# claude-video-vision

Lets Claude watch videos: ffmpeg pulls frames, the audio gets transcribed with timestamps. Useful for screen recordings and lectures.

- plugin · `type=plugin` · Claude Code · ★ 1413
- Author: jordanrendric
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/jordanrendric/claude-video-vision
- Updated: 2026-10-14
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/plugins/claude-video-vision

## What it does

The plugin acts as a perception layer. Claude gets frames as images plus a timestamped transcript, then reasons over both. Frames always come from ffmpeg; audio goes through one of three backends — Gemini API, local Whisper, or the OpenAI Whisper API. For YouTube links the server downloads the video with `yt-dlp` and tries subtitles first, falling back to the audio backend only when captions are missing or cover too little.

Extraction adapts to your question. Ask about the first second and it keeps the original fps; ask for a summary of a one-hour lecture and it samples sparsely across the whole thing; ask what text is on screen at 1:30 and it raises resolution and narrows the window. Settings live in `~/.claude-video-vision/config.json`, and Whisper models download on first use. Without ffmpeg on your `PATH` nothing runs, and YouTube URLs also need `yt-dlp`.

Run the setup wizard before the first video — it verifies dependencies and asks which backend you want. The local option needs no keys and stays offline; the cloud ones need `GEMINI_API_KEY` or `OPENAI_API_KEY`. The MCP server requires Node.js 24+.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

**Plugin marketplace**
In the agent chat (not a shell):
```text
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
```
In the agent chat (not a shell):
```text
/plugin install claude-video-vision@claude-community
```

## When to use it
- work out what happened on screen in a bug-report recording
- read the text visible in a frame at a given second
- get a timestamped transcript of a lecture without downloading anything by hand
- condense a one-hour video into a handful of frames and a short transcript
- process footage without sending it to a cloud service

## Example prompts
- /watch-video ~/Downloads/demo.mp4
- /watch-video tutorial.mp4 "what language is used in this tutorial?"
- Take a look at the first second of ~/videos/bug-report.mov and tell me what's on screen

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

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# Claude Code Video Vision

Give Claude the ability to **watch and understand videos**.

A Claude Code plugin that extracts frames via ffmpeg and processes audio via multiple backends (Gemini API, local Whisper, or OpenAI API). Claude receives frames as images and audio transcription with timestamps — the plugin is a **perception layer**, not an interpretation layer.

## Features

- **Multimodal perception** — Claude sees video frames directly and reads audio transcriptions with timestamps
- **YouTube URL support** — Pass a YouTube URL directly; the MCP server downloads it with `yt-dlp`, preserving source metadata and captions for context
- **Flexible backends** — Choose between cloud APIs or fully local processing
- **Adaptive extraction** — Claude adjusts fps, time range, and resolution based on your question
- **Auto-installation** — Whisper models download automatically on first use
- **Interactive setup wizard** — `/setup-video-vision` walks you through configuration

## Quick Start

### 1. Install the plugin

Inside Claude Code, run these commands **one at a time**:

```
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/jordanrendric/claude-video-vision
```

Then:

```
/plugin install claude-video-vision
```

The MCP server will auto-install via `npx` from [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/claude-video-vision) on first use — no build step required.

Alternative: local development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/jordanrendric/claude-video-vision.git
claude --plugin-dir /path/to/claude-video-vision
```

### 2. Configure

Inside Claude Code, run the interactive wizard:

```
/claude-video-vision:setup-video-vision
```

It will walk you through backend selection, whisper configuration (if local), frame options, and dependency verification.

## Usage

### Slash command

```
/watch-video path/to/video.mp4
/watch-video tutorial.mp4 "what language is used in this tutorial?"
/watch-video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=... "summarize this video"
```

### Conversational

Just mention a video file or YouTube URL — Claude will detect it:

> "analyze this video for me: ~/Downloads/demo.mp4"
>
> "take a look at the first second of ~/videos/bug-report.mov"
>
> "summarize this YouTube Short: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/..."

Claude adapts parameters automatically:
- "the first second" → extracts at original fps from `00:00:00` to `00:00:01`
- "summarize this 1h lecture" → low fps, full duration
- "what text is on screen at 1:30?" → high resolution, narrow time window

## Backends

| Backend | Audio processing | Cost | Setup |
|---------|------------------|------|-------|
| **Gemini API** | Native (speech + non-speech events) | Free tier: 1500 req/day | `GEMINI_API_KEY` env var |
| **Local (Whisper)** | `whisper.cpp` or Python `openai-whisper` | Free, fully offline | `brew install whisper-cpp` + auto model download |
| **OpenAI API** | OpenAI Whisper API | Paid per usage | `OPENAI_API_KEY` env var |

**All backends** extract video frames via ffmpeg — Claude always has direct visual access.

## Architecture

```
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Claude Code (your session)                            │
│                                                       │
│  /watch-video  ──→  Skill: video-perception          │
│                        │                              │
│                        ▼                              │
│                  MCP tool: video_watch                │
│                        │                              │
└────────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┘
                         │
                         ▼
````
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First 4030 of 9834 bytes. © jordanrendric · MIT · https://github.com/jordanrendric/claude-video-vision

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