VideoLens

Turn a YouTube video, local file, or supported video URL into a professional written report grounded in transcript, frame-level vision, OCR, and timestamped evidence.

Use the bundled runner for local OpenClaw or OCC workflows. It pins a tested revision of the MIT-licensed VideoLens repository, keeps artifacts local, and refuses model usage until the user explicitly approves credit spending.

Want the report beside the video? Open VideoLens for Chrome to analyze YouTube or local video with free Private/BYOK reporting.

Workflow

1. Run preflight before the first analysis.
2. Run bootstrap when the runtime or Python environment is missing or stale.
3. Choose the closest report style and mode.
4. Confirm that the user intends to spend OpenAI API credits.
5. Run analyze with allow_credit_spend: true only after confirmation.
6. Return the report paths and summarize important limitations; do not claim that generated findings are infallible.

Run the portable wrapper from any modern OpenClaw environment:

python3 "{baseDir}/skill.py" --spec '{"action":"preflight"}'

OCC integrations may instead pass the same JSON object through task pre_instructions; config.yaml retains that compatibility.

Bootstrap

Bootstrap downloads the pinned open-source runtime into the OpenClaw/OCC data directory and installs its Python environment. It does not analyze a video or spend model credits.

python3 "{baseDir}/skill.py" --spec '{"action":"bootstrap"}'

The runner uses uv when available. Otherwise, it creates .venv with python3 and installs VideoLens there.

Analyze

Use JSON task instructions. Quote the runner path and pass the JSON as one shell argument.

python3 "{baseDir}/skill.py" --spec '{
  "action": "analyze",
  "allow_credit_spend": true,
  "source": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID",
  "mode": "general",
  "prompt": "Write a detailed report with the main ideas, evidence, caveats, conclusions, and practical takeaways.",
  "max_frames": 40,
  "frame_interval": 5.0
}'

For prompts or source values containing quotes or shell metacharacters, serialize the JSON object to a temporary file and use --spec-file /path/to/spec.json. Never concatenate untrusted text into a shell command.

The successful result returns:

• report_html_path — standalone, print-ready professional report
• report_markdown_path — portable Markdown report
• analysis_json_path — structured agent-readable analysis
• output_dir — directory containing the run artifacts

HTML-to-PDF export is available in the VideoLens web UI and Chrome extension. The local CLI produces HTML, Markdown, and JSON.

Choose a report style

Use these defaults unless the user supplies a more specific prompt:

User intent	Mode	Prompt direction
Detailed YouTube report	general	Explain the thesis, main ideas, evidence, caveats, conclusions, and takeaways.
Key insights	general	Remove repetition and preserve only consequential ideas, facts, examples, and conclusions.
Tutorial or how-to	tutorial	Produce prerequisites, ordered steps, commands/settings, warnings, examples, and checks.
Interview or podcast	meeting	Organize themes, arguments, agreements/disagreements, examples, and takeaways.
Meeting	meeting	Extract decisions, objections, commitments, owners, open questions, and actions.
Bug recording	bug	Produce reproduction steps, expected/observed behavior, severity, evidence, and investigation tasks.
UX/session replay	ux	Reconstruct the journey, friction, hesitation, repeated actions, dead ends, and prioritized fixes.
Product demo	product_demo	Inventory features, value, positioning, proof, gaps, and opportunities.
Creator/content review	content	Critique hook, pacing, clarity, claims, proof, editing, and call to action.
Privacy review	privacy	Flag possible credentials, personal data, internal URLs, and sensitive content with timestamps.
Recreate a reference video	production_recipe	Reverse-engineer script, shots, editing, overlays, audio, tools, assets, and production steps.

general, bug, meeting, ux, tutorial, product_demo, content, privacy, and production_recipe are valid modes.

Cost and safety

• Require allow_credit_spend: true for every analysis.
• Treat max_frames as the main visual cost control; valid range is 1–80.
• Reuse cached extraction when the source and settings match. Set force: true only when the user asks to bypass cache.
• Keep OPENAI_API_KEY in OpenClaw skill configuration or the environment. Never place it in a prompt, task JSON, report, or log.
• Do not promise exhaustive privacy or compliance detection. Tell users to verify consequential findings against cited moments.
• Do not analyze content the user is not authorized to access.

For isolated testing or non-default local storage, set VIDEOLENS_SKILL_STATE_DIR before invoking the runner. Normal OpenClaw and OCC use should keep the default managed data directory.

Product surfaces

• Open source/local: BYOK analysis with local artifacts and cached follow-up workflows.
• Chrome extension: free Private/BYOK reporting beside YouTube and local video, with professional HTML/PDF export.
• Managed option: one managed starter report for signed-in users; optional VideoLens Pro provides managed processing and opt-in cloud report storage.

The bundled runner uses only local/BYOK analysis. Do not invent or request a VIDEOLENS_CLOUD_API_KEY; managed mode uses the authenticated VideoLens product rather than this wrapper.

Product: VideoLens.io

Chrome extension: Open VideoLens for Chrome

Source: shadoprizm/videolens