Most “AI-made” videos come out of a video model: Veo, Kling, Sora… You pay credits, you wait and you pray it doesn’t give someone a six-fingered hand.
There’s another way. These 5 Claude skills don’t generate pixels: Claude writes the video in code (HTML, canvas, p5.js) and that code is rendered frame by frame to an MP4. No video credits, full control and no “AI look”.
How a code skill makes a video
You describe the video
“A 20-second explainer on what an API is, cut-paper style.”
Claude writes it in code
Every scene is HTML, canvas or p5.js: text, shapes, drawings and camera.
You review it
You watch a preview or individual frames and ask for changes.
It gets rendered
A browser records the code frame by frame.
You get the MP4
Ready for Instagram, TikTok or YouTube.
What you need before you start
- Claude Code installed. It requires a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise) or a Claude Console account.
- Node.js (the LTS version from nodejs.org).
- Chrome or Playwright’s Chromium: it’s the browser that “records” the video.
- ffmpeg, recommended for exporting and adding audio.
If you’ve never installed a skill, read Claude Skills from scratch first.
The 5 skills
Stars and licenses checked on GitHub on November 8, 2026.
| Skill | What for | Stars | License | Commercial use? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HyperFrames | Motion graphics and explainers | ~81,000 | Apache-2.0 | Yes |
| Animate | Cartoons with a story | ~1,700 | MIT | Yes |
| Claude Animation Base | Hand-painted drawings | ~2,700 | MIT | Yes |
| One Take | Single-shot product demos | ~3,900 | PolyForm Noncommercial | No |
| Lemo-Opuscar | 66 film styles | ~13,500 | MIT | Yes |
01 · HyperFrames (HeyGen)
You describe the video and Claude builds it in HTML and exports it to MP4. It’s the most complete one: motion graphics, titles, explainers, captions, transitions and a catalog of ready-made blocks. It’s the one we use to animate carousels.
- Repo: heygen-com/hyperframes · license Apache-2.0.
claude plugin marketplace add heygen-com/hyperframes
claude plugin install hyperframes@hyperframes
Running npx hyperframes skills update once also works; then you ask Claude Code for the video.
02 · Animate (cth9191)
Procedural cartoons in a single-file <canvas>. It walks you through story, style and storyboard before animating, with 7 built-in styles (cut paper, shaded, riso, notebook, math, pixel and isometric) or one taken from your references. It accepts your music, synced to the beat.
- Repo: cth9191/animate · license MIT.
First, Playwright (the browser that renders):
npm i -g playwright && npx playwright install chromium
And inside Claude Code:
/plugin marketplace add cth9191/animate
/plugin install animate@animate
03 · Claude Animation Base (JohnHeibel)
A kit for animating hand-painted drawings (watercolor, lively strokes) with p5.js and p5.brush. It comes with Clawd, the Claude Code mascot, with 31 acted emotions and a guide so the model animates well.
- Repo: JohnHeibel/ClaudeAnimationBase · license MIT.
git clone https://github.com/JohnHeibel/ClaudeAnimationBase.git
cd ClaudeAnimationBase
npm install
Open that folder in Claude Code and ask for the scene: “Clawd discovers his coffee has gone cold”.
04 · One Take (feitangyuan)
Product and launch videos where the camera never cuts: every moment grows out of the previous one, like a long take. It comes with synthesized sound effects and an “oracle” that fails the video if it looks like a slideshow.
- Repo: feitangyuan/onetake · license PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0.
git clone https://github.com/feitangyuan/onetake.git ~/.claude/skills/onetake
Heads up
Noncommercial use only. One Take’s license is clear: free for noncommercial use. No ads, no videos for a brand that sells, no client work without a license from the author. For practice or a personal project, go ahead.
05 · Lemo-Opuscar (lemomo-ai)
A toolbox with 66 film styles made in code, from 1920s silent film to a satellite briefing, by way of oil painting, watercolor or ukiyo-e. Each style is a prompt plus a sample film. And you can create your own.
- Repo: lemomo-ai/lemo-opuscar · license MIT.
claude plugin marketplace add lemomo-ai/lemo-opuscar
claude plugin install lemo-opuscar@lemolab
Which one should I pick?
| I want… | Use |
|---|---|
| A clean explainer or motion graphics | HyperFrames |
| Cartoons with a story | Animate |
| A hand-painted look | Claude Animation Base |
| A single-shot product demo (personal project) | One Take |
| A specific film style | Lemo-Opuscar |
Tip
Start short. Ask for 10-15 seconds first. Rendering code is fast, but reviewing a full one-minute video on the first try is a mess. Once you like the style, make it longer.
What they don’t do
- They don’t film or generate real people. Everything is graphics, drawings or typography. If you want a human talking, that’s a different tool.
- They don’t add the voice or write the script for you. They do the visual part. Voice, script and captions are on you (or you ask Claude for them separately).
- They’re not perfect on the first try. Ask for changes scene by scene: “make the second scene slower”, “make the title bigger”.
- They don’t spare you reading the license. Four are free for commercial use; One Take isn’t.
What if you want the whole reel?
These skills do the visual part. If what you want is for Claude Code to make the complete reel with a single command (script, voice, animation and captions, in styles already designed for Instagram and TikTok), that’s what our Blackdark Reels pack does. It’s a separate product with its own system; it is not a bundle of these five skills.
Blackdark Reels pack
See the packThe whole reel with a single command: script, voice, animation and captions.