| name | gstreamer-pipeline |
| description | Build and run GStreamer pipelines with gst-launch-1.0, introspect elements with gst-inspect-1.0, discover media with gst-discoverer-1.0, enumerate devices with gst-device-monitor-1.0, play files with gst-play-1.0, detect type with gst-typefind-1.0. Pipeline syntax (element ! element, named elements, caps filter), common flows (file playback, transcoding, RTP send/receive, HLS/DASH segmenting, WebRTC via webrtcbin, RTSP server via rtspclientsink/rtsp-server library, screen capture, webcam, appsrc/appsink integration). Use when the user asks to build a GStreamer pipeline, construct a gst-launch command, do real-time video processing with GStreamer, pipe ffmpeg output into GStreamer, build an embedded/Linux media pipeline, use webrtcbin, stream RTSP via GStreamer, or author a plugin-graph pipeline.
|
| argument-hint | [pipeline] |
GStreamer Pipeline
Context: $ARGUMENTS
Quick start
- Run a pipeline: -> Step 4 (
launch -- <pipeline-desc>)
- Look up an element's properties: -> Step 2 (
inspect --element <name>)
- Probe a file or URL: -> Step 3 (
discover --uri <uri>)
- List cameras / mics / screens: -> Step 3 (
devices)
- Copy-paste a ready-made recipe: -> Read
references/pipelines.md
When to use
- User wants a running pipeline: "play this", "transcode", "publish RTSP", "receive WebRTC".
- User wants to verify an element exists locally AND is linkable with a given caps.
- User wants to enumerate cameras/mics with
gst-device-monitor-1.0.
- User wants to probe a file's streams/caps/duration via
gst-discoverer-1.0.
- User wants a
gst-launch-1.0 one-liner for bench-testing before coding the C / Rust / Python client.
For documentation lookup (which properties does hlssink2 expose? what does webrtcbin support?), use the gstreamer-docs skill first.
Step 1 — Check GStreamer is installed
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --element filesrc --dry-run
If this errors with "gst-inspect-1.0 not found", install:
- macOS:
brew install gstreamer
- Debian/Ubuntu:
apt install gstreamer1.0-tools gstreamer1.0-plugins-{base,good,bad,ugly} gstreamer1.0-libav
- Fedora:
dnf install gstreamer1 gstreamer1-plugins-{base,good,bad-free,ugly-free} gstreamer1-libav
- Windows: MSI installer at gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/
Verify plugin sets are present; many elements (e.g. webrtcbin, hlssink2, srtsink, x264enc) ship in -bad or -ugly or Rust plugins (gst-plugins-rs).
Step 2 — Introspect an element before using it
Never hand-assemble an element's properties from memory. Use:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --element webrtcbin
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --element hlssink2
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --element x264enc
List every factory:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py list-elements
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py list-elements --plugin coreelements
Find which elements handle a URI scheme (e.g. rtsp://):
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --uri-handlers
Filter by factory type:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --types "Codec/Encoder/Video"
Pair with the gstreamer-docs skill for the canonical URL and full property table if the CLI output is terse.
Step 3 — Probe devices and media
Discover streams, caps, duration, tags of a file or URL:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py discover --uri file:///path/to/file.mp4
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py discover --uri rtsp://camera.local/stream -v -t 10
List capture + output devices:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py devices
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py devices --classes "Video/Source" "Audio/Source"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py devices --follow
Typefind (MIME / caps) on a blob:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py typefind /tmp/unknown.bin
Step 4 — Run a pipeline with launch
Use -- to separate pipeline tokens from gst.py flags, then write the pipeline in GStreamer shell syntax:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch -- \
videotestsrc num-buffers=300 \
! video/x-raw,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1 \
! timeoverlay \
! autovideosink
Enable verbose caps negotiation:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch -v -- videotestsrc ! fakesink
Set GST_DEBUG without manual env export:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch \
--debug-level "3,webrtcbin:6" \
--debug-file /tmp/gst.log \
--verbose-tool -e -- \
videotestsrc ! x264enc ! rtph264pay ! udpsink host=127.0.0.1 port=5000
Add --eos-on-shutdown when writing to a muxer so Ctrl-C finalises the file cleanly (otherwise matroskamux / mp4mux leave a truncated output).
Dry-run echoes the exact gst-launch-1.0 invocation and exits:
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch --dry-run -- filesrc location=in.mp4 ! decodebin ! autovideosink
Step 5 — Quick playback with play
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py play video.mp4
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py play rtsp://cam/stream --audio-only
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py play video.mp4 --no-interactive
--no-interactive disables keyboard controls — use this in any non-interactive agent run.
Step 6 — Grab a recipe
references/pipelines.md has 15+ production-ready pipelines:
- File playback / transcoding (H.264 + AAC in MP4)
- Webcam + mic -> MP4
- Screen capture -> MP4 (macOS / Linux / Windows)
- RTP send + receive (H.264, Opus)
- MPEG-TS over UDP with FEC
- RTSP client consumption and RTSP server publish
- HLS segmenting (
hlssink2)
- DASH segmenting (
dashsink)
- WebRTC publish with
webrtcsink (Rust, auto-negotiation)
- Low-level WebRTC with
webrtcbin
- SRT send / receive
- appsrc / appsink bridges for custom code
- NDI / DeckLink if available
Read references/pipelines.md when the user needs a starting pipeline for any of the above.
Gotchas
- All CLI tools have the
-1.0 suffix. gst-inspect-1.0 not gst-inspect, gst-launch-1.0 not gst-launch. The 1.0 is the major API version; GStreamer 0.10 was EOL'd in 2012 and tools without -1.0 usually don't exist.
! is NOT a logical-NOT in gst-launch. It's the link operator. Quote your pipeline or use -- so the shell passes it through: gst.py launch -- videotestsrc ! fakesink.- Caps filters are
video/x-raw,width=1280,... with NO space after the commas. Some shells swallow the parens / commas — single-quote the caps string when in doubt.
queue is mandatory between threads. Whenever you have a tee fan-out, or sink/source crossing subsystems (audio<->video, CPU<->GPU), insert a queue on each branch. Without it the pipeline serialises on one thread and the second branch starves.videoconvert + audioconvert are cheap insurance. When two elements disagree on caps, drop videoconvert ! videoscale or audioconvert ! audioresample in between. GStreamer will no-op if the caps already match.decodebin3 / uridecodebin3 use GST_MESSAGE_STREAM_COLLECTION + GST_EVENT_SELECT_STREAMS, NOT the old autoplug-* signals. Port old decodebin code carefully.playbin3 has different bus messages from playbin. Don't copy-paste signal handlers between them.- Rust plugins (gst-plugins-rs) ship separately.
webrtcsink, awstranscriber, whipclientsink aren't in -good/-bad/-ugly — they need gst-plugins-rs (available from gstreamer.freedesktop.org or your distro). If gst-inspect-1.0 webrtcsink comes up empty, install gst-plugins-rs.
webrtcbin vs webrtcsink: webrtcbin is the low-level C element where you drive SDP + ICE manually via signals (, , etc.). is the Rust high-level element that auto-negotiates and speaks WHIP/WHEP. Pick one.
Examples
Example 1: "Play an MP4 with verbose caps"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch -v -- \
filesrc location=in.mp4 ! decodebin3 ! videoconvert ! autovideosink
Example 2: "Record my webcam + mic to MP4 for 30 seconds (macOS)"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch -e -- \
avfvideosrc device-index=0 ! video/x-raw,width=1280,height=720 \
! videoconvert ! x264enc tune=zerolatency bitrate=3000 ! h264parse \
! qtmux name=mux ! filesink location=out.mp4 \
avfaudiosrc ! audioconvert ! audioresample ! avenc_aac bitrate=128000 \
! mux. \
--eos-on-shutdown
(Kill with Ctrl-C after 30s; -e ensures qtmux finalises.)
Example 3: "Probe an RTSP camera for its streams"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py discover \
--uri rtsp://admin:pw@10.0.0.42/stream -v -t 10
Example 4: "What video inputs can I record from?"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py devices --classes "Video/Source"
Example 5: "Dump the full property list for webrtcbin"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py inspect --element webrtcbin
Example 6: "Publish a test pattern to MediaMTX via WHIP"
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/gst.py launch -v -e -- \
videotestsrc is-live=true \
! video/x-raw,width=1280,height=720,framerate=30/1 \
! videoconvert \
! 'whipclientsink name=ws signaller::whip-endpoint=http://127.0.0.1:8889/live/whip'
(Requires gst-plugins-rs; fall back to a webrtcsink + signaller setup if absent.)
Troubleshooting
WARNING: erroneous pipeline: no element "webrtcbin"
Cause: Plugin not installed.
Solution: webrtcbin lives in gst-plugins-bad. Install it: macOS brew install gst-plugins-bad; Debian/Ubuntu apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad libnice-dev. Verify with gst-inspect-1.0 webrtcbin.
could not link filesrc0 to decodebin0
Cause: filesrc produces ANY caps, but some decoders want a typefind step.
Solution: Insert decodebin3 which handles typefind internally: filesrc location=in.mp4 ! decodebin3 ! .... Or use uridecodebin3 uri=file:///....
gst-launch-1.0: command not found
Cause: Tools not on PATH, or only gst-launch installed without the -1.0 suffix (very old GStreamer).
Solution: Reinstall GStreamer 1.x. On macOS homebrew: brew install gstreamer.
Output MP4 from the recording pipeline is 0 bytes or unplayable
Cause: Process killed without EOS -> qtmux / mp4mux never wrote the moov atom.
Solution: Re-run with -e / --eos-on-shutdown, use Ctrl-C only once, then wait 1-2s for finalisation.
avfvideosrc opens but produces no frames on macOS
Cause: Privacy permission not granted to the terminal / IDE running gst-launch.
Solution: macOS System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Camera -> add your terminal. Restart the terminal after granting.
Pipeline runs but no audio in output
Cause: Missing queue on the audio branch of a muxer fan-in, or wrong sample rate.
Solution: Insert queue ! audioconvert ! audioresample before the muxer pad. Ensure mux. syntax attaches to the named mux element.
"Delayed linking failed for: webrtcbin.sink"
Cause: webrtcbin refuses RTP caps that don't specify payload-type / encoding-name.
Solution: Add a capsfilter: rtph264pay config-interval=-1 pt=96 ! application/x-rtp,media=video,encoding-name=H264,payload=96 ! webrtcbin.
Reference docs
