0xS4N4TG/kinetograph

A blazingly fast programmatic video engine, made for agents, with no browser in it

Summary

Kinetograph is a programmatic video engine for authoring videos in TypeScript/TSX with Remotion’s API, CSS, SVG, Canvas 2D, WebGL shaders, and Web Audio. Node executes the project while a Rust GPU compositor, loaded as an N-API addon, draws the frames; remotion and @remotion/* imports resolve to Kinetograph’s implementation, allowing existing Remotion projects to render unchanged.

What it is useful for

It suits engineers who need repeatable video assets rather than manual editing: launch films, explainer reels, vertical social clips, 3D scenes, and compositions combining captions, footage, vector graphics, shaders, and sound. The repository’s examples/launch is one TypeScript project for a 1,184-frame 1080p film with audio; other examples cover 3D scenes, video overlays, Canvas 2D, and JSON-driven dioramas and papercut cards.

It also provides a local studio: kinetograph studio src/index.tsx opens an editor whose preview is rendered by the engine. The timeline groups shots and audio clips; layers show their source file and line; and a selected region can be sent, with source context and an image, to a coding agent through the Agent Client Protocol. The README says Claude Code has been tested, and the agent asks for permission before editing a file.

For automation, npx kinetograph mcp exposes the same commands over MCP. This is useful when an agent should invoke rendering or inspection directly rather than through the studio.

How engineers can use it

Start with Node 22 or later. The README documents this source setup:

npm ci
npm run build
npm run build:release -w @kinetographdev/native

The release addon build is for timing. Then render or inspect an existing example:

npx kinetograph render examples/rajz-cards/index.tsx -o out/rajz-cards.mp4
npx kinetograph still examples/rajz-cards/index.tsx 60 -o out/rajz-60.png
npx kinetograph inspect examples/rajz-cards/index.tsx --frame 60 --json

Projects import remotion and @remotion/* as usual, plus @kinetographdev/core for native elements and effects. Direct Rust builds require the stable Rust 2024 toolchain, a wgpu-supported GPU (Metal on macOS), and FFmpeg development libraries.

Kinetograph is beta version 0.2.0: APIs may change, and some features remain unfinished; the README refers readers to /docs/known-issues/. Licensing is also restricted: the documented PolyForm Small Business license is free for individuals, nonprofits, and companies below 100 people and $1 million in 2019 revenue; larger companies need a commercial license.