Videodb

VideoDB Skill

Perception + memory + actions for video, live streams, and desktop sessions.

Use this skill when you need to:

1) Desktop Perception

• Start/stop a desktop session capturing screen, mic, and system audio
• Stream live context and store episodic session memory
• Run real-time alerts/triggers on what’s spoken and what's happening on screen
• Produce session summaries, a searchable timeline, and playable evidence links

2) Video ingest + stream

• Ingest a file or URL and return a playable web stream link
• Transcode/normalize: codec, bitrate, fps, resolution, aspect ratio

3) Index + search (timestamps + evidence)

• Build visual, spoken, and keyword indexes
• Search and return exact moments with timestamps and playable evidence
• Auto-create clips from search results

4) Timeline editing + generation

• Subtitles: generate, translate, burn-in
• Overlays: text/image/branding, motion captions
• Audio: background music, voiceover, dubbing
• Programmatic composition and exports via timeline operations

5) Live streams (RTSP) + monitoring

• Connect RTSP/live feeds
• Run real-time visual and spoken understanding and emit events/alerts for monitoring workflows

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Common inputs

• Local file path, public URL, or RTSP URL
• Desktop capture request: start / stop / summarize session
• Desired operations: get context for understanding, transcode spec, index spec, search query, clip ranges, timeline edits, alert rules

Common outputs

• Stream URL — make it playable: https://console.videodb.io/player?url={STREAM_URL}
• Search results with timestamps and evidence links
• Generated assets: subtitles, audio, images, clips
• Event/alert payloads for live streams
• Desktop session summaries and memory entries

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Canonical prompts (examples)

• “Start desktop capture and alert when a password field appears.”
• “Record my session and produce an actionable summary when it ends.”
• “Ingest this file and return a playable stream link.”
• “Index this folder and find every scene with people, return timestamps.”
• “Generate subtitles, burn them in, and add light background music.”
• “Connect this RTSP URL and alert when a person enters the zone.”

Running Python code

CRITICAL: Always cd to the user's project directory before running Python code. This ensures load_dotenv(".env") finds the correct .env file.

from dotenv import load_dotenv
load_dotenv(".env")

import videodb
conn = videodb.connect()

This reads VIDEO_DB_API_KEY from:

1. Environment (if already exported)
2. Project's .env file in current directory

If the key is missing, videodb.connect() raises AuthenticationError automatically.

Do NOT write a script file when a short inline command works.

When writing inline Python (python -c "..."), always use properly formatted code — use semicolons to separate statements and keep it readable. For anything longer than ~3 statements, use a heredoc instead:

python = 0` before creating `VideoAsset` |
| `generate_video()` / `create_collection()` fails | `Operation not allowed` or `maximum limit` | Plan-gated features — inform the user about plan limits |

## Additional docs

Reference documentation is in the `reference/` directory adjacent to this SKILL.md file. Use the Glob tool to locate it if needed.

- [reference/api-reference.md](reference/api-reference.md) - Complete VideoDB Python SDK API reference
- [reference/index.md](reference/index.md) - Scene indexing & extraction workflow (index, extract frames, read back, manage)
- [reference/index-reference.md](reference/index-reference.md) - Scene index code reference (methods, SceneCollection/Scene/Frame classes)
- [reference/search.md](reference/search.md) - In-depth guide to video search (spoken word and scene-based)
- [reference/editor.md](reference/editor.md) - Timeline editing workflow guide (4-layer model, use cases, examples)
- [reference/editor-reference.md](reference/editor-reference.md) - Editor code reference (constructors, parameters, enums)
- [reference/streaming.md](reference/streaming.md) - HLS streaming and instant playback
- [reference/generative.md](reference/generative.md) - AI-powered media generation (images, video, audio)
- [reference/rtstream.md](reference/rtstream.md) - Live stream ingestion workflow (RTSP/RTMP)
- [reference/rtstream-reference.md](reference/rtstream-reference.md) - RTStream SDK methods and AI pipelines
- [reference/capture.md](reference/capture.md) - Desktop capture workflow
- [reference/capture-reference.md](reference/capture-reference.md) - Capture SDK and WebSocket events
- [reference/use-cases.md](reference/use-cases.md) - Common video processing patterns and examples

## Screen Recording (Desktop Capture)

Use `ws_listener.py` to capture WebSocket events during recording sessions. Desktop capture supports **macOS** only.

### Quick Start

1. **Start listener**: `python scripts/ws_listener.py --cwd= &`
2. **Get WebSocket ID**: `cat /tmp/videodb_ws_id`
3. **Run capture code** (see reference/capture.md for full workflow)
4. **Events written to**: `/tmp/videodb_events.jsonl`

### Query Events

```python
import json
events = [json.loads(l) for l in open("/tmp/videodb_events.jsonl")]

# Get all transcripts
transcripts = [e["data"]["text"] for e in events if e.get("channel") == "transcript"]

# Get visual descriptions from last 5 minutes
import time
cutoff = time.time() - 300
recent_visual = [e for e in events 
                 if e.get("channel") == "visual_index" and e["unix_ts"] > cutoff]

Utility Scripts

• [scripts/wslistener.py](scripts/wslistener.py) - WebSocket event listener (dumps to JSONL)

For complete capture workflow, see [reference/capture.md](reference/capture.md).

Do not use ffmpeg, moviepy, or local encoding tools when VideoDB supports the operation. The following are all handled server-side by VideoDB — trimming, combining clips, overlaying audio or music, adding subtitles, text/image overlays, transcoding, resolution changes, aspect-ratio conversion, resizing for platform requirements, transcription, volume control, fade transitions, and media generation. Only fall back to local tools for operations listed under Limitations in reference/editor.md (speed changes, crop/zoom, colour grading, keyframe animation).

When to use what

| Problem | VideoDB solution | |---------|-----------------| | Platform rejects video aspect ratio or resolution | video.reframe() or conn.transcode() with VideoConfig | | Need to resize video for Twitter/Instagram/TikTok | video.reframe(target="vertical") or target="square" | | Need to change resolution (e.g. 1080p → 720p) | conn.transcode() with VideoConfig(resolution=720) | | Need to overlay audio/music on video | AudioAsset on an Editor Timeline with volume control | | Need to add subtitles | video.add_subtitle() or CaptionAsset on Editor Timeline | | Need to combine/trim clips | VideoAsset on an Editor Timeline | | Need to compose images with voiceover | ImageAsset + AudioAsset on separate Editor tracks | | Need to generate voiceover, music, or SFX | coll.generate_voice(), generate_music(), generate_sound_effect() |

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: video-db
• Source: video-db/skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://docs.videodb.io

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.