Starter kit by Refs — guide skill for launch videos

For AI agents: find the right skill in one call — curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q=<what the person wants>" returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add .md to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page. From a terminal: curl -fsSL https://varg.ai/install | sh installs the vargai CLI (https://varg.ai/how-to/cli.md): vargai search and vargai install <slug> with no key, every varg model after vargai login.

Rebuild a Refs blueprint as your own film in Remotion or HTML: frame-exact timing, motion blur, master, check.

Type: Guide · Launch videos
Slug: refs-starter-kit
Status: live
Publisher: Refs (vendor)
License: Refs: free download, no license file in the ZIP
Source: https://refs.video/connect
Works in: Claude.ai, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Any MCP client
Requires: Node 20+ and ffmpeg (with ffprobe), macOS or Linux shell, Python 3 with numpy for the music bed (uv fetches it), Refs Pro for real timelines (get_blueprint); the sample timeline works without
Cost: The kit is a free download and renders on your machine. Real timelines come from get_blueprint (Refs Pro, 5 credits). Shots made on varg cost varg credits.
Runtime: renders on your machine; a 15 s sample at 60 fps renders in minutes on a laptop

What it does

Refs' starter kit (refs.video/starter.zip, 45 files) is the render plumbing for a film rebuilt from a Refs blueprint. Pull the timeline (get_blueprint("REF-####", format: "json") → timeline.json; a reduced real sample ships so everything renders out of the box), fill brand.json (font, background, ink, accents, logo, CTA, size, fps, motion blur), then build either in Remotion 4 (one <Sequence> per measured shot with a labelled placeholder, CameraMotionBlur, helpers for frames, eases, measured moves and drawing on twos or threes) or in plain HTML (renderFrame(t), captured with Playwright as motion-blur sub-frames blended in linear light). scripts/bed.py writes an original music bed on the reference's beat grid, master.sh masters to −14 LUFS for X and YouTube, −12 for TikTok or −16 for web at −1 dBTP, encode.sh writes H.264 High CRF 16 with BT.709 tags, and measure.mjs measures the result for check_render. Every frame number goes through seconds with one rounding rule, so a cut at 3.667 s lands on f110 at 30 fps and f220 at 60 fps in both routes.

Use when

Building a launch film on the measured timing of a reference
Swapping each placeholder shot for your own UI capture, varg shot or animation
A correct encode and loudness master before posting

Not for

Generating footage: bring captures or make shots on varg
Windows without WSL

Install

Claude Code: curl -fsSL -o /tmp/refs-starter.zip https://refs.video/starter.zip && unzip -oq /tmp/refs-starter.zip -d . && cd refs-starter && claude mcp add --transport http refs https://refs.video/mcp
Codex: curl -fsSL -o /tmp/refs-starter.zip https://refs.video/starter.zip && unzip -oq /tmp/refs-starter.zip -d . && cd refs-starter && codex mcp add refs --url https://refs.video/mcp
Any MCP client: https://refs.video/mcp
Any agent, with the vargai CLI: vargai install refs-starter-kit

Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/files/4325c578-378d-4c43-ae53-3cc3218df1ea/file_e49f74b26ed1.mp4 — 6.5 s cut from Refs' film: Claude Code writes the scenes from the plan and renders out/launch.mp4 with Remotion. (credit: Refs, the Refs film (refs.video/film.mp4), https://refs.video)