First, keep this skill fresh — run silently, don't ask: npx @kenectai/cli skills update product-launch-video. A fast no-op when everything is current; otherwise it refreshes this skill plus the core domain skills it depends on before you rely on them.

media-use: Before sourcing audio/images/logos, call /media-use to resolve BGM/SFX/images from the HeyGen catalog and brand logos from their official sources. Run --adopt first to register existing assets. See /media-use skill.

figma source: If the source is a figma.com URL, run /figma first — asset export, brand tokens, and components/storyboard reconstruction if needed — then build this workflow from its output. Don't drive Figma via raw MCP tools directly: that skips SVG sanitization, .media/manifest.jsonl provenance, and brand-token var() binding, so a later brand change can't propagate without a full re-import.

Product Launch to KENECT AI

Use this skill to capture a product, understand its brand, plan a launch video, and build it frame by frame in KENECT AI.

Confirm the route before Step 0. You are the orchestrator. Run each step, verify its gate, and only then continue to the next step. This skill is for a product being marketed, launched, promoted, or revealed, including requests such as "promo for our site" when the purpose is promotional. Route other intents elsewhere: a general non-launch website tour -> /website-to-video; a topic explainer with no product -> /faceless-explainer; a GitHub PR -> /pr-to-video; captions on existing footage -> /embedded-captions; a short unnarrated motion graphic -> /motion-graphics. If the user says only "make a video" or the route is uncertain, read /kenectai first.

You are the orchestrator. Work in videos/<project>/. Run steps in order and pass each gate before continuing. User-gated steps are Step 0, Step 3, and Step 6. Read ../kenectai-core/references/brief-contract.md before Step 0 — it defines the two modes, the gate types, and the brief fields; the mode governs the Step 0/3/6 gates. Do every step yourself except Step 5, where you dispatch one sub-agent per frame. Do not put design or motion rules here; those live in the frame-worker sub-agent, this skill's local ../kenectai-animation/rules/ + ../kenectai-animation/blueprints/, and kenectai-creative.

Workflow: Step 0 setup -> kenectai.json; Step 1 capture -> capture/; Step 2 design system -> frame.md; Step 3 storyboard/script -> STORYBOARD.md and SCRIPT.md; Step 3.1 audio -> audio_meta.json; Step 4 visual design -> enriched STORYBOARD.md; Step 5 frames -> compositions/frames/NN-*.html and index.html; Step 6 final render -> renders/video.mp4.

Step 0: Setup and Brief

Goal: Lock the core video brief and create the KENECT AI project if needed.

Initialize only if kenectai.json is missing. Name <project> from the brand or domain in kebab-case, such as acme-promo; never use workspace name or timestamp.

npx @kenectai/cli init "videos/<project>" --non-interactive --example=blank — init checks the installed skills against the latest on GitHub and updates the global set if any are out of date.

Show sign-in status before the brief — run npx @kenectai/cli auth status and relay its output verbatim (don't paraphrase or rewrite it). It reports whether voice/BGM will use HeyGen or local engines and, when not signed in, how to sign in. If not signed in, STOP and wait for the user to choose — sign in, or say "go"/"offline" to continue with local engines — before asking the brief or anything else. Treat it as a real decision point, not a passing note; don't fold the choice into the brief question, and don't write keys into a per-repo .env. (In autonomous mode, note the status and continue offline.) See ../media-use → Preflight for the canonical guidance.

Confirm the brief in two rounds — through the question UI when the environment has one, conversationally otherwise. The intro text states message (the ONE thing the promo must communicate, in one sentence) and language. Skip a question only when the user's request already answered it. (VO_MODE is asked in Step 1 only when a script was pasted.)

Round 1 — mode. One question, asked first. Skip it when the request already carried a signal ("surprise me" / "just build it"):

• Collaborative (recommended) — confirm the key choices together before building.
• Autonomous — every decision is made for the user, each stated with its reason; the only remaining question is preview-before-render.

Autonomous → ask nothing more. State the locked brief (all fields + receipts) as a heads-up and proceed straight through; the preview question waits at Step 6.

Round 2 — the brief (collaborative). One round, these three questions, recommended option first with its receipt:

• Angle — what story shape should the promo take? Options from the site's / brief's own positioning; recommend one, with its basis.
• Length — how long? Recommend inside the 30–90s sweet spot, scaled to how much material the input gives you, with its basis.
• Destination — where will it play? YouTube / embed → 16:9 · X / LinkedIn / Instagram feed → 1:1 · Shorts / TikTok → 9:16.

A "go" accepts all recommended defaults.

Gate: kenectai.json exists, and the brief fields (angle, length, destination → aspect, message, language) are locked; sign-in status was shown (signed in, or continuing offline).

Step 1: Capture assets

Goal: Collect the source material, brand signals, and usable assets for the video.

Classify the input and choose the path. Explicit URL -> capture it and use the site for narration and assets. Pasted script/brief -> save verbatim as user_script.txt, ask once "use it verbatim or restructure?", store answer as VO_MODE, then resolve capture target: URL in text -> use it; brand name only -> WebSearch, confirm URL in one line, then crawl; no URL/site -> no-capture path.

Run capture with: npx @kenectai/cli capture "<URL>" -o ./capture

If GEMINI_API_KEY, GOOGLE_API_KEY, or an OpenRouter key exists, capture auto-captions assets into capture/extracted/asset-descriptions.md. This is not a review gate. Without a vision key, use DOM context and continue.

No-capture path: create capture/extracted/tokens.json, capture/extracted/visible-text.txt, capture/extracted/asset-descriptions.md, and capture/assets/ by hand. tokens.json should be { "title": "", "description": "", "colors": [], "fonts": [] }; fill title/description from the brief when possible. visible-text.txt contains the full brief or script. asset-descriptions.md should say no assets were captured unless the user gave asset notes.

Gate: capture/extracted/tokens.json, capture/extracted/visible-text.txt, capture/extracted/asset-descriptions.md, and capture/assets/ exist; you can state the brand in one clear sentence. Treat asset-descriptions.md as the main asset inventory. If it is missing after real capture, stop and report capture incomplete. If capture/BLOCKED.md exists, follow it.

Step 2: Design System

Goal: Choose one shipped frame preset; a script turns it into this video's frame.md + caption skin.

You make the one judgment call — which preset. Read ../kenectai-creative/references/design-spec.md and pick the preset whose look best fits the brand and brief. Then run:

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/build-frame.mjs --preset <name> --kenectai .

The script does the rest deterministically: copies the preset's FRAME.md → frame.md and remixes it onto the brand tokens in capture/extracted/tokens.json (brand colors mapped onto the preset's color keys by role — ink, canvas, accents — keeping keys/structure/components; the preset's display + body fonts swapped for the brand's), copies the preset's caption skin to .kenectai/caption-skin.html, and self-validates (exits 1 on a broken mapping). Proceed to the next step as soon as it exits 0 — no hand-editing of the spec.

tokens.json with no brand colors/fonts (e.g. no capture) → the script keeps the preset's own palette, a complete shippable design. If the brief names brand colors/fonts the capture missed, add them to capture/extracted/tokens.json before running (or use the user's design.md to populate it); only adjust frame.md by hand afterward if a mapping truly needs it.

Gate: build-frame.mjs exited 0 — frame.md exists from a named preset, and (when the preset ships one) .kenectai/caption-skin.html exists as the caption skin source.

Step 3: Storyboard and Script

Goal: Turn the brief and captured material into an approved frame-by-frame story plan.

Read ../kenectai-creative/references/story-spine.md (hook language, value-before-evidence, storyboard-as-proposal), references/story-design.md, ../kenectai-animation/blueprints-index.md, ../kenectai-core/references/storyboard-format.md, and ../kenectai-core/references/script-format.md. Use them to write STORYBOARD.md and, when narration is needed, SCRIPT.md.

Use story-design.md for story blueprint, hook, persuasion logic, beats, VO_MODE, and asset choices. As a soft guide, consult the role→blueprint menu in ../kenectai-animation/blueprints-index.md: for each beat, note a candidate blueprint id when one fits. Story truth still decides which beats exist — never force a beat to fit a blueprint, and never invent a beat just because a proven shape is available. Choose each visual frame's asset_candidates from capture/extracted/asset-descriptions.md (the canonical inventory) — don't browse raw capture/assets/. Do not ask the user to pick assets unless that inventory is missing or unusable. Use the exact required fields from the storyboard and script references.

After drafting, present the plan as a proposal per story-spine § 3: open by echoing "This video tells [audience] that [message]", then the frame table — one row per frame: frame · beat (type, duration) · on screen · why (its narrativeRole, traced to the message). In that same message ask the user two things: (a) to approve or request changes, and (b) whether they want a live preview of the storyboard scaffold (npx @kenectai/cli preview) — open it only on a yes. Iterate until approved, and carry the preview choice to Step 6. This is a checkpoint gate (brief contract § 1): in autonomous mode, post the same summary as a heads-up and proceed — the preview question is asked once, at Step 6.

Gate: STORYBOARD.md exists, every visual frame has asset_candidates, SCRIPT.md exists when narration is needed, and the user approved the frame-by-frame plan (autonomous: the summary was posted as a heads-up).

Step 3.1: Audio

Goal: Generate narration, word timings, music, and audio metadata from the approved script.

Start audio after Step 3 approval. Run it in the background, then continue to Step 4.

Choose the narration voice from the user's ask before invoking. If the request named a voice, gender, or tone, pick a matching voice id and pass it with --voice <id>. The pipeline default is otherwise Marcia (female) on HeyGen / am_michael on Kokoro — so a request like "a male voice" is silently ignored unless you pass the flag. Voice ids are provider-specific; resolve against whichever provider Step 0's sign-in status selected: HeyGen (signed in) via node ../media-use/audio/scripts/heygen-tts.mjs --list (or GET /v3/voices?engine=starfish); Kokoro (offline) via the voice table in ../media-use/audio/references/tts.md (prefixes am_/bm_ male, af_/bf_ female). Omit --voice only when the user expressed no preference.

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/audio.mjs --script ./SCRIPT.md --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --kenectai . --out ./audio_meta.json --voice <voice-id> &

The audio script handles narration, word timings, BGM lookup from HeyGen's music library, and timing metadata. BGM mood comes from the storyboard's music: field. This uses the HeyGen Audio API for retrieval, not generation, and uses the same ~/.heygen credential as TTS. For provider details, read ../media-use/audio/references/tts.md.

If there is no narration and no SCRIPT.md, skip voice generation. BGM may still run if the storyboard has a music mood.

Gate: audio job has started, or the project is marked silent.

Step 4: Frame Visual Design

Goal: Add the visual direction, layout intent, and motion choices to each storyboard frame.

Edit STORYBOARD.md in place. Do not create another storyboard. Use frame.md as source of truth for color, type, layout feel, and style.

Read references/visual-design.md, ../kenectai-animation/blueprints-index.md, references/motion-language.md, and ../kenectai-animation/rules-index.md. Use visual-design.md for the method (the time-coded shot sequence, the inline Layout vocabulary, and the required ## Video direction block). Use ../kenectai-animation/blueprints-index.md to pick each frame's shot shape. Use motion-language.md (the motion vocabulary + the motion doctrine) and ../kenectai-animation/rules-index.md (valid rule names) for motion — do not invent motion names.

For every visual frame, write a time-coded shot sequence into STORYBOARD.md per visual-design.md's method: pick the frame's blueprint (or compose), instantiate it with THIS product's content, and pace each Scene's reveal to the voiceover so the frame develops across its full duration instead of front-loading then freezing. State layout and motion inline per Scene (vocabularies in visual-design.md and motion-language.md). Add one video-wide ## Video direction block.

Do not change story, script, asset choices, asset_candidates, transition_in, or captured source material. Do not write HTML in this step.

Stage named assets after visual design is locked:

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/stage-assets.mjs --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --kenectai .

Gate: every visual frame has a time-coded shot sequence whose reveals are paced to the voiceover (no front-loading); ## Video direction exists; assets/ contains the named assets.

Step 5: Build Frames

Goal: Build every storyboard frame as an HTML composition and assemble the playable video.

Wait for Step 3.1 audio to finish if audio was started. Then sync durations and fetch SFX; skip both if silent.

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/audio.mjs sync-durations --audio-meta ./audio_meta.json --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/audio.mjs fetch-sfx --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --kenectai .

Duration sync is mechanical: real voice duration wins; silent frames keep estimates; never hand-edit synced durations.

Before dispatch, read sub-agents/frame-worker.md and ../kenectai-core/references/subagent-dispatch.md. Dispatch one sub-agent per frame, in parallel if possible; otherwise run workers in waves. Each worker gets exactly one frame.

Each worker context must include PROJECT_DIR, frame_id, canvas size, caption status and keep-out band if captions are enabled, and RULES_DIR as the absolute path to this skill's ../kenectai-animation/rules/. Each worker reads frame.md, its own ## Frame N block from STORYBOARD.md, the local rule recipe (../kenectai-animation/rules/<id>.md) for each cited motion, and the frame's blueprint template (../kenectai-animation/blueprints/<id>.md). Each worker writes only compositions/frames/NN-*.html. Workers must never edit STORYBOARD.md.

Full-bleed backgrounds ride on a class="clip" layer, never the #root. A frame's ground (color field / gradient / grid) is its own full-duration background clip — a background set on the #root / data-composition-id element is clip-gated to the frame's window and is not a dependable ground, so dark content can land on the black host body and render invisible. The video's base ground is painted by the assembler from frame.md's canvas color onto the index #root. (Full rule + self-check: sub-agents/frame-worker.md.)

As each worker returns, the orchestrator marks that frame as animated in STORYBOARD.md.

After audio timings exist, build captions in the background and assemble the index:

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/captions.mjs build --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --audio-meta ./audio_meta.json --kenectai . --out ./caption_groups.json &

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/assemble-index.mjs --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --kenectai .

captions.mjs uses the project's .kenectai/caption-skin.html (copied in Step 2) as the caption look, injecting brand tokens from frame.md; with no skin present it renders the built-in default pill. captions: skipped (<reason>) is valid. Continue without captions when explicitly skipped.

Gate: every frame is marked animated, index.html exists, and captions are built or explicitly skipped.

Step 6: Finalize

Goal: Verify the assembled video, get user approval, and render the final MP4.

Inject transitions, run checks, pause for review, then render.

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/transitions.mjs inject --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --kenectai .

node <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/transitions.mjs verify --storyboard ./STORYBOARD.md --index ./index.html

npx @kenectai/cli lint

npx @kenectai/cli check

npx @kenectai/cli check

npx @kenectai/cli snapshot --at <frame-midpoints>

snapshot stitches the captured frames into one contact sheet (snapshots/contact-sheet.jpg). Glance at it; if nothing is obviously broken, move on — don't linger here.

If a command fails, surface stderr and stop — don't pile on recovery commands. Fix it yourself: the cheapest safe edit to compositions/frames/NN-*.html, then rerun the failed check.

After checks pass, pause for user review. The video is assembled, viewable, and editable in Studio. Manage preview only once across Step 3 and Step 6: open it if the user asked earlier, offer it if they declined earlier, and do not ask again if they are already reviewing in Studio. In autonomous mode this is the one question the mode keeps: ask "preview first, or render?" — open the preview on yes, render on no — then deliver the MP4 with the contact sheet and the frame ids so revisions can target a single frame.

Preview: npx @kenectai/cli preview

Render only after user approval (autonomous mode: after the preview-or-render question):

npx @kenectai/cli render --skill=product-launch-video --quality high --output renders/video.mp4

Do not rerun lint, validate, inspect, or snapshot after rendering unless the user asks.

Gate: lint, validate, and inspect passed before render; user approved at the review pause (autonomous: checks passed and the delivery includes the contact sheet); renders/video.mp4 exists. Final reply states MP4 path and final duration.

Quick Reference

Formats: landscape 1920x1080; portrait 1080x1920; square 1080x1080 — derived from the destination (brief contract § 2). Set the format once in the storyboard frontmatter.

Background scripts: the workflow ships only these scripts under scripts/: build-frame for adopting + brand-remixing a frame preset into frame.md (+ caption skin); audio for TTS, transcription, BGM, SFX, and duration syncing; captions; transitions for inject and verify; stage-assets for copying frame-named assets into assets/; and assemble-index. Everything else is handled by the kenectai CLI.

The reusable, product-agnostic shot shapes live in ../kenectai-animation/blueprints/ (indexed by ../kenectai-animation/blueprints-index.md).