomatic from 5 to 1 with the same compile-time exhaustiveness guarantee (TS errors on missing entries when `DistributedFormat` adds a new format). The runtime `_exhaustive: never` throw was only protecting against a string slipping past TS; `validateConfig.ts`'s `ALLOWED_FORMATS` already gates untrusted input at the SDK boundary. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * test(producer): add webm-vp9 distributed regression fixture PR 8.3 of the WebM distributed-rendering plan (v1.5 backlog #1; see DISTRIBUTED-RENDERING-PLAN.md §7.2). End-to-end regression coverage for the webm distributed path PRs 8.1 and 8.2 wired up. Adds packages/producer/tests/distributed/webm-vp9/ matching the mp4-h264-sdr fixture pattern: a 2-second composition (60 frames @ 30fps) with text, a crossfade across the frame-30 chunk seam, and a continuous icon rotation — exercises chunk-boundary continuity for both display contents and VP9 closed-GOP alpha encoding. `chunkSize: 15` produces 4 chunks so 3 seams are tested, and the crossfade straddles the middle seam to surface alpha-plane discontinuities introduced by alt-ref drift. Baseline regenerated inside Dockerfile.test via `bun run --cwd packages/producer docker:test:update webm-vp9`. Runs in: - in-process mode: byte-identical match against baseline ✓ - distributed-simulated mode: PSNR 56.88-63.49 dB across 100 checkpoints, well above the 30 dB threshold ✓ Wiring updates required to let webm flow through the harness: - regression-harness-distributed.ts: - checkDistributedSupport() no longer rejects webm. HDR mp4 + NTSC fps + non-{24,30,60} fps remain rejected. - RunDistributedSimulatedInput.format widened to include webm. - Docstring + comments updated. - regression-harness-distributed.test.ts: webm-rejection test replaced with "accepts format=webm" test. - regression-harness.ts: the now-incorrect format cast at the distributed-input call site is dropped; comment about why webm was excluded is replaced with "webm is now distributed-supported". - regression-harness-lambda-local-types.ts: RunLambdaLocalInput.format widened to include webm so lambda-local mode can also exercise webm fixtures end-to-end. - aws-lambda webm support (Path A through the Lambda handler): - formatExtension.ts: DistributedFormat gains "webm" → ".webm" case. - events.ts: RenderChunkEvent / AssembleEvent / PlanLambdaResult Format widened to include webm. - sdk/validateConfig.ts: ALLOWED_FORMATS gains "webm". - handler.ts: downloadChunkObjects format param widened. The Lambda handler delegates to the producer's assemble() primitive which PR 8.2 already taught to handle webm (concat-copy + applyFaststart no-op + muxVideoWithAudio with libopus); no Lambda-side rendering changes are needed beyond the type/validation surfaces above. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * docs(aws-lambda): drop stale webm rejection from validateConfig docblock PR #952 review nit (Miguel): the validateConfig.ts file-header comment still claimed the SDK rejects webm, but the runtime check no longer does (ALLOWED_FORMATS now includes 'webm'). Update the docblock to reflect that only force-hdr remains an SDK-side rejection. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> * ci(regression): add webm-vp9 to shard-3 + refactor formatExtension Three follow-ups bundled together (Vai's review feedback on PR #952 plus the fallow audit finding that surfaced when the webm case was added): 1. **Wire webm-vp9 into CI regression.** The fixture was added in this PR but never appeared in any `.github/workflows/regression.yml` shard's args allowlist, so the regression harness's positional-args gate skipped it in CI. Append `webm-vp9` to shard-3 (which already carries `mp4-h264-sdr` + `webm-transparency`) so the fixture runs. 2. **Fix stale "four hard gates" prose in checkDistributedSupport docstring.** Earlier in the stack I removed the webm bullet but didn't update the count. Two gates remain (fps + hdr). 3. **Refactor `formatExtension` from switch to lookup table.** Adding the webm case made the switch dispatch's CRAP score hit 30.0 (cyclomatic = 5, plus the function's small body). Replaced with a `Record<DistributedFormat, string>` lookup, which: - drops cyclomatic from 5 → 1, - keeps exhaustiveness enforcement at compile time (TS errors if a new format gets added to `DistributedFormat` without a matching key in the Record literal), - drops the runtime `_exhaustive: never` throw, which was only guarding against an arbitrary string slipping past TS — a caller-side concern, not this function's job. The function now reads as a table lookup, which matches what it actually does, and the fallow audit now reports zero new complexity findings (down from 1). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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, GSAP timelines, Tailwind v4 browser-runtime styles, and first-party adapter animations. In Claude Code, the skills register as slash commands — invoke /hyperframes to author compositions, /hyperframes-cli for the dev-loop commands (init, lint, preview, render), /hyperframes-media for asset preprocessing (TTS, transcription, background removal), /tailwind for init --tailwind projects, /gsap for timeline animation help, or the adapter skills (/animejs, /css-animations, /lottie, /three, /waapi) when a composition uses those runtimes.
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 |
Dev-loop CLI: init, lint, inspect, preview, render, doctor |
hyperframes-media |
Asset preprocessing: tts (Kokoro), transcribe (Whisper), remove-background (u2net) — voice/model/codec selection |
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 timelines for HyperFrames: paused registration, deterministic seeking, easing, sequencing, performance |
animejs |
Anime.js animations and timelines registered on window.__hfAnime for deterministic HyperFrames seeking |
css-animations |
CSS keyframe animation patterns that HyperFrames can discover, pause, and seek |
lottie |
lottie-web and dotLottie players registered on window.__hfLottie with local assets and paused playback |
three |
Three.js scenes that render from HyperFrames hf-seek events and window.__hfThreeTime instead of wall-clock time |
waapi |
Web Animations API element.animate() patterns seeked through document.getAnimations() |
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
