# Video Watcher

Downloads a video, extracts frames and transcript, and answers questions about it.

- Repository: https://github.com/bradautomates/claude-video (19678 stars)
- Category: Media
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-09-25
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add bradautomates/claude-video --skill watch -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add bradautomates/claude-video --skill watch -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add bradautomates/claude-video --skill watch -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add bradautomates/claude-video --skill watch -g -a gemini-cli -y`
Claude Code plugin marketplace: `/plugin marketplace add bradautomates/claude-video`

## Description

Watch a video (URL or local path). Downloads with yt-dlp, extracts auto-scaled frames with ffmpeg, pulls the transcript from captions (or local WhisperX / cloud Whisper fallback), and hands the result to the agent so it can answer questions about what's in the video. With a Gemini API key, Google's agentic video model watches the full video instead.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# /watch

Run the bundled Python script. With the **gemini** engine (a `GEMINI_API_KEY` is configured) Google's video model watches the video and the report carries its timestamped answer for you to relay. With the **local** engine the script produces timestamped frames and a transcript; view the frames and answer from that evidence. Native captions come first; the chosen local or cloud backend is only a fallback. Transcript-only evidence cannot establish visual facts.

## Resolve the skill and interpreter

`SKILL_DIR` is the absolute directory containing this SKILL.md; `scripts/` sits beside it.

Commands below use `python3` for macOS/Linux. On Windows, verify a working Python 3.10+ with `python --version` or `py -3 --version` and use that interpreter. `python3` is not always a Store alias; inspect the actual result. In PowerShell use `$SKILL_DIR` rather than Bash variable syntax, for example:

```powershell
python "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/setup.py" --json
```

Use the host's available shell, image viewer, and question tool. `AskUserQuestion` and Bash are examples, not requirements for every host.

## First run and setup

On the first invocation in a session:

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

The rest: https://github.com/bradautomates/claude-video/blob/HEAD/skills/watch/SKILL.md