---
name: record-browser-gif
description: Record browser or Web UI interaction demos as optimized GIFs using the available built-in browser, state-based frame capture, and deterministic encoding, then publish to a dedicated assets branch when the task includes attaching the GIF to a pull request. Use when asked to make, record, or generate a GIF that demonstrates a browser workflow, and for every pull request that changes product-user-visible GUI behavior, which MUST include such a GIF with real provenance.
---

# Record Browser GIF

Produce a short, truthful UI demonstration as a local GIF, and — only when the task includes attaching it to a pull request — publish it through the assets-branch workflow at the end of this skill. Use the browser-control skill for interaction and the bundled encoder for repeatable timing, dimensions, and size.

## Every GUI pull request includes a GIF

A pull request that changes product-user-visible GUI behavior MUST include a demonstration GIF recorded with this skill and embedded in the pull request body via [the assets-branch workflow](#publish-to-an-assets-branch).

The GIF's provenance is part of the evidence and must be real: a real server booted from that pull request's own branch tree, a real API key, and real model rounds. Never substitute fixture queries, mock transports, synthetic event injection, or test-only hooks unless the user explicitly asked for fixture provenance. State the provenance next to the embed — which tree served, which mode flags, that a real model round ran — so reviewers know exactly what the recording proves.

## Keep the boundary explicit

- Recording produces frame images and one local `.gif` artifact only; it never mutates remote state.
- Publication — pushing the GIF to an assets branch and embedding it in a pull request body — is the separate final step, performed only when the task includes attaching the GIF to a pull request. It never touches the pull request's own branch.
- Preserve the requested provenance. A real-server or real-API demo must not use fixture queries, mock transports, synthetic event injection, or test-only hooks. If credentials or the server are unavailable, report that limitation instead of substituting a fixture.
- Never read or expose credential values. Use the application's normal configuration path and a benign demonstration prompt.

## Stage the application

A GIF for a specific pull request demonstrates that pull request's tree, so stage per pull request:

1. Build the branch tree being demonstrated — here, `pnpm run build && pnpm run build:web` — from the worktree that holds that branch. A GIF recorded against another branch's build misattributes the evidence.
2. Boot one server per port from that tree, giving each recording a fresh scratch workspace directory so leftover sessions cannot appear in frames. Source the root `.env` for the API key through the application's normal path; never echo the key.
3. Start a new session for each recorded scenario so earlier turns do not pollute the frames.
4. When switching between pull requests, stop the old server by PID or an exact match on its command line. A broad `pkill -f` pattern can match and kill the shell that launched it — including your own.

## Record the flow

1. Invoke the available browser-control skill and follow its setup, interaction, and cleanup instructions. Use the user's existing Chrome state only when requested or required.
2. Resolve the evidence boundary before recording: identify the exact origin, whether the app is built or in development, the transport, and any fixture or mock mode. Record only claims that the observed setup supports.
3. Choose three to six states that tell one story, such as typed, running, settled, and detail. Prefer semantic state changes over continuous capture; omit loading churn that does not help the viewer.
4. Keep one viewport and crop for every frame, and name frames lexically: `00-initial.png`, `01-typed.png`, and so on.
5. Store frames under the repository's gitignored `.playwright-mcp/` directory — browser-tool screenshots can only be written under the tool's allowed roots, and relative filenames resolve against the repository root. Create the frame subdirectory first (`mkdir -p .playwright-mcp/gif-frames-<label>`); writing into a missing directory fails with ENOENT at capture time.
6. Before each screenshot, wait for a concrete UI condition such as a unique label, enabled control, changed document title, or completed response. Do not use a fixed delay as proof that the application reached the state.
7. Make completion predicates match an exact-text element — for example, an element whose trimmed text equals the expected reply — never a substring check such as `body.textContent.includes(...)`, which the echo of the user's own prompt also satisfies.
8. Capture a transient state (spinner, running row) by driving a slow foreground operation — for example, a `sleep 15` bash command — and polling a concrete DOM marker (a `data-*` attribute) inside one browser-script call that also takes the screenshot. State polled across separate tool calls is lost, because the turn settles between calls.
9. Engineer the prompt so the state you need actually occurs: instruct the model to wait in the foreground when it would otherwise background a slow command, and give it a settle sentinel such as "reply with the single word done" to anchor the completion predicate.
10. Capture no secrets, personal data, unrelated tabs, or transient notifications. Stop any unnecessarily long real-API run after the demonstrated state is visible.

Use the browser's own screenshot API. When it returns image bytes, save those bytes directly; the encoder detects image content independently of the filename extension.

## Encode the GIF

Require `python3`, `ffmpeg`, and `ffprobe`. If either media binary is missing, report the dependency instead of installing software without authorization.

Export `GIF_SKILL_DIR` as this skill's absolute directory on its own line before the python command — an inline `GIF_SKILL_DIR=... python3 "$GIF_SKILL_DIR/..."` assignment fails, because the argument expands before the assignment takes effect:

```sh
export GIF_SKILL_DIR=/absolute/path/to/this/skill
python3 "$GIF_SKILL_DIR/scripts/encode_gif.py" \
  /absolute/path/to/frames \
  /absolute/path/to/demo.gif \
  --durations 1.5,1.5,1.5,3.5 \
  --fps 10 \
  --max-width 1200 \
  --colors 128
```

One duration applies to every frame; otherwise provide one comma-separated positive duration per frame, holding the final settled state longest. The encoder rejects fewer than two frames, mismatched dimensions or durations, invalid limits, accidental overwrite, unexpected duration, and output above `--max-bytes`.

For a large artifact, reduce `--max-width` first, then `--colors` or `--fps`; retain readable text and the final state long enough to inspect. Use `--force` only after resolving the exact output path.

## Verify the artifact

1. Read the encoder's JSON summary and confirm the output path, source and encoded frame counts, dimensions, duration, and byte size.
2. Visually read the encoded GIF itself, not only the source frames. Confirm that the transition is legible, the last state is held long enough, and no sensitive content appears.
3. Run `git status --short` and confirm frames and the artifact landed only under ignored paths.
4. Return the absolute GIF path, render it when the client supports local media, and state whether the recording used a real API, fixture, or another transport. When the task does not include attaching the GIF to a pull request, stop here.

## Publish to an assets branch

Perform this step only when the task includes attaching the GIF to a pull request.

Never commit a GIF to the pull request's own branch or any branch that merges into a long-lived branch: binary media committed there bloats the repository history for every future clone. GIFs live on a dedicated orphan assets branch — a branch with no parent commit and nothing but media — and one assets branch serves a whole pull request series (existing branches: `code-mode-ui-assets`, `pr-613-assets`).

For an existing assets branch, work in a shallow single-branch scratch clone so the publication cannot touch your working tree:

```sh
git clone --branch <assets-branch> --single-branch --depth 1 <repo-url> /tmp/assets-checkout
cp /absolute/path/to/demo.gif /tmp/assets-checkout/<name>.gif
cd /tmp/assets-checkout
git add <name>.gif
git commit -m "assets: <what it shows> gif (#<pr>)"
git push origin <assets-branch>
```

For a new series, make a fresh shallow scratch clone (`git clone --depth 1 <repo-url> /tmp/assets-checkout`), create the orphan branch with `git switch --orphan <assets-branch>`, then add the GIF, commit, and push the same way.

Embed the GIF in the pull request body with the raw blob URL; the `?raw=true` suffix is required, because the plain blob URL renders GitHub's file page instead of the image:

```markdown
![<alt text>](https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/blob/<assets-branch>/<name>.gif?raw=true)
```

Never delete or rewrite an assets branch, and never force-push it: merged pull request bodies reference its URLs forever. Append new commits only.
