frames/skills/frames-core/references/storyboard-format.md

Storyboard format — STORYBOARD.md + parsed manifest

Defines the storyboard's base data format only: the STORYBOARD.md file shape and the StoryboardManifest it parses into. How a workflow generates a storyboard lives in that workflow; the optional narration/TTS file (SCRIPT.md) is a separate concern owned by the TTS step, not here.

A storyboard is the plan layer for a video — an ordered set of frames (key moments) in one markdown file. Frames Studio renders it as a contact sheet (the Storyboard view, available by default in every Studio session). Parser: @frames/core/storyboard → StoryboardManifest; read API: GET /api/projects/<id>/storyboard.

Frontmatter (global direction)

YAML block at the top. Unknown keys are kept under globals.extra.

Key	Meaning	Example
format	Canvas size	1920x1080
duration	The brief's rough length expectation (advisory, not a hard limit)	22s
message	One-line thesis	Ship a launch video in an afternoon
arc	Narrative arc	Hook → Problem → Solution → Proof → CTA
audience	Who it's for	indie devs on X
mode	Interaction mode (see brief-contract.md; default collaborative)	autonomous

Set duration from the brief's length when the storyboard is first written. It is an expectation, not a gate: assembly reports where the cut actually lands against it and flags a large gap — judge whether the drift serves the piece, and update the value when the intended length genuinely changes.

Per-frame sections

One ## Frame N — Title heading per frame (Frame / Beat / Scene accepted at H2/H3). Metadata as - key: value bullets; everything below them until the next heading is the free-form narrative.

Key	Meaning
status	outline → built → animated (defaults outline)
src	project-relative path to the frame's HTML sub-composition (the tile poster renders from it)
duration	e.g. 4s
transition_in	crossfade / cut / wipe … (alias transition)
scene	one-line contact-sheet caption (aliases description / summary / caption)
voiceover	the frame's narration guide (aliases vo / voice_over / narration)
poster	seconds to seek for the tile poster (past the intro animation)
any other key	kept verbatim under the frame's extra — a workflow carries its own per-frame data (effects, assets, …) here

Parsed manifest

The parser is lenient: it never throws and records anything surprising as a warning.

StoryboardManifest {
  globals: { format?, message?, arc?, audience?, extra: {…} }
  frames: Array<{
    index, number?, title?,
    status,                       // "outline" | "built" | "animated"
    src?, duration? / durationSeconds?, transitionIn?,
    scene?, voiceover?, poster?,
    narrative,                    // markdown below the metadata
    extra: {…}                    // unknown keys, preserved
  }>
  warnings: Array<{ message, line?, frameIndex? }>
}

The read API also adds srcExists per frame and attaches the optional SCRIPT.md payload when present.

SCRIPT.md (out of scope here)

Optional, free-form, not parsed into the manifest — the locked-narration file that drives TTS. Its format is defined in references/script-format.md, and it is absent for videos with no narration/TTS. The per-frame voiceover above is the storyboard's own narration guide.

Frame comments — .frames/frame-comments.json

The storyboard review's structured feedback channel — the file Studio's per-frame comment boxes write on submit (chat feedback follows the same rule — brief-contract.md § 1, the comments channel). Like SCRIPT.md, it is a sibling of the storyboard, not parsed into the manifest.

{
  "version": 1,
  "pass": "sketch",
  "submitted_at": "2026-07-09T12:04:00Z",
  "comments": [
    {
      "frame": 3,
      "src": "compositions/frames/03-mechanism.html",
      "title": "Mechanism",
      "text": "Swap the bar chart for a before/after slider."
    }
  ]
}

Field	Meaning
pass	which review the batch belongs to: storyboard (text layer) / sketch (static frames) / final (assembled video)
comments[].frame	the frame's 1-based index in the manifest — the key
comments[].src title	copied from the frame at submit time — if frames get reordered after submit, the mismatch shows
comments[].text	the feedback, verbatim

Lifecycle — the whole contract: a workflow finding this file at a checkpoint treats it as the revision feedback — revise exactly the frames named, delete the file, re-present. Writers create it only on submit; it never lingers across rounds.

Example

---
format: 1920x1080
message: "Ship a launch video in an afternoon"
arc: Hook → Problem → Solution → Proof → CTA
audience: indie devs on X
---

## Frame 1 — Hook

- scene: Big type punches in on the beat
- duration: 3s
- poster: 2s
- transition_in: cut
- status: animated
- voiceover: "Ship a launch video in an afternoon."
- src: compositions/frames/01-hook.html

Open cold on the promise. This is the thesis — everything after pays it off.

## Frame 2 — The problem

- scene: A 20-minute timer spins on a stack of rejected takes
- duration: 4s
- transition_in: crossfade
- status: built
- voiceover: "The old way? Prompt, wait twenty minutes, get something that misses."
- src: compositions/frames/02-problem.html

The old way: prompt, wait, get something that misses. Establish the pain we remove.

Notes

• A frame with status: outline and no built src renders as an outline placeholder.
• built is the middle rung: the frame's HTML exists and its layout is confirmed (a wireframe sketch or better) — motion not yet added. Studio chips it blue.
• The process that walks these statuses — plan, sketch, build, each pass reviewed on the board — is review-loop.md.
• Multi-line voiceover values collapse to one line on save.