Turn arbitrary text — an article, notes, a topic, a brief — into a faceless explainer video: there is no site or footage to capture, so the visuals are invented per scene (typography, abstract graphics, diagrams, data-viz). Use for topic explainers, concept breakdowns, how-tos, listicles. Not a vide

First, keep this skill fresh — confirm with the user before running: npx hyperframes skills update faceless explainer . A fast no op when everything is current; otherwise it refreshes this skill plus the core domain skills it depends on before you rely on them. media use : Before sourcing audio/images/logos, call /media use to resolve BGM/SFX/images from the HeyGen catalog and brand logos from their official sources. Run adopt first to register existing assets. See /media use skill. Faceless Explainer to HyperFrames Use this skill to turn a body of text into an explainer video: pick a design system, plan a teaching story, and build it frame by frame in HyperFrames. Faceless means every visual is invented downstream — there is no capture step and no real asset inventory. The front door is /hyperframes . You are the orchestrator. Run each step, verify its gate, and only then continue. This skill is for explaining a topic from text, with no product and no website to capture . Any other intent, a bare "make a video", or any uncertainty → read /hyperframes first — the intent layer owns every route decision, and a fresh creation arriving here without BRIEF.md goes through it anyway (Setup's opening rule). You are the orchestrator. Work in videos/<project / . Run steps in order and pass each gate before continuing. User gated steps are Step 0, Step 3, and Step 6. Read ../hyperframes core/references/brief contract.md before Step 0 — it defines the gate types and how BRIEF.md 's flow / storyboard derive the mode that governs the Step 3/4/6 gates. Do every step yourself except Step 5, where you dispatch one sub agent per frame. Do not put design or motion rules here; those live in the frame worker sub agent, this skill's local ../hyperframes animation/rules/ + ../hyperframes animation/blueprints/ , and hyperframes creative . Workflow: Step 0 setup → hyperframes.json ; Step 1 brief → capture/extracted/ ; Step 2 design system → frame.md ; Step 3 storyboard/script → STORYBOARD.md and SCRIPT.md ; Step 3.1 audio → audio meta.json ; Step 4 visual design → enriched STORYBOARD.md ; Step 5 frames → compositions/frames/NN .html and index.html ; Step 6 final render → renders/video.mp4 . Step 0: Setup Goal: Enter with a confirmed brief, create the HyperFrames project, and make the brief durable. The brief is confirmed by the intent layer, not by questions asked here. Opening rule, in order: (1) BRIEF.md exists → read it and ask nothing — the brief is settled, and its flow / storyboard derive the mode (brief contract § 1). (2) No BRIEF.md but the project exists ( hyperframes.json / STORYBOARD.md on disk) → resume from the storyboard's frontmatter and the recorded preferences; never re interrogate a half built project. (3) Neither — a fresh creation request that arrived here directly → read /hyperframes and run its intent layer ( references/intent interview.md ): it checks recipes and remembered defaults, conducts this route's questions ( ../hyperframes/references/routes/faceless explainer.md ), and hands back the locked brief. Edit requests skip all of this — go do the edit. Initialize only if hyperframes.json is missing. Name <project from the topic in kebab case, such as compound interest explained ; never use workspace name or timestamp. npx hyperframes init "videos/<project " non interactive example=blank skill=faceless explainer — init checks the installed skills against the latest on GitHub and updates the global set if any are out of date. After init, let <PROJECT ROOT be videos/<project and run every subsequent relative path command with that directory as its working directory. In the commands below, . means <PROJECT ROOT ; never write .media , capture , or output files in the caller directory. Write BRIEF.md immediately after init (never before — init refuses a non empty directory): the intent layer's locked brief, shape per ../hyperframes core/references/brief format.md . Resolve <MEDIA DIR as the installed /media use skill directory. Then record each preference backed answer with node <MEDIA DIR /scripts/prefs.mjs record hyperframes . ( brief format.md names the subset). If the intent layer adopted a recipe, run node <MEDIA DIR /scripts/recipe.mjs use hyperframes . name <name ; it copies its frame.md into the project (Step 2 is then skipped) and returns the skeletons Step 3 drafts from. A recipe fills answers, not approvals; the review gates still run. Show sign in status before proceeding past Setup — run npx hyperframes auth status and relay its output verbatim. It reports whether voice/BGM will use HeyGen or local engines and, when signed out, how to sign in. Apply one branch: Collaborative: wait for the user to sign in or explicitly choose offline / go . Autonomous: state the status and continue through the available local engines. Do not silently omit a required capability when no offline provider exists; surface the blocker. Do not fold this decision into another question or write keys into a per repo .env . Auth ownership and offline fallbacks: /media use references/setup providers.md § Providers. Gate: hyperframes.json and BRIEF.md exist; the preference backed answers were recorded (brief contract § 2); sign in status was shown (signed in, or continuing offline). Step 1: Brief (no capture) Goal: Fold the user's text into the project as the source of information. There is no website capture and no real assets — this is a faceless explainer. Save the user's full input verbatim, then create the synthetic capture package by hand: capture/extracted/visible text.txt — the full article / notes / topic / brief, verbatim. This is the source of information , not a story template (Step 3 reshapes it). capture/extracted/tokens.json — { "title": "", "description": "", "colors": [], "fonts": [] } . Fill title / description from the brief. Leave colors / fonts empty unless the user explicitly gave brand colors or fonts — then add them (the design preset supplies a complete palette regardless). If the user pasted a script or wants their wording kept, save it verbatim as user script.txt ; VO MODE (verbatim or restructured) comes from BRIEF.md — the intent layer asks it when a script arrives. Ask once here only if the brief somehow lacks it, and store the answer for Step 3. Do not run npx hyperframes capture (there is no URL). Do not create asset descriptions.md or populate capture/assets/ — faceless visuals are invented in Steps 4 5, not captured. The one exception: if the user supplied a real image, place it under public/<basename and note it for Step 3. Gate: capture/extracted/visible text.txt and capture/extracted/tokens.json exist; you can state the explainer's topic and audience in one clear sentence. Step 2: Design System Goal: Choose one shipped frame preset; a script turns it into this video's frame.md + caption skin. When BRIEF.md names a style preset — the user picked it by eye from the showcases at the intent layer — use it; the judgment call is yours only when the brief is silent. Then you make the one call — which preset : read ../hyperframes creative/references/design spec.md and browse ../hyperframes creative/frame presets/ ; pick the preset whose look best fits the topic, tone, and audience. Then run: The script does the rest deterministically: copies the preset's FRAME.md → frame.md and remixes it onto any brand tokens in capture/extracted/tokens.json (brand colors mapped onto the preset's color keys by role; the preset's display + body fonts swapped for the brand's), copies the preset's caption skin to .hyperframes/caption skin.html , and self validates (exits 1 on a broken mapping). Proceed as soon as it exits 0 — no hand editing of the spec. A faceless explainer usually has no brand colors/fonts ( tokens.json colors/fonts empty) → the script keeps the preset's own palette, a complete shippable design. Only when the user named brand colors/fonts add them to tokens.json before running, and only adjust frame.md by hand afterward if a mapping truly needs it. Gate: build frame.mjs exited 0 — frame.md exists from a named preset, and (when the preset ships one) .hyperframes/caption skin.html exists as the caption skin source; the chosen preset was recorded as a preference ( key style preset workflow <this workflow , brief contract § 2). Step 3: Storyboard and Script Goal: Turn the text into an approved frame by frame teaching plan. Read ../hyperframes creative/references/story spine.md (hook language, value before evidence, storyboard as proposal, source traceable visuals), references/story design.md , ../hyperframes animation/blueprints index.md , ../hyperframes core/references/storyboard format.md , and ../hyperframes core/references/script format.md . Use them to write STORYBOARD.md and, when narration is needed, SCRIPT.md . Set the frontmatter duration: from the brief's length — a rough expectation; assembly reports where the cut lands against it. Use story design.md for the explainer structure (concept / how to / listicle / story), hook strategy, clarity techniques, emotional beats, the type enum mapping, and VO MODE . The video's sequence comes from narrative design, not the input text's paragraph order — reorder, merge, omit, compress. As a soft guide , consult the role→blueprint menu in ../hyperframes animation/blueprints index.md : for each beat, write the voiceover in the shape its candidate blueprint implies and tag that candidate blueprint: id when one fits. Teaching truth still decides which beats exist — never force a beat to fit a blueprint, and never invent a beat just because a proven shape is available. Faceless visuals are invented downstream, so frames do not carry an asset inventory: leave asset candidates empty unless the user supplied a real public/<basename image. Use the exact required fields from the storyboard and script references. After drafting, run the review loop's plan pass — ../hyperframes core/references/review loop.md § 1: open the board (don't ask whether to), present the plan as a proposal, and ask the two questions — approve or change, and sketches first (recommended) or skip. Feedback loops through chat or the board's comments file until approved. This is a checkpoint gate (brief contract § 1): in autonomous mode there is no board and nothing to ask — post the same summary as a heads up and proceed; sketches collapse into the build, and the one preview question comes at Step 6. Gate: STORYBOARD.md exists, every frame has the required narrative fields, SCRIPT.md exists when narration is needed, and the user approved the frame by frame plan (autonomous: the summary was posted as a heads up). Step 3.1: Audio Goal: Generate narration, word timings, music, and audio metadata from the approved script. Start audio after Step 3 approval. Run it in the background, then continue to Step 4. (Sign in status was already shown in Step 0; the engine falls back automatically.) Choose the narration voice from the user's ask before invoking. If the request named a voice, gender, or tone, pick a matching voice id and pass it with voice <id . The pipeline default is otherwise Marcia (female) on HeyGen / am michael on Kokoro — so a request like "a male voice" is silently ignored unless you pass the flag. Voice ids are provider specific; resolve against whichever provider Step 0's sign in status selected: HeyGen (signed in) via node <MEDIA DIR /audio/scripts/heygen tts.mjs list (or GET /v3/voices?engine=starfish ); Kokoro (offline) via the voice table in <MEDIA DIR /audio/references/tts.md (prefixes am / bm male, af / bf female). When the user expressed no preference, fall back to the remembered voice (brief contract § 2) before

faceless-explainer