| name | video-analyzer |
| description | Analyzes a video file with Google Gemini and returns a structured markdown report covering top-level summary, scene-by-scene breakdown, audio transcript (or honest "silent" note), visual details, and key timestamped moments. Strong anti-hallucination guardrails — will not invent narrators, voiceovers, or speaker names. Use when you need to understand what actually happens in a video. |
| argument-hint | <path/to/video.mp4> [--prompt "..."] [--fps N] [--model ...] |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
| allowed-tools | Bash, Read |
Analyze Video
Analyze a video file with Gemini and return a structured markdown report.
Prerequisites
- Python 3.10+
google-genai installed globally (any Python the shell finds via python3 works — verified working at version 1.64.0)GEMINI_API_KEY set in the user's shell environment (e.g. exported in ~/.zshrc)
Steps
-
Parse the arguments from $ARGUMENTS:
- video path (required) — path to the video file
- --prompt (optional) — custom analysis prompt; defaults to a structured-report prompt with anti-hallucination rules
- --fps (optional) — custom frame sampling rate (useful for catching sub-second cuts in fast-paced footage)
- --model (optional) — Gemini model ID; defaults to
gemini-3-flash-preview
-
Verify the video file exists at the given path. If not, report the error and stop.
-
Run the analysis script using the absolute path to its install location:
python3 ~/.claude/skills/video-analyzer/scripts/analyze_video.py $ARGUMENTS
-
The script will:
- Upload the video — inline for files ≤18MB, Files API for larger files (with up-to-300s polling for ACTIVE state)
- Send the prompt to Gemini with the video attached
- Print the full markdown report to stdout (info/progress lines go to stderr)
-
Capture stdout and present the report to the user.
-
If the script exits with an error, help the user troubleshoot:
- Missing API key: confirm
echo $GEMINI_API_KEY is non-empty in their shell. If it's only in ~/.zshrc, they may need to start a new terminal or source ~/.zshrc.
- Unsupported format: must be one of mp4, mov, avi, webm, mpeg, mpg, wmv, 3gpp, 3gp, flv
- Upload timeout: large file or slow connection — retry, or use a shorter clip
- Model error / 404: try a different model with
--model gemini-2.5-flash
Output
A markdown report printed to stdout with these sections:
- Top-Level Summary — 2-3 sentence overview of what actually happens
- Scene-by-Scene Breakdown —
MM:SS timestamps for each cut/scene with on-screen content, actions, and verbatim text
- Audio — verbatim transcript with timestamps, OR an honest "no audio / silent / ambient only" note (the prompt explicitly forbids inventing narrators)
- Visual Details — on-screen text, UI elements, products, branding, people
- Key Moments — 3-7 timestamped highlights a viewer would remember
