# Your first video Start a video from a brief with /rapid new or rapid video, give notes, and render the demo project with no agents. Assumes [rapid is installed](/docs/install) and `rapid setup --check` prints `rapid is ready.` ## From Claude Code ```text /rapid new Twenty seconds, vertical. A person says what they want out loud; the assistant answers and a file card arrives. Calm, editorial, one idea at a time. ``` `/rapid new ` runs `rapid video --brief `: a project folder under `~/rapid/` named for the brief's first line, the brief in its `brief.md`, the `swiss` style and `reel` format (1080×1920, 30 fps), and the CLI's default stops (`all`). The pane opens on the job; the reply names the job, the folder, and the screening page. Asked in plain words instead ("make me a twenty-second reel about…"), Claude runs the `rapid-brief` skill: one round of questions, a written `brief.md`, then the `new_video` tool with `stops: none`, so it runs to the finished video. See [the MCP tools](/docs/using-the-mcp-tools). ## From a terminal ```sh rapid video --brief "Twenty seconds, vertical. A person says what they want out loud; the assistant answers and a file card arrives." ``` It starts the daemon if none answers (`started the daemon in the background`), then prints the job, the project, and the screening page, and returns: ```text j_819b0fb4 project /Users/you/rapid/twenty-seconds-vertical-a-person-says-what-they http://127.0.0.1:4317/#/job/j_819b0fb4 ``` - `rapid video ~/videos/launch --brief "…"` names the folder. A folder that already holds a different `brief.md` is refused. - `rapid video ` uses the folder's own `brief.md`; its first `# heading` is the job's title. - `--style ` and `--format ` default to the project's pins in `rapid.lock`, else `swiss` and `reel`. - `--stops all|storyboard|none`, `--keys agent|person|off`, `--review agent|none`, `--rounds `: see [`rapid video`](/docs/cli#rapid-video). ## With a track or a model - `--music ` cuts the video to a song you own: rapid hears it first, plans the cuts to its beats, and mixes it under the video. See [music](/docs/music). - A 3D model in the project's `assets/` lets the storyboard plan real product shots, rendered in Blender before the scenes that show them. See [Blender shots](/docs/blender-shots). ## What runs 1. **Storyboard.** With a track, `rapid listen` hears it first. With no `storyboard.json`, `rapid-storyboarder` writes it and `storyboard.md` from the brief, the style, the format, and `assets/`. `rapid-director` judges the plan and sends it back until it holds, three looks at most. Then an approval. 2. **Key frames.** Any Blender shots render first, for the scenes that show them. Per scene, `rapid-builder` builds the hero as a still at `meta.key` (`renders//key-k1.png`); code checks it and `rapid-reviewer` judges it (`reviews/-k1.json`), three tries at most. 3. **Rounds.** Per scene, as lanes allow: build `scenes/.html`, render, check, contact sheet, review (`reviews/-r1.json`). A `revise` builds the next round from the marks, up to `--rounds` (4). 4. **The video.** With every scene accepted: join with the storyboard's [transitions](/docs/transitions), the director's look at the cut (two looks at most), then mix, mux, and the phone copy. With `--stops all` (the CLI's default) the video waits for you at the storyboard, at a key frame that doesn't converge, and at a scene out of rounds. With `--stops none` (the `new_video` default) nothing waits: each would-be stop takes its best try or round, and `rapid job` and `video_status` list each choice. The whole planner: [the job graph](/docs/the-job-graph#the-planner-grows-the-graph). At a stop: ```sh rapid job # find the node in needs_you rapid approve rapid redo --note "three scenes, not five" ``` ## Notes on a finished video ```sh rapid revise --note "…" # the whole video: storyboarded again rapid revise --scene card --note "…" # one scene, built again to the note rapid revise --scene card --at 1.2 --to 2 --note "…" # a moment: a mark and a new round of that scene ``` Each runs to the video again with no stops. In Claude Code, say the note; Claude routes it with `revise_video`. Marks pinned in the screening page land in `renders//marks.json`, which every build of the scene reads first. ## Watching ```sh rapid jobs # every job and its state rapid job j_819b0fb4 # its nodes, wait and run times, and the choices made without you rapid events --job j_819b0fb4 # the live event stream; Ctrl-C stops it rapid lanes # running and queued, per lane rapid open # the screening page, at the newest job ``` In Claude Code, `/rapid status` opens the pane. See [using the pane](/docs/using-the-pane). ## The demo, with no agents `projects/demo` holds a brief, a storyboard, and two scenes already written. From the repository root: ```sh rapid video projects/demo --review none ``` `--review none` passes a scene on the code checks alone and turns off key frames and the director, so no agent runs. With `storyboard.json` and both scene files present, rapid skips the storyboard and the builds: per scene it renders, checks, and draws a contact sheet, then joins, mixes the sound from the cues, muxes, and makes the phone copy. `--style terminal` renders the same scenes in another built-in look. ```text j_819b0fb4 done A two-scene demo (/path/to/rapid/projects/demo) n_4bb7986c17 done web render render idea r1 waited 2ms, ran 4.4s n_a9eaf8241e done web check check idea r1 waited 1ms, ran 972ms ... n_2ea9c3d5c4 done encode phone the phone copy waited 2ms, ran 1.3s ``` The output lands in the project: `video.mp4`, `video-phone.mp4`, and `renders/` (every file: [projects](/docs/projects#the-layout)). Running the command again makes a new job; delete `renders/` and the MP4s to start clean.