# Comic Director > Phase 2/3 of a movie — bake + cross-model-verify a movie from an authored comic.json. Per frame: render the content-SVG blueprint, bake with codex image_gen, gate with a 3-model panel (CC ‖ Gemini ‖ Codex), keep/retry/assemble, write the wiki trace, project to the viewer. The movie-side twin of method-figure's render half. (Author the comic.json first with the comic-author skill.) - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-wanshuiyin-aris-movie-director-comic-director` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [wanshuiyin](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/wanshuiyin) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [wanshuiyin](https://github.com/wanshuiyin) - **Source:** https://github.com/wanshuiyin/ARIS-Movie-Director/tree/main/skills/comic-director - **Website:** https://wanshuiyin.github.io/ARIS-Movie-Director/comic/ ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-wanshuiyin-aris-movie-director-comic-director ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # comic-director — the Audited Spiral + Release (Phase 2/3) The **middle + right of Figure 1**: take an authored `comic.json` (produced by the [`comic-author`](../comic-author/SKILL.md) skill, Phase 1) and turn it into baked frames + a clickable viewer, through the audited spiral. Per frame: render a deterministic content-SVG blueprint → bake a pixel-art frame (`codex image_gen`) → a 3-reviewer cross-model `panel_gate` → keep / retry → page assembly → projection. The movie twin of `method-figure`'s render half. (Image-based today; video-based is next.) ## Input contract — `comic.json` (authored upstream) The contract boundary is **`comic.json` + the assets it references** (content-SVG blueprints, identity refs, `ART_BIBLE.md`) — authored by [`comic-author`](../comic-author/SKILL.md). This skill is **render + verify**: - It **never invents** a number or a cast — faithfulness is a deterministic token-diff over reviewers who never see the expected values; identity is judged against the ref the author supplied (cast-aware). - It writes back **only** `image_path` / `active_attempt_id` / `wiki_node_id` (+ the wiki trace) on KEEP. - **The generator family (Codex image_gen) can NOT self-acquit.** A KEEP needs the token-diff clean **and** the cross-model visual panel (Gemini + Codex) to pass. The calling agent (Claude) gives the final structural sign-off. Full IR spec: [`../../docs/comic-json.md`](../../docs/comic-json.md) / [`../../schemas/comic.schema.json`](../../schemas/comic.schema.json). ## Run it (`scripts/run_comic.py` — agent-driven bake, CLI gates) A pure-stdlib **faithful port** of `packages/core/spiral_engine.js`'s movie branch. The cross-model **gates** (Gemini + Codex vision) still shell the `gemini` / `codex` CLIs directly. The **BAKE** is performed by the skill **agent** via the **`mcp__codex__codex`** MCP tool through `--bake-mode=agent` (the default): the core emits a deterministic bake-request sidecar (prompt + absolute ref paths + exact out_path), the agent calls `mcp__codex__codex` (`sandbox: workspace-write`, `model: gpt-5.5`, `config: {model_reasoning_effort: xhigh, include_image_gen_tool: true}`, `cwd: `), and the core verifies the explicit out_path. (`codex exec` is RETIRED for real bakes — it forced a hand-drawn SVG/struct+zlib fallback; `--bake-mode=exec` RAISES if it ever reaches a real bake. See `docs/spiral-runtime.md`.) ```bash python3 skills/comic-director/scripts/run_comic.py \ --project examples/comic_m3_audit --page P02_b08 --panels S12,S13,S14,S15 \ [--bake-lang zh] [--finalize] [--dry-run] [--skip-assembly] ``` - `--dry-run` validates + prints each frame's concrete bake prompt (no image_gen) — **run this first**; it's also how `comic-author` confirms Phase 1 is correct. - `--finalize` rebuilds the single-file viewer (`packages/viewer/build_comic.py`) **only if the run is shippable** (nothing escalated/throttled/flagged-for-human; assembly accepted). - Needs the **`codex` and `gemini` CLIs** on PATH + headless Chrome (to rasterize the content-SVG blueprint). Reuses `skills/method-figure/scripts/pickup_image.py`. It prints a JSON run-report (`kept`, `flagged_for_human`, `needs_human`, `shippable`, `throttled`, `escalated`, `assembly`, `attempts_per_panel`). Engine semantics it ports (caps 4/panel + 6/run, the deterministic verdict, anatomy single-vote veto, throttle → fresh-run): [`../../docs/spiral-runtime.md`](../../docs/spiral-runtime.md). ## Bake seam contract (agent ↔ core) — `--bake-mode=agent` The bake is a **synchronous sidecar handshake** (contract-v2 §1–§4). The core never returns/exits early on a bake; only the bake **primitive** moved off `codex exec` onto `mcp__codex__codex`: - **(A) core writes** `.bakereq.json` = `{prompt_text, content_png, identity_ref, out_path, model:"gpt-5.5", config:{model_reasoning_effort:"xhigh", include_image_gen_tool:true}, sandbox:"workspace-write", cwd, created_at, min_bytes:500000, aspect, request_id:""}` (`prompt_text` ALREADY contains the absolute ref + out paths — the schema has **no** `-i`; `config` carries **both** `model_reasoning_effort:"xhigh"` AND `include_image_gen_tool:true` — without the latter codex won't fire its native image tool; `request_id` is a per-bake uuid4-hex nonce the core mints — see (D)+(E)), pre-deleting any stale `out_path` + status. - **(B) the agent calls** `mcp__codex__codex` with EXACTLY those params. - **(C) codex writes** a native PNG to `out_path`. - **(D) the agent writes** `.bakestatus.json` = `{status:"ok"|"fail", failure_kind:"throttle"|"other", mcp_output:"", mcp_error, request_id:""}`. **`mcp_output` is MANDATORY on BOTH ok and fail** — the core feeds this status file to `pickup --transcript`, and the HARD-VETO scans it for `import struct`/`zlib.compress`/``/`matplotlib`/… markers. **An `ok` status with no raw output makes the HARD-VETO inert** (a hand-drawn struct+zlib/SVG that still emits a ≥500KB sig-valid PNG would slip through) — so always embed the bounded raw tool result. **`request_id` is EQUALLY MANDATORY on BOTH ok and fail** — copy it VERBATIM from `.bakereq.json` into the bakestatus; `pickup_image.py --out-existing --request-id` **fail-closes the bake** if the status `request_id` is missing or ≠ the bakereq nonce (a stale/foreign status at the same path can't be silently honored). - **(E) the core verifies** via `pickup_image.py --out-existing` on the EXPLICIT `out_path` (PNG sig + IHDR dims + size > 500000 + aspect band + `mtime >= created_at`), **HARD-VETOES** the markers in the transcript (= the status file's `mcp_output`), and (via `--request-id`) **fail-closes** if the status file's `request_id` is absent or ≠ the bakereq nonce — but all ONLY after it has read `status:"ok"`. Empty/timeout/any-non-ok = fail-closed (no pickup). NO fallback to `codex exec`/PIL/SVG; effort is ALWAYS `xhigh`; sandbox ALWAYS `workspace-write`. ### Who runs `--bake-mode=agent` (the agent-wrapper SOP) — REQUIRED for the default mode to function The comic-director **skill agent** is the bake fulfiller. Concretely: 1. Launch the orchestrator in the **BACKGROUND**: `python3 skills/comic-director/scripts/run_comic.py --project … --page … --panels … --bake-mode agent` (it blocks on each bake by polling `.bakestatus.json`). 2. **Loop** until the orchestrator prints its final run-report JSON / exits: - watch the project's `panels/` dir for a new `*.bakereq.json`; - read it; call `mcp__codex__codex` with **exactly** its `{prompt: , model:"gpt-5.5", config:{include_image_gen_tool:true, model_reasoning_effort:"xhigh"}, sandbox:"workspace-write", cwd:}` (codex writes the native PNG to the sidecar's `out_path`). The `config` MUST carry **both** `include_image_gen_tool:true` AND `model_reasoning_effort:"xhigh"`: without `include_image_gen_tool` Codex will **not** fire its native image tool (it falls back to descriptive text / an SVG renderer), and `xhigh` is the required reasoning tier; - then read `request_id` from `.bakereq.json` and write `.bakestatus.json` carrying **the status, a bounded raw `mcp_output`, AND that `request_id` VERBATIM** — `mcp_output` so the core's HARD-VETO can scan it, and `request_id` because `pickup_image.py --out-existing --request-id` **fail-closes the bake if the status `request_id` is missing or mismatched** (it must be written on BOTH ok and fail): `{"status":"ok","mcp_output":"","request_id":""}` on success, or `{"status":"fail","failure_kind":"throttle","mcp_output":"","request_id":""}` on a 429 / `MODEL_CAPACITY_EXHAUSTED` / overloaded error (otherwise `{"status":"fail","failure_kind":"other","mcp_output":"","mcp_error":"","request_id":""}`). 3. Stop when the orchestrator exits. (Without this wrapper, every bake polls to `--bake-timeout` and returns `generation_failed` with `failure_kind="other"` — fail-closed, not a hang, and never a false `throttle`.) > `--bake-mode=exec` is the legacy/CI **non-image** path and RAISES if it ever reaches a real bake — never use > it to produce a panel. ## Hard do / don't - **Do** author `comic.json` first with [`comic-author`](../comic-author/SKILL.md); copy `examples/comic_m3_audit/comic.json` as the shape. - **Do** `--dry-run` first; confirm every baked figure-panel carries ascii-tokenizable `expected_literals` (else the fail-closed gate refuses to run). - **Don't** run two bakes at once. The default `--bake-mode=agent` writes each native PNG to its **explicit per-panel `out_path`** and has **no `/tmp/aris_imagegen.lock`** (that code lock is GONE in agent mode — the agent wrapper itself serializes the `mcp__codex__codex` calls). The real race surface: concurrent runs on the **same project/page** collide on the per-panel `.bakereq.json`/`.bakestatus.json` sidecars + the shared `out_path` — so keep **ONE runner per project/page**. (The global generated-images dir that could cross-pollinate concurrent bakes is a hazard of the **LEGACY `--bake-mode=exec` path ONLY**, retired for real bakes.) - **Don't** resume after an image_gen throttle — launch a FRESH run for the remaining panels. - **Don't** treat a `needs_human`/flagged panel as shippable. ## Protocols (governance contracts this skill honors) - [`reviewer-independence`](../../protocols/reviewer-independence.md) — reviewers get file paths only; the executor (Codex image_gen) ≠ the visual judges (Gemini + Codex vision). - [`acceptance-gate`](../../protocols/acceptance-gate.md) — the loop can DRIVE but can't ACQUIT: a KEEP needs the deterministic token-diff clean **and** Gemini+Codex visual pass; the generator family never self-acquits; Claude gives the final structural sign-off. - [`artifact-integrity`](../../protocols/artifact-integrity.md) — the model that bakes a frame does not judge its own faithfulness; numbers are *verified*, never originated. - [`review-tracing`](../../protocols/review-tracing.md) — every reviewer's prompt+response is saved (`trace.jsonl`) so each verdict is auditable. - [`reviewer-routing`](../../protocols/reviewer-routing.md) — Codex `gpt-5.5` `xhigh`; Gemini `auto-gemini-3`; never downgrade the reviewer tier. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [wanshuiyin](https://github.com/wanshuiyin) - **Source:** [wanshuiyin/ARIS-Movie-Director](https://github.com/wanshuiyin/ARIS-Movie-Director) - **License:** MIT - **Homepage:** https://wanshuiyin.github.io/ARIS-Movie-Director/comic/ Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-wanshuiyin-aris-movie-director-comic-director - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/wanshuiyin - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. 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