LaunchVideo, local Claude Code edition

Paste a URL or a prompt, get a 20 to 40 second launch video. No video model: Claude Code writes a single HTML film, then this Mac renders it frame by frame in headless Chromium and encodes it with ffmpeg. It uses the existing Claude Code login, so it does not require ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, Vercel, or a Blob store.

This fork is intended for local use. It launches Claude Code and renders video on the same machine running the Next.js app.

local/          local Claude Code worker and Playwright + ffmpeg renderer
web/            Next.js app, local job API, and local MP4 streaming route

Quick Start

Requirements:

• macOS on Apple Silicon. The renderer has been verified on a MacBook Pro.
• Node.js 22 or newer.
• Claude Code installed and logged into a Claude subscription. An API key is not used.

# Clone your fork and use the local-first branch.
git clone git@github.com:ndom91/shipvideo-local.git
cd shipvideo-local
git switch local-claude-run

# Install deps including playwright and it's copy of headless chromium
npm run setup-local

# Start the web app where you can enter any prompt / URL input to generate a video
cd web && npm install && npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 and submit either a URL or a brief.

Configuration

The defaults require no environment file. Optional environment variables:

For example:

CLAUDE_MODEL=sonnet npm run dev

Run that command from web/ after installing dependencies.

Local Files

Each request gets an isolated directory at web/.local-jobs/<job-id>/:

• job.json: validated form input.
• scene.html and scene.json: Claude's generated film and duration.
• claude.log: Claude Code and renderer output for debugging.
• video.mp4: completed output.
• state.json: job status consumed by the UI.

These directories are ignored by Git. The completed MP4 is streamed locally at /api/videos/<job-id>; it is not uploaded anywhere.

How a job flows

1. POST /api/jobs validates the input, creates an isolated job folder, and launches a detached local worker.
2. The worker calls claude -p in that folder. Claude uses its existing subscription login to research the source and write scene.html.
3. Claude checks the scene with local/render.mjs --check and the worker then renders it with Playwright's Chromium headless shell and ffmpeg-static.
4. GET /api/jobs/<id> reads the local state file for progress, and GET /api/videos/<id> streams the finished MP4 with range support.

Rendering runs at roughly real time: a 30 s film takes 30-40 s on a MacBook Pro.

Gotchas

• No <video>, <audio>, <iframe>, CSS transitions, Math.random, or external images in a scene; the worker prompt and renderer enforce this so renders stay deterministic.
• The job worker only permits Claude Code's file tools, WebFetch, and the node scene-check command. It does not grant arbitrary shell access.
• URL mode asks Claude to read a public site. Treat submitted URLs as untrusted content and keep this app bound to localhost unless you add authentication and network restrictions.

Troubleshooting