subtitles · openai — Codex skill: what it does, how to install
Burns timed captions onto finished videos using Whisper speech recognition. Useful when automated video pipelines need burned-in text without manual timing.
npx skills add openai/plugins --skill subtitles -a codexWhat subtitles does
The skill processes an existing video file to hardcode timed text tracks right into the footage. Timestamp calculation relies strictly on audio processing via local faster-whisper or OpenAI STT. If an author provides a narration script, the tool matches verified script lines to detected word boundaries, preserving original brand spellings and digits.
Visual presentation offers three themes: lightweight clean via ffmpeg and libass, decorative paper with torn edges, and high-contrast bold fitting portrait safe margins. Output caps stay small at three words or fifteen characters per frame. Without faster-whisper installed or an active OPENAI_API_KEY, caption burning aborts, and the skill yields the bare video untouched.
What it helps with
- burn synced text captions directly into finished video tracks
- align written script text against speech timestamps from Whisper
- format short captions for vertical videos within social platform safe areas
- render hardcoded subtitles using ffmpeg without Pillow dependencies
Example prompts for the agent
- Burn clean subtitles onto the video
cut.mp4. - Add subtitles to
video.mp4in bold style using lines fromscript_manifest.json. - Transcribe
final.mp4with Whisper and burn captions using the paper look.
How to install subtitles
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add openai/plugins --skill subtitles -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/subtitles/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add openai/plugins --skill subtitles -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/subtitles/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/subtitles/
Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/subtitles/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install openai/plugins subtitles2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/subtitles/SKILL.mdPlatform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/openai/plugins --path plugins/higgsfield/skills/subtitlesManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/subtitles/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Claude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: Codex skills: how to install, where they live, how to call them
Questions about subtitles
How to install subtitles in Codex?
Run npx skills add openai/plugins --skill subtitles in your project terminal.
Can this skill generate soft subtitle files or live translations?
No. It burns text directly into video frames and does not translate speech or manage switchable soft subtitles.
Which styles work when Pillow is not installed?
The clean style runs entirely through ffmpeg and libass, rendering slim caps without requiring Pillow or numpy.
Similar skills
All skills for AI and ML →subtitles by other authors comes first.
