@slatesvideo/shared 0.6.3 → 0.6.5

package/skills/slates-prompting-ltx-2-5.md

@@ -5,6 +5,44 @@ description: How to prompt LTX-2.5 and LTX-2.5 Pro. Read before calling slates_g
 
 # LTX-2.5 — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — LTX-2.5.** It scores the picture on the same pass that draws it, so SOUND IS THE FIRST THING YOU WRITE. Lightricks' own priority order: sound, camera, character detail, shot type and scene, then scene dressing. One flowing paragraph, not labelled sections. When a prompt sprawls, cut from the bottom.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Lead with sound, and anchor every sound to something in frame.** The test is "visible, or at least locatable" — `the rope creaks against the cleat`, `the hull knocking hollow against the fenders`, `rain on the awning`. A distant whistle is fine IF you have named the post it comes from.
+2. **Camera second**, because framing decides the visual weight of the shot — `low camera at the gunwale`, `slow drift right`, `static medium behind the counter`.
+3. **Character detail as physical ACTION**, not as adjectives about a person — `she braces a boot on the rail and hauls`, `his hands counting notes`.
+4. **It is the native MULTISHOT seat** — one generation carries two to four connected shots holding character, light and voice across the cuts. Write the cuts.
+5. **Quote dialogue and name the language and accent** — `in English with a slight German accent` — `"We should not have come back," in English with a slight German accent.`
+
+**Examples**
+- `The rope creaks against the cleat as she leans back, gulls calling somewhere off the port bow, the hull knocking hollow against the fenders. Low camera at the gunwale, slow drift right. She braces a boot on the rail and hauls, twice, then stops.`
+- `A till drawer bangs shut, a fan ticks against its cage, rain on the awning outside. Static medium behind the counter, then cut to a close-up of his hands counting notes, then cut wide as he looks up at the door.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** durations are EVEN numbers from six — there is no 5s or 7s clip. There is NO reference endpoint at all, so identity references are unavailable; use MiniMax H3 or Kling when a character must hold across shots. Any sound not anchored to something in frame gets invented for you. And never write mood adjectives as sound: "tense atmosphere", "a sense of dread" and "ominous ambience" produce nothing usable — the fix is one more moving object in frame with a sound attached to it.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use** — mood adjectives standing in for sound produce nothing usable:
+- `tense atmosphere`, `a sense of dread`, `ominous ambience`, `eerie silence`
+- an unanchored sound: name the thing in frame it comes from, or cut it
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 LTX-2.5 generates picture and sound **in a single pass**, with a Gemma-4 12B text encoder reading
 one flowing paragraph. That single fact drives everything below: the prompt is not a shot
 description with audio bolted on, it is **a scene where the sound is load-bearing** — and

package/skills/slates-prompting-minimax-h3.md

@@ -5,6 +5,45 @@ description: How to prompt MiniMax H3 and MiniMax H3 Max. Read before calling sl
 
 # MiniMax H3 — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — MiniMax H3.** The only seat where audio is AUTHORED rather than toggled: dialogue, scene sound and score are three separate sections of the prompt, generated in one pass, and putting a sound in the wrong section drops or doubles it.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Write the three audio layers separately** — `Scene sound:` for what is in the room, `Score:` for what only the audience hears, and the dialogue quoted inline. Section decides attribution.
+2. **Quote dialogue and name the language** — `says in English`, `speaks in Spanish`. Eleven languages are stably supported; the language is part of the instruction, not an afterthought.
+3. **Declare the reference RELATIONSHIP**, which no other seat has: `kept whole`, `partly kept`, `transferred`, or `a loose echo`. An undeclared reference is a guess.
+4. **Give a beat of stillness before a line** — `sits still for a beat, then looks up`. The sync needs something to lock against; a character already mid-motion when the line starts drifts.
+5. **Describe the beat structure** — `waits`, `then speaks`, `under the last three seconds`. H3 is a timeline, so write one.
+
+**Examples**
+- `A woman sits still at a kitchen table for a beat, then looks up. She says in English, "You said Tuesday." Scene sound: a fridge hum, a spoon set down on formica. Score: none.`
+- `Two mechanics either side of an open bonnet. The younger one wipes his hands, waits, then speaks in Spanish, "No es el alternador." Scene sound: a socket wrench, a radio two bays over. Score: a low sustained cello under the last three seconds, audience only.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** the two seats differ in what the ENDPOINT accepts, not in grammar. Base H3 reaches 2K/4K and takes references; `minimax-h3-max` is capped at 768p, has NO reference endpoint at all (start and end frames still work), and costs MORE at the tier they share — it is a speed pick, never the cheap one. H3's top two resolution tiers are UPSCALES of the native render: judge at native. Reference images past the fifth are a paid dimension of the cost key — declare the count when quoting.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use:**
+- a sound written into the wrong audio section — it is dropped, doubled, or attributed to the wrong layer
+- `background music` as a bare instruction: the score is its own authored layer, audience-only, and it is named as such
+- an undeclared reference relationship — say kept whole, partly kept, transferred, or a loose echo
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 H3 is an **omni transformer**: it generates picture and sound in the same pass, at 24fps with
 32kHz stereo, 5–15 seconds, in 11 stably-supported languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French,
 German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish). That single fact drives

package/skills/slates-prompting-motion-transfer.md

@@ -5,6 +5,44 @@ description: How to set up motion transfer — Kling Motion Control only (std an
 
 # Motion transfer — setup guide
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Motion transfer (Kling Motion Control only).** A target IMAGE (your character) plus a source VIDEO (the motion) produces your character performing that motion. Always 5 seconds.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **The target image must show body proportions clearly** and the character must occupy more than about 5% of the frame. A tiny figure in a wide shot has nothing to drive.
+2. **Single character in the target.** A group image breaks the identity anchor.
+3. **Choose `characterOrientation` on purpose** — `video` takes the source clip's framing, `image` preserves the portrait's. It is the most-missed choice here.
+
+4. **The prompt is atmosphere only** — `Soft afternoon sunlight, dust motes in the air, vintage warm color grade.` Motion verbs are ignored; the motion is already in the driving video.
+5. **Pick the best 5 seconds of the source up front**, and write only atmosphere: `soft afternoon sunlight`, `vintage warm color grade`, `clean studio backdrop`. The output is 5s regardless, so a long driving clip just wastes the choice.
+
+**Examples**
+- `Soft afternoon sunlight, dust motes in the air, vintage warm color grade.`
+- `Clean studio backdrop, sharp focus on the character.` (Or leave it empty.)
+
+**Hard constraint:** cartoon driving videos fail, and a cropped or partial target character drifts. std is fine while the motion-and-framing combination is still moving; switch to pro once it is locked. For a REGENERATED shot instead — physical contact, cloth and hair, camera motion, native audio — that is a normal Seedance video generation with the driving clip as a video reference, not a mode of this tool.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use** — the motion is already in the driving video, so motion verbs are ignored:
+- `spins faster`, `jumps higher`, `add more energy`, `moves quicker`
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 Take a still **target image** (your character) and a **source video** (the motion you want), produce a new video of your character performing the source video's motion. **This tool is Kling-only** — it wraps Kling Motion Control and nothing else.
 
 | Tier | Cost | Use case |

package/skills/slates-prompting-nano-banana-2.md

@@ -5,6 +5,32 @@ description: How to write prompts that produce cinematic, photorealistic results
 
 # Nano Banana 2 — cinematic & photorealistic prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image).** Brief it like a creative director, not a tag list. Structure: `Film still from [director] [genre]. Shot on [camera] with [lens]. [Subject and action]. [3-5 specific visual details]. [Lighting — direction + quality]. [Color palette]. [Film stock]. [1-2 word tone].`
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Named lens + aperture** beats "shallow depth of field" — `85mm f/1.4`, `135mm f/2.8` (the cheat code for skin), `Panavision anamorphic`, `400mm telephoto`.
+2. **Light by direction and quality**, never "good lighting" — `hard sidelight from a single window, deep falloff`, `overcast north light`, `practical tungsten spill`.
+3. **A named film stock or sensor** carries a whole palette — `Kodak Portra 400`, `Cinestill 800T`, `ARRI Alexa 65`.
+4. **Composition as a shot** — `low angle`, `aerial view`, `rule of thirds with the subject camera-left`, `foreground occlusion`.
+5. **Positive framing only.** Describe what is there. "Empty street", never "no cars"; "unstaged documentary photography", never "not anime".
+
+**Examples**
+- `Film still from a Denis Villeneuve thriller. Shot on ARRI Alexa 65, 85mm f/1.4. A woman in a charcoal wool coat stands at a rain-slick bus stop, breath visible. Hard sodium light from a single overhead lamp, deep falloff into blue night. Kodak Vision3 500T. Isolated.`
+- `Editorial still life on seamless bone paper. 100mm macro, f/8. A cracked ceramic bowl holding three figs. Soft north light from camera-left, one gentle shadow. Muted earth palette. Portra 400 grain. Quiet.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** there is no `negativePrompt` field. Suppress by reframing positively, or inline `without` / `free of`. Knowledge cutoff January 2025 — anything later needs reference images.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
 Nano Banana 2 is **Gemini 3.1 Flash Image**.<!-- slates-only --> It is the default model behind `slates_generate_image` — the op also exposes `flux-2-max` and `seedream-5-lite`, each with its own prompting skill.<!-- /slates-only --> It is **not** Gemini 3 Pro Image; that is Nano Banana **Pro** (`nano-banana-pro`), a separate model with its own seat.<!-- slates-only --> Verified against the runtime slug map in `slate/src/main/api/google.ts`.<!-- /slates-only --> NB2 is a language model that outputs pixels — brief it like a creative director, not like a Stable-Diffusion tag-soup tool. The single biggest lever for realism: **specificity that mimics how real photographers and cinematographers describe their work**.
 
 Knowledge cutoff: January 2025. Anything after needs explicit reference images.

package/skills/slates-prompting-omni-flash.md

@@ -5,6 +5,47 @@ description: How to prompt Gemini Omni Flash (Google, via fal). Read before call
 
 # Gemini Omni Flash — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Gemini Omni Flash.** Two different jobs with OPPOSITE prompt rules, and getting them the wrong way round is the whole failure mode.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Editing: short prompt, ONE change, nothing else.** Google's own doc says so and a 2026-07-09 receipt confirms it — a long "keep every frame identical" preamble produced WORSE drift than two sentences.
+2. **Editing: always end with `Keep everything else the same.`** — the one documented preservation lever.
+
+3. **Editing: describe the EFFECT, never a real object as a metaphor.** "Candle-like flame" rendered a literal candle in the subject's hand.
+4. **Editing: no conditional timing cues.** "…when he calls it, as he walks…" hard-fails with `invalid_request`. Collapse to one continuous action; the model syncs to the footage's own motion.
+5. **Generation: the opposite — describe fully.** Subject, action, setting, `camera tracking alongside`, `overcast flat light`, tone. Audio is prompt-driven with no parameters: dialogue in quotes, sound in plain language — `rain patters on the tin roof`, `spray from tyres`, `a horn somewhere behind`.
+
+**Examples**
+- Edit: `Small magical flames appear on his fingertips when he snaps his fingers, and vanish when he blows on them. Keep everything else the same.`
+- Generate: `A courier in a yellow shell jacket weaves between stalled cars on a wet arterial road, camera tracking alongside at shoulder height. Overcast flat light, spray from tyres. Rain patters on car roofs, a horn somewhere behind.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** it is a CHEAP DRAFT seat for generation and the EDIT-fidelity winner for footage-synced VFX — never a hero generation shot. Expect a possible jitter or doubled speech beat in the last half second of an edit: trim the tail rather than burning a re-roll.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use in an EDIT prompt** (each one has a receipt above):
+- a long preservation preamble — it produces WORSE drift than `Keep everything else the same.`
+- a real object as a metaphor: `candle-like`, `flame-like`, `laser-like`
+- a conditional timing cue: `when he`, `as she`, `once they` — these hard-fail, they do not merely drift
+- harm-to-person framing: `ignite`, `catch fire`, `on fire` applied to a person trips the safety filter
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 Google's fast video generation + editing model ("Nano Banana Pro for video" in creator slang — a nickname; it is NOT the NB Pro image model). Carried on fal (`google/gemini-omni-flash*`). 720p only, 24fps, 3–10 second clips, 16:9 or 9:16. **Audio is native and included** — dialogue, SFX, and ambient generate WITH the video at no extra cost.
 
 ## Where it routes

package/skills/slates-prompting-seed-audio.md

@@ -5,12 +5,50 @@ description: How to prompt Seed Audio 1.0 (ByteDance, via fal). Read before call
 
 # Seed Audio 1.0 — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Seed Audio 1.0.** One plain sentence describing a SCENE, and it returns dialogue, effects and ambience together in one pass. For ONE named voice saying ONE line, `inworld-tts-2` is the seat instead; this one renders the whole room.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Write one sentence in plain language.** Describe the room and what is happening in it; the model casts and performs it.
+2. **Name the crowd size, the room size and the distance.** This is the highest-leverage single edit on any bed — unqualified nouns default BIG. "Tiny applause of two or three people at an open mic", not "applause".
+3. **Put the length in the prompt** and make it deliberate.
+4. **Dialogue is performed inside the scene** — write the line as spoken in the room, then re-roll until a take is right and lip-sync against it.
+5. **Describe sounds directly** — "one coffee machine hissing, cutlery somewhere behind the counter" — with the object, the action and where it is.
+
+**Examples**
+- `a diner at 2am, one coffee machine hissing, cutlery somewhere behind the counter, one man says quietly "you're late again". 15 seconds`
+- `nature soundscape, a wide open field, cicadas near, birds mid-distance, one loon far off across water. 20 seconds`
+
+**Hard constraint:** it has NO duration parameter — the length you request is written into the prompt AND is what you are billed, whatever comes back, so choose it deliberately. Kling's `SFX:` / `Ambient noise:` / `Background music:` labels have no parser here and measurably worsen the output. Shot language, camera moves and lighting are video-prompt words the model must ignore. It is not a music model and it cannot produce pixels.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use** — Kling video syntax has no parser here and measurably worsens the output:
+- `SFX`, `Ambient noise`, `Background music` as labels — describe the sounds directly
+- shot language: `wide shot`, `slow push in`, `warm tungsten` — camera and lighting words are video-prompt words the model has to ignore
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 ByteDance's one-pass audio scene model, carried on fal (`bytedance/seed-audio-1.0`). It generates dialogue, sound effects and ambience **together**, from a single plain sentence. 1–120 seconds. It is the default audio model in Slates and the workhorse for continuity beds.
 
 ## Where it routes
 
 - **Scene audio, room tone, ambience beds, crowd/nature soundscapes** — anything where several sounds share a space. One generation, not three layered ones.
-- **Dialogue and scratch VO.** This is the only speech surface in Slates: the line is performed inside the scene. Lock the read by re-rolling until a take is right, then lip-sync against it with `slates_generate_lip_sync`.
+- **Dialogue and scratch VO inside a scene.** The line is performed in the room, by a voice the scene casts. When WHO is speaking matters — a character's own voice, a clean narrator — that is `inworld-tts-2` instead. Lock the read by re-rolling until a take is right, then lip-sync against it with `slates_generate_lip_sync`.
 - **NOT** a single effect that must land on a known frame — that is `eleven-sfx`, which takes an exact duration.
 - **NOT** music. Slates has no music model; import a track and drop it on an audio track.
 - **AUDIO-ONLY.** It cannot produce images or video.

package/skills/slates-prompting-seedance-2-5.md

@@ -5,6 +5,44 @@ description: How to prompt Seedance 2.5 and Seedance 2.5 Edit. Read before calli
 
 # Seedance 2.5 — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Seedance 2.5.** Shares 2.0's grammar exactly (subject binding, camera vocabulary, externalised emotion, inline constraints — read `slates-prompting-seedance` for those). Two things are different, and both matter.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Timestamps work here** — integer seconds, and the model acts on them: `[0-4] she reads the letter. [4-9] she folds it and looks up.` 2.0 ignores exactly this syntax.
+2. **Length is the reason to be here** — takes up to 30 seconds, where 2.0 stops at 15. Write the beats as `[0-6]`, `[6-12]`, `[12-18]`; do not hope for them.
+3. **Up to 30 image references**, and a multi-view image can serve as ONE subject reference (up to 5 subjects). 2.0 cannot do either.
+4. **Audio-only references are accepted** without an image or video alongside — the only Seedance seat that takes one.
+5. **Keep the 2.0 discipline**: one camera move per beat (`slow track right`, `handheld follow`), physical action instead of stated emotion, and quality asked for in the image-quality slot vocabulary — `rich details`, `natural colors`, `cinematic texture`, `soft lighting`.
+
+**Examples**
+- `[0-6] Wide shot, <Subject_1>@<Image_1> crosses an empty car park toward a idling van, slow track right. [6-12] Medium, she stops as the driver's window comes down. [12-18] Close-up, she looks off past the lens and does not answer. Rich details, natural colors. Keep it subtitle-free.`
+- `[0-10] A single continuous handheld follow behind a courier climbing a fire escape, rain. [10-20] She reaches the landing, turns, and the city opens behind her. Cinematic texture, soft lighting.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** it is the EXPENSIVE seat and it has NO 4K — 480p/720p/1080p only, and dearer than 2.0 at every resolution they share. It is a second seat, never an upgrade. Long takes multiply cost linearly: quote a 30-second take before you fire it.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use** (2.5 reclassifies the task and fails a fresh generation on these):
+- `edit`, `extend`, `continue the video`, `same video but` — they make the provider read a fresh generation as an edit
+- `85mm`, `f/1.4`, `Portra 400` and any other lens, aperture, film-stock or camera-body token — image-model vocabulary, a Seedance anti-pattern on both seats
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 **Read `slates-prompting-seedance` first.** The prompt GRAMMAR is the same model family: the
 8-slot advanced formula, subject binding by `<Subject_N>@<Image_N>`, camera vocabulary,
 externalised emotion, inline constraint words, the anti-twin fix. None of it is restated here.

package/skills/slates-prompting-seedance.md

@@ -5,6 +5,32 @@ description: How to prompt Seedance 2.0 (ByteDance video model). Read before cal
 
 # Seedance 2.0 — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Seedance 2.0.** Not copywriting — an ENGINEERING instruction to a spatial layer and a temporal layer: who, in what scene, doing what, how the camera moves, and in what order. Multi-beat work is a `Shot 1 / Shot 2 / Shot 3` storyboard.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Bind every subject to its reference** — `<Subject_1>@<Image_1>` — and keep the descriptions identical across shots. Unbound subjects are where twins come from.
+2. **Shot sizes and camera MOVES, not lens data** — `medium close-up`, `slow push in`, `handheld follow`, `whip pan`. One primary move per shot.
+3. **Externalise emotion as physical action.** Not "she is nervous": `she turns the ring on her finger twice, then stops`.
+4. **Use the image-quality slot vocabulary** for quality — `HD`, `rich details`, `cinematic texture`, `natural colors`, `soft lighting`. That is the officially sanctioned way to ask.
+5. **Constraints go INLINE**, led by the official templates — `keep it subtitle-free`, `do not generate a watermark`, `avoid jitter and bent limbs`, `avoid temporal flicker`.
+
+**Examples**
+- `Shot 1: medium shot, <Subject_1>@<Image_1> steps out of the freight lift into a wet loading bay, slow push in. Shot 2: close-up, she turns the ring on her finger twice and stops, handheld. Rich details, cinematic texture, natural colors. Keep it subtitle-free.`
+- `Single continuous take. Wide shot of a fishing skiff crossing a grey swell, camera tracks from the starboard rail. Spray hits the lens once. Soft lighting, natural colors, film-grain texture. Avoid jitter and bent limbs.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** NO timestamps — 2.0 ignores them and answers only to shot numbers (2.5 acts on them). No lens, aperture, film stock or camera body: that is image-model vocabulary and a Seedance anti-pattern. There is no negativePrompt field.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
 ByteDance's video model — first-party via **BytePlus ModelArk** (credits only, no BYOK). Audio always generated alongside the video. Single model `seedance-2` across the full resolution ladder (480p / 720p / 1080p / native 4K — 4K video is Pro-only, default 1080p), 4–15s, first+last frame, and up to 9 reference images / 3 videos / 3 audio clips.
 
 > **How to read this file.**

package/skills/slates-prompting-seedream-5-lite.md

@@ -5,6 +5,44 @@ description: How to prompt Seedream 5 Lite (ByteDance image model — the cheap
 
 # Seedream 5 Lite — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Seedream 5 Lite.** The cheap volume seat: flat-priced at every resolution, which makes it the right default for storyboard passes, variant grids and look-dev. Structure, most important first: `Subject + Style + Composition + Lighting/Atmosphere + Technical`.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Lead with the subject.** Earlier words weigh more; close with the camera and technical detail.
+2. **Keep it 30-100 words.** Unlike models that reward verbosity, this one gets confused by very long prompts. Focused beats exhaustive.
+3. **Name the composition** — `symmetrical composition`, `rule of thirds`, `foreground detail with blurred background`, `overhead perspective`.
+4. **Name the light as a named condition** — `golden hour`, `dramatic side lighting`, `soft diffused light`, `moody low-key`, `bright high-key`.
+5. **Quote in-image text.** It takes quoted strings for posters and layouts, which is half of why it is the drafting seat.
+
+**Examples**
+- `Professional headshot of a female CEO, short blonde hair, confident expression, navy suit, neutral office background. Studio lighting, shallow depth of field, high-end corporate photography, shot on 85mm.`
+- `A rain-soaked night market stall, cinematic, rule of thirds with the vendor camera-right, foreground steam blurred, moody low-key lighting with practical neon, shot on 35mm.`
+
+**Hard constraint:** it is the DRAFTING seat, not the hero seat. Explore here, then re-run the winner on Nano Banana 2 or FLUX.2 Max for the locked shot.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use:**
+- `masterpiece`, `best quality`, `highly detailed`, `8k`, `award-winning` — quality incantations, not description
+- a prompt past about 100 words: this model gets confused by very long prompts, and focused beats exhaustive
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 ByteDance's Seedream image model, Lite tier, routed via fal.ai. In Slates: `slates_generate_image` with `model: seedream-5-lite` (REQUIRES projectId — no headless path). **Flat-priced regardless of resolution** — the cheapest image model in Slates, which makes it the right default for high-volume drafting, storyboard exploration, and variant grids. Call `slates_estimate_generation_cost` for the current number; never quote prices from memory. Less censored than Nano Banana 2.
 
 **When to pick it:** lots of frames cheap (storyboard passes, 3-4 variant exploration), posters/layouts with text, quick look-dev. Step up to NB2 or FLUX.2 Max for the locked hero shot.

package/skills/slates-prompting-veo-3.md

@@ -5,6 +5,45 @@ description: How to prompt Veo 3.1 (Google). Read before calling slates_generate
 
 # Veo 3.1 — prompting
 
+<!-- @card:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Everything between the @card markers is extracted by
+     src/prompts/craft-cards.ts and returned on every cost estimate for this
+     model, so it is the ONE piece of positive craft guidance the agent cannot
+     skip. Measured 2026-08-30: a fact inlined where it cannot be skipped moved
+     compliance 0/8 to 30/32; the same guidance behind a fetch moved nothing.
+     Keep it under 2,400 characters (the build fails above that) and keep the
+     rationale, the receipts and the worked examples in the body below. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Card — Veo 3.1.** Google's formula, in order: `[Cinematography] + [Subject] + [Action] + [Context] + [Style & Ambiance]`. Sweet spot 50-150 words; the official benchmark is about 50.
+
+**The five levers**
+1. **Open with the cinematography** — `Medium shot`, `low angle`, `aerial`, `dolly in`, `rack focus`, `vertigo effect`. Veo reads the first clause as the camera.
+2. **Texture words counter the AI-plastic look** — `fine skin pores`, `visible fabric weave`, `subtle contrast, no gloss or sharpening`. Name materials concretely: `charcoal cotton hoodie`, `matte concrete`, `silk lapel`.
+3. **Weight verbs stop floaty motion** — `trudges`, `drops heavily`, and a ground contact: `boots crunch on gravel`.
+4. **Terse voice direction only** — `says in a weary voice`, `whispers`, `mutters`. Veo is far less responsive to long voice blocks than Kling.
+5. **Always include an ambience line.** Without one the mix feels dead. `Soft office ambience.` `Wind on the open ridge.` And SFX always carries a cause: `SFX: thunder cracks in the distance`, never `SFX: thunder`.
+
+**Examples**
+- `Medium shot, a tired founder rubbing her temples in front of a bulky monitor in a cluttered office late at night. Harsh fluorescent overheads and the green glow of the screen. Fine skin pores, visible fabric weave on a charcoal cotton hoodie. Soft office ambience, a fan hum. Retro, slightly grainy.`
+- `Low angle, a farrier trudges across a wet yard carrying a shoeing box, boots crunching on gravel. Overcast north light, matte concrete and wet steel. Wind and distant livestock. He says in a weary voice, "One more and we're done." (no subtitles).`
+
+**Hard constraint:** `(no subtitles)` after EVERY dialogue line you do not want burned in as text. Negatives are NOUNS, not instructions — `wall, frame`, never `no walls`. And do not cross syntaxes: Seedance's `single continuous take` suppresses Veo's cuts, and Veo timestamps in a Seedance prompt cause drift.
+<!-- @card:end -->
+
+<!-- @banned:start -->
+<!-- slates-only -->
+<!-- MACHINE-READ. Every `backticked` token between the @banned markers is
+     extracted by src/prompts/banned-tokens.ts and returned on this model's cost
+     estimate, and every submitted prompt is matched against it. Keep entries
+     backticked and prose outside the backticks. -->
+<!-- /slates-only -->
+**Never use** (each one is spelled out above):
+- `single continuous take` — Seedance's phrase; in a Veo prompt it suppresses the cuts you asked for
+- `no subtitles` is REQUIRED after dialogue, but instruction-shaped negatives are not: `no walls`, `no man-made structures`, `don't show` — negatives are NOUNS here
+- `SFX: thunder` and any label-only effect — every effect carries a cause and a distance
+<!-- @banned:end -->
+
 Google DeepMind's video model. Two tiers: `veo-3.1-fast` (cheaper, quick) and `veo-3.1-standard` (higher quality). 4k variants exist for both (4K video requires Slates Pro).
 
 **Native single-shot duration: 4, 6, or 8 seconds** — and **8s only** at 1080p or 4K, or whenever you attach reference images (that endpoint is 8s-fixed). 4s and 6s exist at 720p, text-to-video or single-start-frame only. Longer durations require chaining clips via Extend / last-frame reuse — quality degrades if naively requested past 8s in a single generation. Aspect ratio: **16:9 or 9:16** on the route Slates uses. `slates_generate_video` REFUSES anything outside these before submit and names the legal set — nothing is silently ignored or downgraded.

package/skills/slates-shot-variety.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+---
+name: slates-shot-variety
+description: Use when planning a set of shots, before firing a batch, when the variety counts on a shot list show one bucket dominating, or when a finished piece reads as flat, samey or repetitive despite each shot being individually fine.
+---
+
+# Shot variety — why it all starts to look the same
+
+The failure this skill exists for is mechanical, not artistic: **every shot is fine and the sequence is dead.** It happens because a model asked ten times in a row, from ten similar prompts, returns ten similar framings — and because the person writing those prompts is thinking about *what is in the shot* rather than *how this shot differs from the one before it*.
+
+Slates counts the sameness for you. It does not judge it. **`slates_list_shots` returns the distribution with every listing** — shot sizes, camera moves, models, durations, and any bucket repeating three or more times in a row — so the numbers are in front of you before you spend anything. Reading them is the job; deciding what to do is yours.
+
+## Read the table as a COLUMN, not as rows
+
+This is the whole technique, and it is one sentence:
+
+> Sort the list by shot size and count. Sort it by camera move and count. **If push-in is the plurality, or every row says wide, the batch is wrong before a single credit is spent.**
+
+A shot list read row by row always looks fine, because each row was written to be good on its own. The sameness only shows up in the column. That is why the counts ship in the op result rather than in your head.
+
+## What to vary, in order of how much it matters
+
+1. **Shot size.** The single biggest lever, and the one that collapses first. A sequence of seven mediums reads as a slideshow no matter what is in them. Wide → close is a cut; medium → medium is a dissolve nobody asked for.
+2. **Camera move.** Second-biggest, and the one models default to: ask for "cinematic" and you get a slow push-in, every time. If five of seven cuts push in, four of them should not.
+3. **Duration.** Rhythm is not decoration. Seven identical 8-second cuts is a metronome. A 3-second cut lands differently *because* the one before it ran twelve.
+4. **Distance between subjects and lens.** A long lens on a close-up and a wide lens on a close-up are different shots, and the model will render the difference.
+5. **Location and cast.** If three cuts happen in the same room with the same person, that is a scene — fine. If *nine* do, the piece has one idea.
+
+## When repetition is deliberate — and it often is
+
+Do not treat the counts as a defect list. Repetition is a technique with two real uses:
+
+- **A repeated frame IS the joke, or the point.** Three identical wides with one thing changed each time is a gag structure, and varying them would destroy it.
+- **A locked-off frame is a choice.** Static, static, static, then a move — the move only lands because the first three did not have one.
+
+The check catches a bucket dominating. It cannot tell whether you meant it. If you did, say so and move on; the counts do not block anything and never will.
+
+## Choosing the chop: one long take or several short ones
+
+This is the decision that owns the rhythm, and Slates puts the price next to it: `slates_split_shot` and `slates_merge_shots` re-cut a board, and the row's duration and quote move as you do it.
+
+- **Merge** when the words run continuously and the picture has no reason to change. One 16-second take on a model that holds up is cheaper to *make* than two 8-second cuts and reads calmer.
+- **Split** when the words keep going and the picture should not. This is the strongest move in the format: one spoken line running unbroken while the visual hard-cuts mid-clause to a new world. Split at a word boundary mid-sentence and both rows carry the same sentence — Slates marks the second as continuing the first, so the script still reads as one line.
+- **Split** also when a line will not fit its cut. Slates flags only lines that cannot be read at *any* plausible pace (above the fastest read in a corpus of 71 real ads), so a flag is never a matter of taste — the chop is genuinely wrong. Splitting the line across two cuts or merging into a longer one both fix it.
+
+## Multi-shot generations count as their cuts, not as one
+
+A model that puts three cuts inside one generation contributes **three** rows to the distribution. That is deliberate: counting generations would score a three-cut clip as a single wide shot and miss exactly the sequences this check exists to catch. Money is counted per generation; rhythm is counted per cut, and the header says which is which.
+
+## What this cannot tell you
+
+It measures buckets, not taste. Seven varied shot sizes can still be seven boring shots, and a piece that scores perfectly can still be flat. It catches the one mechanical failure — everything starting to look the same — and nothing else.
+
+It also only sees what is filled in. A board where nobody wrote `shotSize` reports `other` for every cut and tells you nothing. That is correct rather than a gap: inferring a shot size from a prompt would be Slates guessing at your work, and the counts are trustworthy precisely because they are arithmetic on what you actually wrote.

package/skills/slates-storyboard-from-script.md

@@ -21,27 +21,42 @@ If the user hasn't named the storyboard, suggest one based on the project tone.
 ### 2. Materialize the structure first (no generation yet)
 - `slates_create_storyboard` with the chosen name.
 - For each scene: `slates_add_scene` with a descriptive name and order.
-- For each frame: write a *visual-only* prompt (image, not action), the shot label, and any director notes. **Don't generate yet.**
+- For each shot: `slates_create_shot` with a *visual-only* prompt, the model, the params, and whatever character / environment / style references the project already holds. **Don't generate yet.**
 
-Surface the planned structure back to the user as a tight summary:
-> Storyboard "X" • 4 scenes • 12 frames total
->   Scene 1: Forest opening (3 frames)
->   Scene 2: Confrontation (4 frames)
+🚨 **A Shot needs no image, and that is the point.** `slates_add_frame` requires an `assetId`, so before Shots existed there was nowhere to put a planned shot until it had been paid for — the plan lived in chat and the user had to trust your memory of it. A Shot is a row: named, listed, priced, forkable, and readable back COMPOSED with `slates_get_shot` before a single credit is spent. Write the plan as Shots, not as sentences you will have to re-type later.
+
+🚨 **A Shot files itself, so pass `sceneId` (or `frameId`) when you know where it goes.** Omit both and it lands in the scene the user has open, else the most recently updated storyboard's last scene, creating a storyboard named after the project if there is none. Nothing you save is ever unfiled — but naming the scene is how the board comes out in the order you wrote it.
+
+🚨 **Shots are addressed by CODE.** Every one comes back as `SHOT-A1`, `SHOT-A2` … per project, monotonic, never reused — the same vocabulary the gallery gives assets. Speak to the user in codes, and pass a code anywhere a `shotId` is taken. It is for pointing at a row THIS session, not for retrieval later: there is no shot search and no shot library, because a Shot is workspace state.
+
+### 2a. Write the SCRIPT COLUMNS as well as the prompt
+
+`slates_create_shot` takes the beat itself, not only the prompt: `line` (what is said, verbatim), `speaker` (a character id, a bare name, or `VO`), `delivery` (the parenthetical), `action` (what happens, screenplay-style), `prop`, `shotSize` and `camera`. All are optional, all are free text, and none of them is sent to a model — they are what the user READS and what the variety check COUNTS.
+
+⚠️ **In this version you state dialogue TWICE, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight.** `line` is the readable script and the input to the fit check; the model only receives what is in the Shot's *prompt*, so the spoken words still go inside that prompt verbatim, with their delivery, in the body on the beat. **Write both in the same call** — then they agree at authoring time and can only drift if a human edits one side.
+
+A speaker who matches no saved character is a working state, not an error: it renders as plain text and groups its lines. Do not create a placeholder character to avoid it.
+
+Surface the planned structure back to the user as a tight summary — `slates_list_shots` gives you the count and the total in one call:
+> Storyboard "X" • 4 scenes • 12 shots • 340 credits to fire them all
+>   Scene 1: Forest opening (3 shots)
+>   Scene 2: Confrontation (4 shots)
 >   ...
 
 **Surface a decision log alongside that summary.**
 
 <!-- @inject:decision-log -->
-When you surface the plan, include a short **decision log** — one line per decision *you* made that the user did not specify:
+When you surface the plan, include a short **decision log** — one line per decision *you* made that the user did not specify **and that no row already records**:
 
 ```
 source phrase or declared default → what you wrote → what it resolves
-"in a diner"        → chrome-and-vinyl booth, 3/4 on the counter   → fixes the anchor so blocking is repeatable
+"in a diner"        → warm, and the light is the reason           → why the anchor was chosen, not what it is
 (no time of day)    → late afternoon, low warm key                 → default; say the word and it changes
-(no camera)         → slow push-in, single move                    → one move per shot; stacking increases instability
 ```
 
-**Hard rule: never silently add weather, props, style, or camera movement.** If it wasn't in the brief and you added it, it goes in the log. This is the "why did you add that?" affordance — for an agent that writes prompts on the user's behalf and spends their credits, it is what keeps the model in assembly and the user in the director's chair.
+🚨 **Keep it to what is NOT already data — and almost everything now IS.** A Shot holds the references and their roles, the model, every param, the shot size, the camera, the prop, the action and the spoken line, and `slates_list_shots` reads the whole board back in order with its variety counts. Narrating any of those is retelling a row the user can open. **Write the Shot, and let the log carry only the judgement no field holds** — why this world, why this light, why this register.
+
+**Hard rule: never silently add weather, props, style, or camera movement.** Four of those are now FIELDS: put the value on the Shot (`prop`, `camera`, `shotSize`, `action`) so the user can read and change it, and put the *reason* in the log only when you invented it rather than being told it. The rule has not softened — it moved from narration into data, which is stronger, because a field can be corrected and a sentence in chat cannot.
 
 > ❌ **Do NOT turn this into a question gate.** Clarifying questions before optimizing directly fight the locked fast-path rule: *if intent is clear, generate immediately with sane defaults, don't ask questions; only ask for production intent, and batch every question into one message.* Log the decisions, then go. The log is an **output**, not an interrogation — surfaced alongside the plan, never as a separate ceremony, and never as a reason to wait.
 <!-- @end:decision-log -->
@@ -51,18 +66,19 @@ Turning a script into *visual* frame prompts means resolving things the script l
 Ask: **"Generate frame images now? (y/N)"**
 
 ### 3. Generate frames if requested
-For each frame:
-- Estimate cost (`slates_estimate_generation_cost`, `count = total frames`). Confirm with user if total > ~17 credits.
-- Generate sequentially, with character/environment/style references attached when present in the project (`slates_list_characters`, `slates_list_environments`).
-- Each result returns inline. Evaluate. If wrong, refine prompt + regenerate (charge once, not multiple).
-- Bind to the frame via `slates_add_frame`.
+- `slates_generate_from_shots` with every image Shot's id and no `confirm` — it returns ONE itemised quote for the set plus the largest single item. Show that total, get an explicit OK, then re-call with `confirm: true`.
+- It fires the Shots one after another and BLOCKS until the last one lands, so it can outlast the HTTP timeout on a long set. If that happens the run is still going: poll `slates_get_shot` for each Shot's `generationIds` rather than re-firing, which double-spends.
+- Each result returns inline. Evaluate. If one is wrong, fix that Shot (`slates_update_shot`) and re-fire only it — never the set.
+- Bind the keeper to a frame with `slates_add_frame`, then `slates_update_shot` with `attachFrameId` so the recipe and the picture stay together.
 
 ### 4. Hand back
 - Total frames generated, total credits spent, storyboard id.
-- Suggest next steps: review via `slates_get_storyboard_with_frames`, or take the frames to motion — `slates_generate_video` per frame (`firstFrameAssetId`, `background: true`, poll `slates_get_generation_status`), then `slates_add_clip_to_timeline` in story order and `slates_export_video`. The full frames-to-film pipeline (batch cost authorization, model mixing) is `slates-one-prompt-film`.
+- Suggest next steps: review via `slates_get_storyboard_with_frames` (it returns every scene, every Shot in order, and the variety distribution), or take the frames to motion — fork each image Shot with `slates_duplicate_shot` (`model:` the video model), give the copy its frame with `slates_update_shot` (`firstFrameAssetId`), then fire the set with `slates_generate_from_shots`. Assemble with `slates_add_clip_to_timeline` in story order and `slates_export_video`. The full frames-to-film pipeline (batch cost authorization, model mixing) is `slates-one-prompt-film`.
 
 ## Anti-patterns
 
 - **Don't** auto-generate without asking. Generation is the expensive step. Always confirm first.
 - **Don't** invent shot details the script doesn't mention. If the script says "they argue," ask what the shot looks like, don't fabricate "she clenches her fists in a wide shot."
 - **Don't** mix scene structure and frame generation in one pass — building the skeleton first lets the user catch errors before spending credits.
+- **Don't** write the plan into chat when a Shot can hold it. A Shot is the whole recipe AND the beat — line, speaker, action, prop, framing, references, model, params — and it is the only form of the plan the user can open, price, re-chop and re-fire without you.
+- **Don't** fire a set without reading its variety counts first. `slates_list_shots` returns them with every listing; if one shot size is the plurality or three cuts in a row share a camera move, fix the board before spending. `slates-shot-variety` is the craft behind that.

package/skills/slates-style-prompting.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: slates-style-prompting
-description: Per-style prompting depth — how photoreal, anime, painterly, and 3d-render are prompted DIFFERENTLY on Seedance 2.0 vs Kling V3 vs Nano Banana 2, and the style-routing recipe (reference-first, styled start-frame → i2v). Load when the user asks for any visual style ("make it anime", "painterly look", "like a Pixar film") or when style consistency across shots matters.
+description: Use when the user asks for a visual style ("make it anime", "painterly look", "like a Pixar film"), or when a style has to hold across several shots. Covers how photoreal, anime, painterly and 3d-render are prompted DIFFERENTLY per model, and the style-routing recipe (reference-first, styled start-frame → i2v).
 ---
 
 # Per-style prompting (photoreal · anime · painterly · 3d-render)