Use Claude Motion with Claude Code: a reproducible starting point (2026)

Set up the agent in the correct project

Install Claude Code using Anthropic’s current setup instructions and sign in through its supported flow. Confirm that claude --version works. The agent’s authentication and the repository’s dependencies are separate concerns. Create a dedicated project folder, clone the exact repository below, and keep its instructions intact. If you meant this site’s template service, use our getting-started page and cm-skills workflow instead. Do not use an unrelated npx package merely because it has a similar name.

Build the original before changing it

Run the commands below from a parent folder where you can create a new directory. The documented build chains sound generation, a Remotion render, and FFmpeg muxing; its expected example output is out/effort.mp4. Open that file before requesting a redesign. If the build stops, preserve the first error and identify the failing stage. Launch Claude Code from inside the cloned folder so it can inspect the files actually being built, rather than describe a hypothetical project elsewhere.

git clone https://github.com/whaleyxbt/claude-motion
cd claude-motion
npm install
npm run build
claude

Give Claude Code a bounded creative task

Ask the agent to read AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, and the relevant skills before editing. Provide final copy, owned assets, audience, aspect ratio, and duration. A useful first assignment is a fifteen-second square announcement with three scenes and one closing action. Request a storyboard and timing plan, then implementation. Require it to preserve factual wording and identify missing assets. State that system-wide installations and paid external services should be explained before use; a video brief does not need unrestricted machine changes.

Use the project’s review loop

Ask for a low-resolution draft and a contact sheet, then inspect the actual images. The project includes draft and sheet scripts; the contact-sheet command below targets the rendered draft. Give changes by scene and timestamp. Fix overflow, small text, abrupt transitions, and insufficient reading time before the final render. Keep a copy or Git checkpoint of a working version. If a change fails, compare the modified files and error output instead of repeatedly asking the agent to rebuild everything.

npm run draft
npm run sheet -- --video out/draft.mp4

Verify the file you will deliver

Render the final version with the project’s appropriate scripts and open the exported MP4 in a player. Check its duration, dimensions, audio, last frame, and the exact wording of the call to action. Save the source project and a short note describing the commands that succeeded. An agent’s statement that a render finished is weaker evidence than the file itself. For this site’s separate workflow, follow template preview and local-render instructions; its optional voice service should not be assumed available.