manim-skill

manim-skill

Turn ideas, papers, and math into Manim animations — via a 4-role Claude Code agent pipeline.

_{Hero GIF is generated by samples/build-samples.ps1 after install. Sample 01 ↑.}

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Table of contents

1. Overview
2. Prerequisites
3. Installation (Windows / PowerShell)
4. Verification
5. Usage
6. Flag reference
7. Architecture
8. Samples
9. Project layout
10. Troubleshooting
11. Other platforms
12. Contributing
13. License

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Overview

manim-skill is a Claude Code plugin that orchestrates a four-role agent pipeline to turn a topic, a research paper, or a math concept into a rendered animation built on Manim Community.

Who it is for	Educators producing explainer videos · researchers visualizing a paper's main result · anyone who would rather describe a video than program one frame at a time
Who it is not for	Frame-perfect motion-graphics editing · live-action video · 3D modelling pipelines (use Remotion or Blender)
Slash command	/manim-skill:manim-video (namespaced — tab-completion in Claude Code surfaces it once installed)
Output	out/<run-id>/video.mp4 plus storyboard.yaml, per-scene .py, narration script, and summary.md

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Prerequisites

Required before Step 2 of the install:

Component	Version	Notes
Windows	10 / 11	PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+ both work
Python	3.11+	uv will install it for you if missing
Claude Code	latest	needed for /plugin slash commands
Git	any recent	needed for marketplace fetch

Optional but recommended:

Tool	Why	Install
MSVC Build Tools	Required only if pycairo wheel is unavailable for your Python	https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/ · workload: Desktop development with C++
MiKTeX	Enables MathTex / Tex. Without it, math falls back to plain Text and renders empty silently	https://miktex.org/download
ffmpeg	Bundled with Manim's wheel on most installs. Verify with ffmpeg -version if --voice mixing fails	https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/

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Installation (Windows / PowerShell)

The plugin install (Step 1) ships only agent prompts, the slash command, schemas, and scripts. It does not install Manim or any Python dependency. Step 2 is mandatory on every new machine — without it, the implementer agent fails with ModuleNotFoundError: manim on the first render.

Step 1 — Install the plugin

Inside Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add vumichien/manim-skill
/plugin install manim-skill@manim-video-marketplace

The plugin lands at:

%USERPROFILE%\.claude\plugins\cache\manim-video-marketplace\manim-skill\0.1.0\

The venv created in Step 2 will live at <plugin-root>\.venv\ — next to install.ps1, not in your project directory.

Step 2 — Bootstrap the Python venv

Open PowerShell:

# Pin the plugin path
$plugin = "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\plugins\cache\manim-video-marketplace\manim-skill\0.1.0"

# Allow scripts for this session only (skip if execution policy already permits)
Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope Process -ExecutionPolicy Bypass

# Run the installer
pwsh "$plugin\scripts\install.ps1"

What the installer does:

1. Installs uv via astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 if it is not on PATH.
2. Creates .venv\ with Python 3.11 at <plugin-root>\.venv\.
3. Installs manim, pycairo, numpy, voiceover deps, and ingest deps from scripts\requirements.txt.
4. Probes for xelatex and prints a warning if missing.
5. Runs check-env.py to verify imports.

If pycairo fails, the installer prints two remediation paths (MSVC Build Tools or Conda). See Troubleshooting.

Step 3 — Activate the venv before launching Claude Code

The implementer agent calls bare python -m manim. That python must resolve to the plugin's venv, otherwise the system Python (no manim) wins.