3dicon

Generate a still, animate it into a seamless loop, key the background out properly, and encode it as an animated WebP with true soft alpha, the format expo-image, Chrome and Safari all render natively, with no Lottie conversion and no new native dependency.

Before anything

1. pip install -r requirements.txt (or uv pip install -r requirements.txt).
2. cp .env.example .env and fill in the keys for the backend you want.
3. ffmpeg must be on PATH.

Check the keys are present before running, animate costs money, and a run that dies halfway has already spent it.

Always stop after the still

One still, then ask. Never generate several takes to choose from, and never run through to the animation without the user seeing the art first.

1. Generate exactly ONE still.
2. Show it to the user and ask plainly whether they are happy with the static design before anything else happens.
3. Only on a yes, animate it.

Why this is a hard rule, not a nicety: the still is 13 cents and the full run is 48 cents and four minutes, and every later stage inherits the still's object, colour and weight. Animating art the user has not approved means paying twice. run therefore stops after the still on purpose.

If they are not happy, adjust the prompt and generate one replacement, not a grid of options. Variants exist behind --variants but are off by default and should stay that way unless the user asks to compare.

How to report back

Keep the chat almost empty. The user is looking at an image, not reading a report, everything they need is either in the picture or in one line under it.

After the still, say only this, then stop and wait:

Still ready. (show the image) Happy with it, or change something?

Do not explain the prompt, list what you did, or describe the image back to them. They can see it.