# subtitles

Burns timed captions onto finished videos using Whisper speech recognition. Useful when automated video pipelines need burned-in text without manual timing.

- skill · `type=skill` · Codex, ChatGPT · 2 installs · ★ 7604
- Author: Higgsfield AI, Inc. · official OpenAI repository
- License: not stated · policy=link-only · description only; the file stays with the author
- Source: https://github.com/openai/plugins/tree/HEAD/plugins/higgsfield/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-08
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/subtitles

## What it 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.

## Install

### Codex (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openai/plugins --skill subtitles -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Claude Code

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add openai/plugins --skill subtitles -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/subtitles/

### Cursor

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install openai/plugins subtitles
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

**Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/openai/plugins --path plugins/higgsfield/skills/subtitles
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/openai/plugins/tree/HEAD/plugins/higgsfield/skills/subtitles/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- 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
- Burn clean subtitles onto the video `cut.mp4`.
- Add subtitles to `video.mp4` in bold style using lines from `script_manifest.json`.
- Transcribe `final.mp4` with Whisper and burn captions using the paper look.

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## Other versions with the same name
- [subtitles · zeropointrepo](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/zeropointrepo-subtitles.md) — 810 installs

From the same set: [openai/plugins](https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/by/openai/plugins.md) — 528 cards

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