vidclaude 0.2.0

Multimodal video understanding for Claude Code — extract frames, transcribe audio, build timelines from any video

vidclaude — Multimodal Video Understanding

A Python CLI tool that extracts structured evidence from videos (frames, audio transcript, OCR, temporal timeline) for analysis by Claude.

Quick Start

Option 1: npm (easiest)

npm install -g vidclaude
vidclaude your_video.mp4 --extract --mode standard --verbose

Option 2: pip

pip install vidclaude
vidclaude your_video.mp4 --extract --mode standard --verbose

Option 3: From source

git clone <repo-url> && cd claudevid
setup.bat          # Windows
bash setup.sh      # macOS / Linux
python video_understand.py your_video.mp4 --extract --mode standard --verbose

No API key needed. If you have a Claude Max/Pro plan, the tool works entirely through Claude Code — Claude in your conversation does the reasoning.

How It Works

Video File → ffmpeg extraction → Frames + Audio + Metadata
                                        ↓
                              faster-whisper large-v3 → Transcript (Hindi, English, 90+ languages)
                              pytesseract → OCR text (optional)
                              Shot detection → Scene boundaries
                                        ↓
                              Timeline builder → Unified event list
                                        ↓
                              evidence.md + cached frames → Claude reasons over it

No API key needed. Your Claude Max/Pro plan covers everything. The tool extracts evidence, and Claude in your conversation reasons over it.

Prerequisites

Requirement	How to install
Python 3.10+	python.org
ffmpeg	Windows: winget install ffmpeg / macOS: brew install ffmpeg / Linux: sudo apt install ffmpeg

Installation

Option A: One-line setup (recommended)

# Windows
setup.bat

# macOS / Linux
bash setup.sh

Option B: Manual

pip install -r requirements.txt

Optional extras

pip install pytesseract    # OCR (also needs Tesseract binary)
pip install anthropic      # Only for standalone --api mode

Usage

Inside Claude Code (recommended)

1. Copy SKILL.md into your project (or keep it here)
2. Ask Claude: "analyze the video at D:/path/to/video.mp4"
3. Claude runs the extraction, reads the evidence, and answers
4. Ask follow-up questions — the cache is reused instantly

From the command line

# Standard analysis (recommended for most videos)
python video_understand.py video.mp4 --extract --mode standard --verbose

# Quick analysis (fast, fewer frames)
python video_understand.py video.mp4 --extract --mode quick

# Deep analysis (dense frames, full OCR)
python video_understand.py video.mp4 --extract --mode deep --verbose

# Process a folder of videos
python video_understand.py ./videos/ --extract --verbose

# Skip audio / OCR
python video_understand.py video.mp4 --extract --no-audio --no-ocr

# Force fresh extraction (ignore cache)
python video_understand.py video.mp4 --extract --no-cache --verbose

Processing Modes

Mode	Frames	Audio model	OCR	Best for
quick	~20, uniform sampling	whisper base	skip	Fast overview, short clips
standard	~60, shot-aware	whisper large-v3	keyframes	General analysis
deep	~150, burst sampling	whisper large-v3	all frames	Detailed review, long videos

Caching

First run extracts everything to .vidcache/<hash>/:

.vidcache/a3f7b2c1/
  meta.json          # Video metadata
  frames/            # Extracted JPEG frames
  transcript.json    # Timestamped transcript
  ocr.json           # OCR results
  timeline.json      # Merged timeline
  evidence.md        # Human-readable report

Follow-up questions reuse the cache — no re-extraction needed. Delete .vidcache/ to free disk space.

CLI Reference

Flag	Default	Description
input	required	Video file or folder path
--extract	-	Extract only (skill mode, no API key)
-q "..."	none	Question (for --api mode)
--mode	standard	quick / standard / deep
-f N	auto	FPS override
-m N	auto	Max frames override
--no-audio	-	Skip transcription
--no-ocr	-	Skip OCR
--no-cache	-	Force re-extraction
--verbose	-	Detailed progress
-o file	stdout	Output file
--batch-summary	-	Cross-video summary for folders

Project Structure

video_understand.py          # CLI entry point
SKILL.md                     # Claude Code skill definition
setup.bat / setup.sh         # One-click setup scripts
requirements.txt             # Python dependencies
vidclaude/
  cli.py                     # Argument parsing, orchestration
  models.py                  # Data model (VideoMeta, Frame, Shot, etc.)
  ingest.py                  # Layer A: Video validation + metadata
  segment.py                 # Layer B+C: Shot detection + adaptive sampling
  audio.py                   # Layer D: faster-whisper transcription
  ocr.py                     # Layer E: Text extraction from frames
  intent.py                  # Intent classification (adjusts pipeline)
  timeline.py                # Layer G: Temporal event merging
  memory.py                  # Layer I: Hierarchical summaries
  reason.py                  # Layer J: Evidence assembly
  util.py                    # Shared helpers

Architecture

Based on claude_video_understanding_architecture.md, this tool implements a multi-layer video understanding pipeline:

• Layer A (Ingestion): Format validation, ffprobe metadata
• Layer B (Segmentation): Shot boundary detection via scene filter
• Layer C (Adaptive Sampling): Content-aware frame selection
• Layer D (Audio): faster-whisper large-v3 ASR with timestamps (90+ languages)
• Layer E (OCR): Text extraction from key frames
• Layer G (Timeline): Unified temporal event list
• Layer I (Memory): Hierarchical summaries for long videos
• Layer J (Reasoning): Evidence assembly for Claude

Claude serves as the reasoning brain — the tool provides structured, time-grounded evidence for Claude to analyze.

Language Support

Uses faster-whisper with large-v3 model which supports 90+ languages including: Hindi, English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and more. Language is auto-detected with confidence scoring.