media-ingest

# Media Ingest Skill Ingest video, audio, PDF, book, screenshot, and GitHub repo content into the brain. > **Filing rule:** Read `skills/_brain-filing-rules.md` before creating any new page. ## Input | Parameter | Required | Description | |-----------|----------|-------------| | source | yes | URL, file path, or uploaded file reference | | title | no | Override title (auto-detected if omitted) | | target_slug | no | Override page slug (auto-generated if omitted) | ## Contract This skill guarantees: - Every ingested media item has a brain page with analysis (not just a transcript dump) - Transcripts (video/audio) saved in raw and human-readable formats - Entity extraction: every person and company mentioned gets back-linked - Raw source files preserved via `gbrain files upload-raw` - Filing by primary subject, not by media format > **Convention:** See `skills/conventions/quality.md` for Iron Law back-linking. Every mention of a person or company with a brain page MUST create a back-link. ## Phases ### Phase 1: Identify format and fetch | Format | Action | |--------|--------| | YouTube/video URL | Fetch transcript (Whisper, transcription service, or captions) | | Audio file | Transcribe with available STT service | | PDF | Extract text (OCR if needed) | | Book PDF | Extract text, identify chapters/sections | | Screenshot/image | OCR via vision model, extract text and entities | | GitHub repo | Clone, read README + key files, summarize architecture | ### Phase 2: Upload raw source Save the original file for provenance: `gbrain files upload-raw <file> --page <slug>` ### Phase 3: Create brain page File by primary subject (not format). Use this template: ```markdown # {Title} **Source:** {URL or file path} **Format:** {video/audio/PDF/book/screenshot/repo} **Created:** {date} ## Summary {Key points, not a transcript dump} ## Key Segments / Highlights {For video/audio: timestamped highlights. For books: chapter summaries.} ## People Mentioned {List with links to brain pages} ## Companies Mentioned {List with links to brain pages} ``` ### Phase 4: Entity extraction and propagation For every person and company mentioned: 1. Check brain for existing page 2. Create/enrich if needed (delegate to enrich skill) 3. Add back-link from entity page to this media page 4. Add timeline entry on entity page A media item is NOT fully ingested until entity propagation is complete. ### Phase 5: Sync `gbrain sync` to update the index. ## Output Format Brain page created with summary, highlights, and entity cross-links. Report to user: "Ingested {title}: {N} entities detected, {N} pages updated." ## Error Handling - **Transcription failure:** If STT or captions are unavailable, note `[transcript unavailable]` in the page and proceed with whatever metadata is available. Do NOT fabricate content. - **Duplicate detection:** Before creating a page, search the brain for the source URL or file hash. If found, ask the user whether to update the existing page or skip. - **Partial OCR / audio:** Mark unclear segments with `[inaudible]` or `[illegible]`. Never guess at proper nouns. - **Large content (books > 500 pages):** Summarize by chapter; do not attempt to inline the full text. Link to the raw upload. - **Retry policy:** On transient API failures (network, timeout), retry once. On auth failures, abort immediately. ## Known Pitfalls 1. **YouTube auto-captions misidentify proper nouns.** Always cross-reference entity names against existing brain pages before creating new ones. A caption that garbles a name (e.g. "Alise" when the speakers are discussing alice-example) should match the existing `alice-example` page, not create a new one. 2. **Re-running ingest on same source creates duplicates.** Always check brain for existing source URL match before Phase 3. 3. **Book OCR quality varies wildly.** Scanned PDFs often have garbled text. If OCR quality is <80% readable, flag to user rather than ingesting garbage. 4. **Video transcript without speaker diarization is low-value.** If multiple speakers are present but no diarization is available, note this limitation prominently rather than attributing all speech to one person. 5. **Large audio files (>2hr) can timeout transcription services.** Split into chunks before transcription if needed. ## When it fails Follow the [agent operator protocol](../conventions/agent-operator-protocol.md) for any gbrain error `code`, exit code, `[AGENT]` block or notice block. Specific to this skill: - Transcription fails: write `[transcript unavailable]` and continue with metadata; never fabricate content. - A transient API failure (network, `timeout`, `rate_limited`): retry once. On an auth failure, abort and tell the user which provider key is missing. - `file_upload` refused (size, path outside the allowed root): tell the user the raw file was not stored and keep a pointer in the page. ## Anti-Patterns - Dumping raw transcripts without analysis - Skipping entity extraction ("I'll do that separately") - Filing **raw ingest** by format (all videos in `media/videos/`) instead of by subject. Note: format-prefixed paths under `media/<format>/<slug>` ARE sanctioned for **synthesized one-of-one output** like book-mirror's `media/books/<slug>-personalized.md`. The anti-pattern is for raw ingest, not for sui generis synthesis. See `skills/_brain-filing-rules.md` "Sanctioned exception: synthesis output is sui generis." - Not preserving raw source files - Creating stub pages without meaningful content