edenfunf/reelmimic

Show it a video you love. Get a new video in the same style. An AI crew (Claude Code or Codex) plans, builds and reviews it with you

Summary

ReelMimic is an MIT-licensed tool that takes a reference video and produces a new 2D animation in a similar style, using AI agents powered by Claude Code or Codex for planning, parallel production, and cross-review. Each completed shot is checked by a different agent rather than its producer, and the agents split the work across up to six parallel roles. Everything runs locally against your own AI account.

What it is useful for

ReelMimic fits when you want a short 2D animation that mimics the pacing, framing, transitions, and color palette of a reference video without reusing its footage, characters, or assets. It ships with seven 2D drawing engines: vector motion graphics (built on HyperFrames), hand-painted watercolor (built on painted-animation), crayon picture book, pixel art, paper cut-out stop-motion, whiteboard doodle, and anime cel. The README flags vector and watercolor as the most proven; the other five are newer with less real-world use.

Typical uses are prototyping a music video or narrated comic in an unfamiliar aesthetic, exploring a visual style cheaply, or generating shot-level storyboards. New styles are just Markdown files, so adding a look means writing a file rather than touching code, and the README documents extensions for engines or AI integrations under docs/EXTENDING.md.

How engineers can use it

Prerequisites from the README: Node.js 22.18+, Python 3.10+, FFmpeg, Chrome, and either Claude Code or Codex CLI logged in. Then:

git clone https://github.com/edenfunf/reelmimic.git && cd reelmimic
./install.sh      # on Windows, double-click install.bat
./start.sh        # on Windows, double-click start.bat

Open http://localhost:4318, drop in a reference video or YouTube link, write a brief, and pick Claude Code or Codex. Iterate on the plan in the side chat until the storyboard, characters, and style frames look right, then hit Approve and start.

For teams, the Production line tab tracks each character and shot with the reviewer's before/after screenshots, so it's easy to spot fixes that aren't passing. Settings like BUILDERS, MAX_AGENTS, and the Codex sandbox mode live in ~/.reelmimic/secrets.json (see secrets.example.json). When the project is done, npm run post-video can publish to TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube via Upload-Post; without --send it stays a dry run.

Plan for runtime: a 30–60 second clip typically takes 1–3.5 hours after approval, with watercolor or crayon the slowest since each frame is painted with brushes. The project is mostly tested on Windows; macOS and Linux should work but have had less testing. Output is animation only — ReelMimic does not generate live-action footage of real people.