/watch

name: watch
version: "0.2.0"
description: Watch a video (URL or local path). Downloads with yt-dlp, extracts auto-scaled frames with ffmpeg, pulls the transcript from captions (or Whisper API fallback), and hands the result to Claude so it can answer questions about what's in the video.
argument-hint: "<video-url-or-path> [question]"
allowed-tools: Bash, Read, AskUserQuestion
homepage: https://github.com/bradautomates/claude-video
repository: https://github.com/bradautomates/claude-video
author: bradautomates
license: MIT
user-invocable: true

/watch

You don't have a video input; this skill gives you one. A Python script gets captions first, optionally downloads the video, extracts frames as JPEGs (scene-aware, or fast keyframes at `efficient` detail), gets a timestamped transcript (native captions first, then Whisper API as fallback), and prints frame paths. You then `Read` each frame path to see the images and combine them with the transcript to answer the user.

Resolve `SKILL_DIR` (do this before any command)

Every `python3 ...` command below runs a bundled script under `SKILL_DIR/scripts/`. Set `SKILL_DIR` to the **absolute path of the directory containing THIS SKILL.md you just Read** — your harness told you that path in the Read result. The scripts are always a direct sibling of this file (`SKILL_DIR/scripts/watch.py`), in every install layout:

Read ~/.claude/plugins/cache/claude-video/watch/<ver>/skills/watch/SKILL.md → SKILL_DIR=…/skills/watch
Read ~/.codex/skills/watch/SKILL.md                                          → SKILL_DIR=~/.codex/skills/watch
Read ~/.agents/skills/watch/SKILL.md                                         → SKILL_DIR=~/.agents/skills/watch

Substitute that literal path for `${SKILL_DIR}` in every command. This works on every harness (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, …) without relying on any harness-specific environment variable. Guard once at the start of a run:

SKILL_DIR="<absolute path of the directory containing the SKILL.md you Read>"
if [ ! -f "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/watch.py" ]; then
  echo "ERROR: scripts/watch.py not found under SKILL_DIR=$SKILL_DIR" >&2
  echo "Re-check the directory of the SKILL.md you Read and substitute it as SKILL_DIR." >&2
  exit 1
fi

Step 0 — Setup preflight (runs every `/watch` invocation, silent on success)

**Python interpreter:** every `python3 ...` command in this skill is for macOS/Linux. On **Windows**, substitute `python` — the `python3` command on Windows is the Microsoft Store stub and will not run the script.

On the first `/watch` invocation in a session, use structured preflight so you can detect first-run setup:

python3 "${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/setup.py" --json

Branch on two fields:

• **`can_proceed: true` and `first_run: false`** → setup is already done (the user may have deliberately skipped a Whisper key — that's allowed). Proceed to Step 1 without comment.
• **`first_run: true`** → genuine first-time setup. Do these in order:

1. If `missing_binaries` is non-empty, run the installer first (it auto-installs on macOS / prints commands elsewhere — see below) and confirm the binaries land. **Do not skip this and jump to preferences.** 2. Run the installer once more if needed so it scaffolds `~/.config/watch/.env` (it only writes the template when the file is absent, so let it create the file *before* you write any values into it). 3. Encourage a Whisper API key and ask the watch-preference questions below, then write the selected values into `~/.config/watch/.env` and set `SETUP_COMPLETE=true`.

• **`can_proceed: false` and `first_run: false`** → setup was finished before but the environment regressed (e.g. `missing_binaries` after an OS change). Run the installer to remediate, then proceed. Don't re-ask preferences.

A missing Whisper key is *encouraged to fix, not required*: on a genuine first run `status` will read `needs_key` even when binaries are present — that's your cue to encourage a key, not a blocker.

On follow-up `/watch` calls in the same session, use the silent check:

python3 "${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/setup.py" --check

This is a <100ms lookup. Exit 0 means /watch can run — this **includes a user who finished setup without a Whisper key** (keyless is allowed). On exit 0 the script emits **nothing** — proceed to Step 1 without comment. **Do NOT announce "setup is complete" to the user** — they don't need a status message on every turn. The only acceptable user-visible output from Step 0 is when remediation is required.

On non-zero exit, follow the table:

| Exit | Meaning | Action | |------|---------|--------| | `2` | Missing binaries (`ffmpeg` / `ffprobe` / `yt-dlp`) | Run installer | | `3` | Genuine first run with no Whisper API key | Run installer to scaffold `.env`, then encourage a key (the user may decline — proceed with `--no-whisper`) | | `4` | Both missing | Run installer, then encourage a key |

Exit `3` only fires before the user has completed setup. Once `SETUP_COMPLETE=true` is written, a keyless install returns exit 0 and is never nagged again.

The installer is idempotent — safe to re-run:

python3 "${SKILL_DIR}/scripts/setup.py"

On macOS with Homebrew, it auto-installs `ffmpeg` and `yt-dlp`. On Linux/Windows, it prints the exact install commands for the user to run. It scaffolds `~/.config/watch/.env` with commented placeholders and default watch settings at `0600` perms.

**If an API key is still missing after install:** use `AskUserQuestion` to ask the user whether they have a Groq API key (preferred — cheaper, faster) or an OpenAI key. Then write it into `~/.config/watch/.env` — set the matching `GROQ_API_KEY=...` or `OPENAI_API_KEY=...` line. If they don't want to set up Whisper, proceed with `--no-whisper` and tell them videos without native captions will come back frames-only.

**First-run watch preference:** after the installer has scaffolded `~/.config/watch/.env`, use `AskUserQuestion` to a