dg-films

Short, silent product films for Discourse Graphs. You say what film you want in plain English, and your AI agent makes it.

So far it has made four short onboarding films for Slack and the newsletter: what Discourse Graphs is, how to make a node, how to connect two nodes, and how to bring papers in from Zotero. Watch them here.

How it works

You describe the film. Your agent does every step:

1. It reads the extension's code, real screenshots and the template graph, so every label, menu and color matches the product.
2. It writes a script (the headlines and what each moment shows) and asks you to approve it.
3. It builds the film, checks every frame itself, and sends you a quick preview.
4. After your OK, it makes the final video: full HD, silent, under 20 MB, ready for Slack, Loom or the newsletter.

Nothing is screen-recorded, so you don't need a demo graph or a clean screen. Changing a word later is a quick ask.

Set up once

You need:

• Claude Code (or another coding agent) on your computer.
• Access to the DiscourseGraphs GitHub organization (the whole team has it).
• The Roam desktop app open, when the film is about the template graph.

Then open your agent in an empty folder and say:

Set up github.com/DiscourseGraphs/dg-films for me. Follow its docs/technical.md, and show me a test frame when it works.

It installs what it needs and shows you a frame from one of the existing films. While it makes a film, browser windows will open and close on their own for a minute or so; leave them alone.

Make a film

Open your agent in the dg-films folder and say what you want. For example:

Make a short film that shows new users how to lay out an argument on the canvas. Base it on the template graph's "Using the Canvas" tutorial.

Make a 45-second film for new users that shows how to turn a highlighted sentence into a Claim.

In the film about connecting two nodes, change the headline "Open its context." to "Open the evidence's context." Keep the old film too.

Make a copy of the Zotero film that's small enough to post on Slack.

Bigger projects

It can take on a whole project, not just one film. For example:

Make a series of short onboarding films from the template graph's tutorials. Pick the ten that would help a new user most, put them in an order where each one makes people want the next, and show me the plan before you build anything. Start with the first three.

Make a 90-second film that explains Discourse Graphs to people who've never used Roam: the problem it solves, not how each setting works. Use discoursegraphs.com.

Make a film for our team on how to alpha test push and pull: which settings to turn on, opening the import dialog, sharing nodes. The Roam side only.

For a project like these, expect:

• A plan first. Which films, in what order, and what each one shows. You approve it before anything is built.
• Films in batches. It makes a few, sends them, and takes your notes into the next ones.
• Several sessions. A big project can outlast one conversation. It keeps its notes in the repo, and at the end of a session it gives you a message to start the next one. Saying "Continue the onboarding films" works too.

What helps the result:

• Who it's for and where it will be posted.
• The one thing a viewer should be able to do afterwards.
• The source, if there is one: a tutorial page, a doc, a feature.

examples/README.md has the briefs that made the existing films.

What you'll be asked

• The script. A short table of headlines and what happens. Change anything you like.
• The preview. A quick low-resolution cut. Say what feels off: pacing, wording, a step that isn't clear.
• Anything it couldn't confirm. If no code or screenshot showed a detail, it says so. You decide, or tell it where to look.

Good to know

• Films are silent. Headlines on screen carry the story.
• A finished film is never overwritten. A new version is saved next to it, so links to the old one keep working.
• It keeps the films true to the product. Ask it to explain anything it shows.

More

• examples/README.md: the films so far and the prompts behind them.
• tutorial-series/PLAN.md: the plan behind the onboarding films: which films, in what order, and the rules they follow.
• docs/technical.md: setup, commands and file layout, for agents and developers.