/manim-video

name: manim-video
description: "Plan, scaffold, and render Manim Community Edition explainer videos for math, algorithms, technical concepts, and data stories."

Manim Video

Purpose

Build production-ready Manim CE explainer videos with a stronger workflow than a plain prompt: dependency preflight, deterministic project scaffolding, render helpers, and artifact manifests.

Routing

• Use when: Use when the user asks to create a Manim animation, 3Blue1Brown-style explainer, animated math walkthrough, equation derivation, algorithm visualization, technical concept video, or animated data story.
• Do not use when: Do not use for live-action editing, generic marketing motion graphics, static diagrams, or requests that only want conceptual brainstorming without renderable outputs.
• Outputs: A workspace-local Manim project with `plan.md`, `script.py`, render helpers, and run artifacts.
• Success criteria: The project is scaffolded, the script is renderable, dependency gaps are called out, and the next render command is explicit.

Trigger Examples

Positive

• Make a 3Blue1Brown-style Manim video explaining gradient descent.
• Build a Manim animation that walks through Dijkstra's algorithm.
• Create an animated equation derivation video in Manim CE.
• Use the manim-video skill for this request.

Negative

• Edit this talking-head video and add B-roll.
• Design a static system diagram for this architecture review.
• Brainstorm three animation concepts, but do not create code or project files.
• Do not use manim-video for unrelated copywriting or generic video-editing work.

Parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Description | |---|---|---|---| | topic | string | Yes | What the animation should explain or visualize | | mode | select | No | Video pattern: auto, concept-explainer, equation-derivation, algorithm-visualization, data-story, architecture-diagram, paper-explainer, 3d-visualization | | audience | string | No | Target audience for pacing and explanation depth | | target_length_seconds | string | No | Approximate runtime in seconds | | output_dir | string | No | Workspace-relative or absolute project directory | | voiceover | select | No | Whether to scaffold a voiceover script |

Workflow Notes

• Run `scripts/setup.sh` first. This is mandatory before claiming the project is render-ready.
• Use `scripts/bootstrap_project.py` to create or refresh the initial project shape instead of hand-rolling boilerplate.
• Keep `plan.md` and `script.py` aligned. If the scene list changes, update both.
• Default to draft render quality first. Production render is the last step, not the first.

Reference Map

• `references/full-guidance.md`: planning rubric, scene design rules, code patterns, render flow, and review checklist
• `references/troubleshooting.md`: install issues, LaTeX/render failures, and debug moves
• `scripts/setup.sh`: environment preflight for Python, Manim, LaTeX, and ffmpeg
• `scripts/bootstrap_project.py`: deterministic scaffold generator for a new Manim project

Runtime Prompt

• Runtime prompt is defined directly in `../manim-video.json`.