Thumbnail generator

The method: image models make the plate, code makes the words. Generated text comes out misspelled and generated faces come out as somebody else, so text, logos and the person's real face are composited by scripts/compose_thumbnail.py, which then checks the layout.

Sibling skills: longform-edit and edit-style produce the video and its frames; this skill turns a frame into the cover.

Requirements

• Python 3.9+ with Pillow (pip install pillow). Required.
• Cutouts: pip install "rembg[cli]" then rembg i photo.jpg cutout.png, or any background remover that outputs a transparent PNG.
• Plates (optional): any image model you have access to (an image-generation tool in your agent, an image API with an edit endpoint, or none: a blurred, darkened real frame is a fine plate).
• Claude.ai works for planning and prompts; composing needs Claude Code (a shell).

Inputs

• The video's title and its one-sentence promise.
• A real photo or video frame of the person, ideally 1500 px tall or more, with the emotion the video needs (pick the frame; do not invent the face).
• Official logos for any named tool (brand press page or the site's own SVG).
• Optional: a reference thumbnail the user wants matched. Find and study that exact image first (see references/reference-matching.md).

Steps

1. Concept in one line: what the viewer sees + the 1 to 3 words. If it needs more than 3 words, the concept is wrong. Show the result, hide the how.
2. Make the plate (1280x720 or larger, 16:9). Prompt rules for any model:
   • "no people, no faces, no text, no letters, no logos" (always)
   • topic-relevant scene that tells the story, not "dark room with screens"
   • high contrast, one dominant colour, empty space where the text goes
   • avoid the default blue/purple AI gradient look Alternative: a real frame from the video, gblur + darkened 20 to 40%.
3. Cut out the person from the chosen real frame (rembg). Never generate the person from text. If you use an image model to restyle the person, feed it the real frame as the input image and reject any result that changes the face, teeth, or clothes.
4. Write layout.json (format in the script's header). Starting values: cutout height 0.85 to 0.95 on one side, flush with the bottom; headline size 110 to 140; second line 60 to 80; logo width 180 to 260.
5. Compose: python3 scripts/compose_thumbnail.py layout.json --out thumb.png. Fix every FAIL (overlap, out of frame, cutout under 70% height, over 5 words).
6. Look at thumb.preview.png, the 168 px view first. Run the checklist below. Adjust the layout, not the plate: re-generate only when the concept changes.
7. Optional single polish pass: if your image model has an edit mode, run the FINISHED composite through it once at low strength (0.3 to 0.5) for lighting and saturation. Then re-check that every word is still spelled right and the face is still the same person. If not, ship the un-polished one.

Rules (from rejected thumbnails)

• Hierarchy: face > headline > logo > background.
• Everything is too small. Make elements 30 to 50% bigger than feels right; most people see 168 px wide.
• Text in solid colour blocks, padding that hugs the letters (about 8 px at 1280 wide), drop shadow. Yellow = attention, green = positive, red = danger (white text), white = neutral. Heavy condensed sans (Impact, Bebas Neue).
• Nothing covers the face. Text never crosses the face.
• One plate fills the frame edge to edge: no voids, no visible seams.
• Duplicated or mirrored elements look cheap: each repeated element is its own image.
• Each new thumbnail looks different from the channel's last few.
• Do not upscale a cutout more than about 1.15x (the script warns): find a bigger source.
• Logos: official, unaltered colours and proportions, never AI-redrawn.

QA checklist (write the answers in your reply)

• 168 px view: can you read every word and recognise the face?
• 1 to 3 words (5 max), spelled right
• face fully visible, not cropped at the chin or forehead, no UI badges from the source frame
• no overlaps, nothing cut at the frame edge (script PASS)
• high contrast, one clear focal point, no clutter
• would you click it next to the channel's other thumbnails?

Output

thumb.png            1280x720 final
thumb.preview.png    full size + 320 px + 168 px side by side
layout.json          so the next tweak is a re-run, not a redo

Example reply:

thumb.png PASS (compose checks). 168px: "IT'S FREE" readable, face clear.
Concept: shocked face + "IT'S FREE" + tool logo; plate = blurred frame at 03:12, darkened 30%.
Kept all versions in thumbs/v1..v3.

Failure handling

Keep every version until the user picks one. Depth: references/composition.md (sizes, text, layer order) and references/reference-matching.md (matching a reference image, banners, square ads).