session-story

# Session story The agent reads its own history with its user, finds their routine, and turns one typical session into a 40 to 70 s film, in the order it happened: - **Story:** the user's verbatim words arriving as objects, and the agent's own replies going back. The window and the wall clock follow the session's real time. - **Room:** decorated from what the agent knows about its user. - **Score:** composed by the agent against the film's own timeline. Write `story.json` and the engine does the choreography. Nothing on screen is invented: every line is a quote, and the user approves every line before a frame is rendered. ## When to use / when not - **Use** when a user asks their agent for a film of their work together, and the agent has real history with that user: local transcripts, or messages the user pastes in. - **Do not use** for someone else's history, a team's shared logs, marketing with made-up quotes, or anything the user won't review. With no history at all, ask the user for a session's messages. Never invent quotes. ## Requirements and side effects (complete list) - **Tools:** Node 22+, Python 3.9+ (standard library only), `ffmpeg` on PATH, and the HyperFrames CLI pinned to `npx --yes hyperframes@0.8.71` (downloaded from the npm registry on first use). - **Setup (once, manually):** `sh scripts/setup.sh` runs `npm ci` from the committed lockfile: p5 2.3.3 (LGPL-2.1), p5.brush 2.2.3 (MIT), @fontsource/permanent-marker 5.3.0 (Apache-2.0). Read-only downloads from npm. - **Score renderer:** on macOS, `swift` (Xcode Command Line Tools) plays the score through Apple's built-in General MIDI bank. Elsewhere, `fluidsynth` with a General MIDI soundfont you set as `SOUNDFONT`. Neither downloads anything. - **Reads (local only, after the user says yes):** the agent's own transcripts, `~/.claude/projects/<project>/*.jsonl` (Claude Code) and `~/.codex/sessions` (Codex), for the current project unless the user allows `--all-projects`. Also the agent's memory and instruction files for the room. Nothing is uploaded. - **Writes:** `session-story-candidates.json` (harvest) and everything inside the project folder you create. Both hold the user's words: never commit or share them. - **Network at build time:** none. Pass `--describe false` to every `snapshot`, as shown below: with `GEMINI_API_KEY` set, `snapshot` otherwise sends frames (the user's words) to Gemini. Render locally: the page paints with WebGL. - **No credentials, no paid calls.** ## Workflow 1. **Setup:** `sh scripts/setup.sh` (once). 2. **Ask first.** Tell the user you'll read your local history with them to find the session, and wait for a yes. 3. **Harvest:** `python3 scripts/harvest.py --project <their project folder> --out <scratch>/candidates.json` prints the routine and lists sessions, most typical first. `--session <id>` (with the same `--project`) prints one in order, with local times and your replies. Per [references/sources.md](references/sources.md). 4. **Scaffold:** `node scripts/new-project.mjs <dir>`. Everything you write from here lives in `<dir>`. 5. **Story:** take a typical session and write `<dir>/story.json` beat by beat, in the order it happened, with each beat's real time, per [references/story.md](references/story.md). The user's lines are verbatim spans; your replies are your own words from that session. Set `screen` to what their work looks like, and pick the ending their sessions have. `node scripts/schedule.mjs <dir>` checks it: run it after every edit. 6. **Room:** fill the slots from what you know about the user, per [references/room.md](references/room.md). Draw a custom prop in `<dir>/scenes/props-custom.js` when the library has nothing true to them. If you are not Claude, draw yourself: [references/cast.md](references/cast.md). 7. **Privacy gate:** show the user one table of every on-screen line (hook, nameplate, each quote, each reply, each prop and why), each with its source. Take their edits, get an explicit yes, then set `"approved": true`. Until then every frame carries a DRAFT stamp. 8. **Design pass:** run the `snapshot` command `schedule.mjs` prints. Look at every frame: quotes legible, props where they belong, nothing covering a message. Show the user the contact sheet. 9. **Score:** write `<dir>/score/score.py` with your own theme, key and palette, per [references/score.md](references/score.md). Then `sh <dir>/score/build.sh`. It fails on dead air. 10. **Render:** from `<dir>`: `npx --yes hyperframes@0.8.71 check`, then `npx --yes hyperframes@0.8.71 render --fps 24 --crf 12 -o renders/session-story.mp4`. 11. **Check the render:** its length must match `schedule.mjs`. Pull a frame at each key moment (`ffmpeg -ss <t> -i renders/session-story.mp4 -frames:v 1 renders/check-<t>.png`) and look at them. Then hand it to the user to watch with sound. The example (`node scripts/new-project.mjs <dir> --example`, then `schedule.mjs <dir> --example`) is the reference film: a real session between Claude and the skill's author, who makes videos. It shows the format, not the shape of your film. `schedule.mjs` refuses it without `--example`, so it can't stand in for your user's story. ## Verify success - `schedule.mjs` exits 0 and prints no warnings. `hyperframes check` passes. p5.brush logs WebGL `uniform` warnings, which are harmless. - The design-pass frames show every quote legible, and match the beat table. - `score/build.sh` ends with `ok: no dead air`, and the score's length matches the film's. - The render is the length `schedule.mjs` printed, has an audio track, and its frames at the key moments match the design pass. - Failure path to test: a story that opens on a reply, or has a quote over the limit, makes `schedule.mjs` exit 1 and name the beat. ## What the engine owns The motion is physical and already tuned: glide paths, the fold, the throw, the swing, the bonk and the wingbeats. Change the story, the room, the cast and the score. Leave the choreography in `scenes/director.js` and `scenes/compile.js` alone unless you are fixing a bug. The motion rules are in [references/motion.md](references/motion.md).