The prompt library
43 paste-ready prompts that take a video from a vague idea to a checked render, one stage at a time.
How the library works
Every prompt file has the same header, then one prompt to paste, then a separate block of studio-specific additions with repo paths. Fill every [placeholder], paste, and follow the Next prompt link.
- Purpose
- Use when
- Stage
- Inputs
- Expected output
- Next prompt
Most prompts also carry Why this exists with an evidence level: shown in a finished film, documented in a public repo, or only claimed by a post. Treat claimed prompts as hypotheses to test.
Start here
- Write the brief with 40 · Brief template.
- Paste it under 00 · Master workflow.
- Pick a direction, storyboard, then build one scene and review it before the rest.
Pipeline for a normal video
Read it top to bottom; click a step to open the prompt. In the build lane, 12, 13 and 14 repeat per scene, and 15 or 16 fix what the review finds.
- Setuponce per machine / session
- Brief
- Direction
- Buildloop per scene
- Finish
- After
Show the original diagram (with the loop and branches)
SETUP (once per machine / session)
01 skills check ─► 02 deterministic rule
│
BRIEF ▼
40 brief template (Banned list, glossary, gotchas, start gate) ─► 00 master workflow (Phase 1)
│
DIRECTION ▼
19 concept triple ─► 20 reference analysis ─┐ (20 if you have a reference)
10 creative directions ┴─► 11 storyboard (75 beat map first if music-led; 17 picks a shot per scene)
│
BUILD (loop per scene) ▼
12 build scene 1 (golden scene + 5-line plan) ─► 13 quality review ─► 14 next scene ─► 13 ... ─┐
▲ │ 72 commit + decision log after each approval │
└── 15 fix defect / 16 revision feedback ◄───────────────────────────────────────────┘
(over about 60 s and 3+ chapters: 18 parallel chapter build replaces the 14 loop)
│ (all scenes clean)
FINISH ▼
73 pacing review, 74 compare to reference, 77 taste rules (optional, with 13)
50 sound design ─► 51 captions ─► 52 9:16 + 1:1 ─► 13 per format ─► 53 final render + forensics + report
│
AFTER ▼
31 componentize ─► 70 post-mortem (lessons into skills/motion-studio/references/learnings.md)
71 system audit (quarterly, not per video)Narrated product film where every cut lands on a spoken word: skip the build loop and use 60 (motion-studio engine).
All prompts by stage
Setup and guardrails 3
0x. Run once per session; they make every later prompt behave.
Skills check
Confirm Claude can see and has read the Remotion agent skills before any generation.
Deterministic, frame-based rule
Enforce the technical constraint that every frame renders identically every time.
Motion Graphics Director: master workflow
Turn Claude into a small motion-design studio that plans, builds, inspects and delivers one video in five phases.
Staged build 10
1x. Directions, storyboard, one scene, review, the rest, fixes and revisions.
Concept triple (Idea, Device, Grammar)
Make sure the film has an idea, not just a look, before three directions are drawn.
Creative directions
Get three genuinely different visual directions and a recommendation before any storyboard or code.
Storyboard
Turn the chosen direction into a timed, frame-specific storyboard with a narrative arc.
Pick shots from the library
Choose and parameterise a concrete shot for every scene of a storyboard from the curated shot library, instead of inventing each move from scratch.
Build one scene
Implement only scene 1, at full quality, and prove it with rendered frames before anything else is built.
Visual quality review
Run a strict director's review on rendered output, find the five worst defects, fix the biggest and re-render.
Build the next scene
Build the remaining scenes one at a time, each matching scene 1's quality bar and connecting cleanly to the scene before.
Fix one specific defect
Fix one named visual problem (clipping, timing, easing, alignment, flicker) precisely, without collateral changes.
Revision from feedback
Turn loose feedback (yours or a viewer's) into a concrete, approved change list, then apply it.
Parallel chapter build
Build a long film (over about 60 s) with several subagents at once, one chapter each, without style drift or edit collisions.
Design and references 4
2x and 3x. Analyse a reference, find an example, build the component library.
Reference analysis
Break a reference video down like a motion designer (10 points) and plan how to capture its principles without copying it.
Turn this video into reusable components
Harvest the best pieces of a finished video into the shared library, so the next video starts further ahead.
Find inspiration on prompt-motion
Find a motion video made with Claude on prompt-motion.com that is close to what you want, see the exact prompt, model and effort behind it, and turn the one you pick...
Design system and component library
Build or extend a small, consistent library of reusable motion components and the DESIGN_SYSTEM.md that governs them.
Briefs 2
4x. Write the brief and the shared vocabulary before any code.
Brief template (the 10 ingredients)
Write a brief that specifies the decisions that make a video feel intentional, using the 10 ingredients as a checklist.
Vocabulary cheat sheet
Give you the precise words that make Claude animate what you mean, plus a pasteable glossary so Claude uses the same meanings.
Finishing 4
5x. Sound, captions, other formats, final render and delivery.
Sound design pass
Add music, sound effects and voice-over balance so sound tells the story, synced to visual events and mixed to delivery loudness.
Captions and subtitles
Add readable burned-in captions and/or deliver .srt subtitle files, timed to the voice.
Recompose for 9:16 and 1:1
Make vertical (9:16) and square (1:1) versions composed for their own frame, not cropped from the 16:9 master.
Final render and delivery report
Render the approved video at spec, verify the files, and write the Phase 5 delivery report.
Specialised films 4
6x. Prompts for a particular kind of piece.
Voice-over-driven film (motion-studio engine)
Make a product film or explainer where the voice-over sets the pace and every visual change lands on a spoken word, using the motion-studio skill instead of Remotion.
Product UI demo from real screenshots
Animate a product walkthrough from real screenshots or recordings: framing, focus, cursor and transitions, without faking the UI.
Data visualization
Turn real data into an animated chart or data story where the animation reveals the insight, not decoration.
Kinetic typography hook
Build a 2 to 5 second type-only opening that stops the scroll and states the message.
Process and review 8
7x. Commits, pacing, comparisons, taste rules, post-mortems and audits.
Music-led beat map
Plan a music-driven piece beats-first, so sync is a property of the plan and the loop closes.
Commit per scene and decision log
Protect approved work from "improvements" that quietly remove it, and keep long sessions from depending on memory.
Pacing and tension review
Catch even rhythm, tensionless motion and wasted scenes, using numbers as reference rather than pass/fail laws.
Compare the render with a reference
Review a render against an exemplar (a reference clip or our own approved golden scene) so the verdict says how it falls short, not just a score in a vacuum.
Precedent taste rules (rule, case, self-check)
Check a draft against short taste rules that each came from real rework, so avoidable review rounds are skipped. Also the format for adding your own rules after a...
Post-mortem and learnings
Capture what worked, what failed and what to do differently, and feed technique lessons back into the skill.
System audit (trace two unlike briefs)
Find where the studio's docs promise things that do not exist and where one house style leaks into every job.
Voice segment anchor (experimental, A/B before trusting)
Get word times that do not drift late, and decide by eye whether visuals should lead the voice by a few frames.
Patterns 1
8x. Short reusable skeletons.
Learning plan 7
Seven daily exercises that teach the craft in a week.
5-second animated title
Practise typography and composition on the smallest possible piece: one title, five seconds.
Kinetic typography sequence
Practise timing, easing and stagger with a short type-only sequence.
Animated product UI demo
Practise layout and scene choreography: guiding the eye through a real interface.
Data visualization
Practise visual hierarchy and information design by animating one real insight.
15-second product teaser
Practise storyboarding and transitions: make 15 seconds feel like one coherent piece.
Sound-designed version
Practise audio synchronization and pacing by sound-designing the day 5 teaser.
Recreate a reference style
Practise art direction, iteration and QA by capturing a reference's principles in your own piece.
Goal to prompt
Find what you are trying to do; the file name is the prompt.
| Goal | File | Stage | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start any video the right way | 00-master-workflow.md | Session start | Phase 1 plan: assumptions, direction, storyboard, design system, asset list |
| Check Claude sees the Remotion skills | 01-skills-check.md | Setup | Skill list mapped to planning, type, transitions, audio, render, QA |
| Stop flicker / non-deterministic code | 02-deterministic-rule.md | Guardrail | Frame-based constraint, audit of violations |
| Find the idea before the look | 19-concept-triple.md | Direction | 3 concepts as Idea / Device / Grammar, kill-tested, 1 recommended |
| Pick a look | 10-creative-directions.md | Direction | 3 different directions + recommendation |
| Plan scenes and timing | 11-storyboard.md | Storyboard | Timed scene table with first/last frame, text, easing, audio |
| Pick a concrete shot for every scene from the curated library | 17-pick-shots-from-library.md | Storyboard add-on | Per scene: chosen shot, alternative, filled parameters, taste verdict (library: shot-library/) |
| Build the first scene | 12-build-one-scene.md | Build | Scene 1 coded, stills inspected |
| Build the remaining scenes | 14-build-next-scene.md | Build | Scene N + clean hand-off from N-1 (golden scene + 5-line plan) |
| Build a long film with several agents | 18-parallel-chapter-build.md | Build | Guide, pilot first, chapters in parallel, QC table |
| Judge quality | 13-quality-review.md | Review | 5 worst defects, fixes, re-render |
| Judge pacing and tension | 73-pacing-and-tension-review.md | Review | Measured pacing table, 3 flags, cut/keep per scene |
| Compare with a reference or golden scene | 74-reference-golden-compare.md | Review | Twin contact sheets, falls-short list, borrowed vs changed |
| Check against precedent taste rules | 77-precedent-taste-rules.md | Review | Pass/fail per rule, proposed new rules |
| Fix one known problem | 15-fix-defect.md | Review | Velocity plot for motion bugs, root cause, minimal fix, before/after stills |
| Apply someone's feedback | 16-revision-feedback.md | Revise | Vague notes turned into an approved change list with acceptance criteria and a glossary |
| Checkpoint after an approval | 72-commit-per-scene-and-decision-log.md | Revise | Local commit, diff check, decision log |
| Copy the feel of a reel | 20-reference-analysis.md | Direction | 10-point breakdown + plan, no copying |
| Find a Claude-made example and its prompt | 21-find-inspiration-prompt-motion.md | Direction | 3 to 5 prompt-motion.com matches, pick saved with credit, 10-ingredient brief |
| Build the component library | 30-design-system.md | System | Components, tokens, DESIGN_SYSTEM.md, showcase |
| Harvest a finished video | 31-componentize-project.md | After | Best pieces promoted to studio/src/lib/ |
| Write a brief | 40-brief-template.md | Brief | Fill-in brief on the 10 ingredients plus Banned list, glossary, gotchas and a start gate; tagged variant; weak vs strong example |
| Find the right motion word | 41-vocabulary-cheatsheet.md | Reference | 5 core terms + precise terms + paste-in glossary |
| Plan a music-led piece | 75-music-led-beat-map.md | Plan | Beat map, grid acceptance, hit cap, loop plan |
| Add music and SFX | 50-sound-design.md | Finish | Cue sheet from animation constants, silence recipes, hit cap, measured -14 LUFS / -1 dBTP mix |
| Add captions / subtitles | 51-captions-subtitles.md | Finish | Word-timed captions, .srt per language |
| Make vertical and square cuts | 52-recompose-formats.md | Finish | 9:16 and 1:1 composed for their own frame |
| Render and hand over | 53-final-render-delivery.md | Deliver | Final files, ffprobe + loudness, pixel forensics, web-embed checklist, Phase 5 report |
| Narrated product film | 60-voiceover-film.md | Own pipeline | motion-studio scene table, HTML review player |
| Tighten voice timing (experimental) | 76-voice-segment-anchor.md | Own pipeline | Segment-anchored word times, lead A/B, mix ratio check |
| Demo an app from screenshots | 61-product-ui-demo.md | Plan | Screenshot inventory + shot list (camera, focus, cursor) |
| Animate a chart | 62-data-visualization.md | Plan | Insight, chart choice, reveal sequence, source line |
| Type-only opener | 63-kinetic-type-hook.md | Plan + build | Beat map, 2 to 3 treatments, fragment-chain copy and word budget, built hook |
| Learn from the project | 70-post-mortem.md | After | notes.md + technique lessons in learnings.md |
| Audit the studio itself | 71-system-audit.md | Maintenance | Two unlike briefs traced; missing promises and leaked defaults |
| Look up a reusable prompt skeleton | 80-prompt-patterns.md | Reference | 14 short skeletons with credit and evidence level |
| Learn the craft in a week | learning/day-1.md .. day-7.md | Learning | One exercise per day (below) |
I want to...
The prompts to use, in order, for common jobs. Numbers are links.
| I want to... | Use, in order |
|---|---|
| copy a reel I saw | 20 → 11 → 12 → 13 → 14 → 50 → 53 |
| see what prompt made a video like mine (prompt-motion.com) | 21 → 10 or 20 → 11 → 12 ... |
| make something but have no idea how it should look | 40 → 00 → 10 → 11 → 12 ... |
| turn a script I already have into a video | 40 → 00 → 11 → 12 ... (narrated with cuts on words: 60) |
| fix text that is cut off | 15 |
| make it feel less robotic | 41 (easing, spring, stagger) → 15 or 16 |
| react to "make it pop" from someone | 16 |
| post the YouTube video as a Reel too | 52 → 13 → 53 |
| add music | 50 |
| make the next video faster | 31 → 30 |
| show my app | 61 (silent or music) or 60 (narrated) |
| get a launch video of a project I just built, fast | /brag (third-party skill, third_party/brag), run in that project's folder; no prompt file. For a directed version: 40 → 00 → 61 ... |
| explain numbers | 62 |
| make a scroll-stopping opener | 63 |
| check before I send it | 13 → 77 → 53 |
| make a 60 s+ film without style drift | 19 → 40 → 11 → 12 → 13 → 18 → 13 → 53 |
| find the idea, not just a look | 19 → 10 |
| score a track-driven loop or showreel | 75 → 11 → 12 ... → 50 → 53 |
| judge if it drags or feels tensionless | 73 |
| compare my render to a reference or my best scene | 74 |
| stop revisions from breaking approved scenes | 72 after each approval, 16 for notes |
| a move pauses, snaps or stalls | 15 (plot the velocity first) |
| captions or cuts feel late on a narrated film | 76 |
| test whether the studio really handles a kind of video it has never made | 71 |
| write a one-off prompt fast | 80 |
Recipes
Complete prompt sequences for common kinds of video.
15 s launch teaser (16:9, 30 fps)
40 00 10 11 (4 to 5 scenes, end card held 2 s) 63 for scene 1 13 14 per scene 50 (one impact on the reveal) 53.
YouTube explainer (16:9, 60 to 180 s, narrated)
40 60 if every cut follows the voice; otherwise 00 11 (chapters as scenes) 62 / 61 for the data and UI sections 12 13 14 loop 50 (VO ducking) 51 (.srt) 53 31 70.
30 s launch film (16:9, 30 fps), golden scene + banned list + parallel chapters
19 (pick the Device) 40 (fill Banned, Glossary, Gotchas, Start gate; show the beat map and named stills before code) 00 11 (every transition "A becomes B", colour flow, density) 12 for the pilot chapter with a five-line plan 13 72 (commit) 18 for chapters 2..N, each agent copying the pilot as its golden scene and owning one file (for 30 s, two or three chapters is plenty; skip 18 under about 60 s) 73 and 77 50 (cues derived from the animation, one earned silence, 3 full-frame hits at most) 53 (forensics + delivery checklist) 70.
Music-led showreel or loop (16:9 or 1:1, 15 to 25 s)
75 (beat map shown first, grid residual, hit cap, loop plan) 19 11 12 13 14 74 against a reference 50 53 (first-vs-last frame diff) 70.
Instagram reel (9:16 1080x1920, 15 to 30 s)
40 (format 9:16, muted autoplay yes) 00 10 11 (hook readable at frame 0) 63 12 13 14 51 (burned-in captions) 50 53. Making it from a 16:9 master instead: 52.
7-day learning plan
| Day | File | Project | Main skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | learning/day-1.md | 5-second animated title | Typography and composition |
| 2 | learning/day-2.md | Kinetic typography sequence | Timing, easing and stagger |
| 3 | learning/day-3.md | Animated product UI demo | Layout and scene choreography |
| 4 | learning/day-4.md | Data visualization | Visual hierarchy and information design |
| 5 | learning/day-5.md | 15-second product teaser | Storyboarding and transitions |
| 6 | learning/day-6.md | Sound-designed version (of day 5) | Audio synchronization and pacing |
| 7 | learning/day-7.md | Recreate a reference style | Art direction, iteration and QA |
Save the prompt, storyboard, render and notes for every day in learning/day-N/.
Number 17 is the shot-library picker (shot-library/index.html is its browsable viewer).
Rules every prompt assumes
- Never one-shot a whole video: direction, storyboard, one scene, review, then the rest.
- Deterministic, frame-based animation only (02).
- Judge rendered frames, not code:
npm run stills -- <CompId> <frames>instudio/. If Claude could not look, it must say so. - Commit locally after approved stages (72); never push.
- Every new or changed prompt names its evidence in the header (shown in a finished film, or only claimed). Treat "only claimed" as a hypothesis to test, not a rule.