How to turn release notes into a changelog video with AI

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.

Release notes, a PR or a GitHub repo turned into a short video for X or LinkedIn. A step-by-step tutorial for Claude Code, Codex and Grok.

Output: 15–30 s, 1:1 or 16:9 MP4, one feature (or 3–5 cards) Price: in credits on varg, with a cost estimate before anything runs; the free skills below install in one command.

Recommended route

Best skills for this

  1. Guizang Product Video (guizang-product-video, Guizang, live) — Start here: Release-notes videos from your real product components
  2. HyperFrames (hyperframes, HeyGen, live) — Start here: Turns a PR, repo or brief into a rendered video
  3. Remotion Create (remotion-create, Remotion, live) — Alternative: Scaffold a Remotion project for it
  4. Herk Edit Kit (herk-edit-kit, Nate Herk, live) — Alternative: Founder-on-camera version update with screen demos
  5. varg AI (varg-ai, varg, live) — Adds: Voiceover and music

Ask the person first

Put these choices in front of the person before spending anything. Paste the example link next to each option: people pick a look by seeing it.

Look?

Aspect ratio?

How to turn release notes into a changelog video: step by step

  1. Give the agent the release notes or PR and the repo; pick 1 hero feature (at most 3-5 items) and put the rest in the post text
  2. Route each item: real UI mock first, then an honest analog, then a terminal replay; a checklist only for non-visual fixes, never invented UI
  3. If voiced, write display text and spoken text separately and let the word timestamps drive every beat; captions use the display text
  4. Title card of 3 s or less, the replay and its result, then logo and install line or URL; 15-30 s, 1:1 or 16:9
  5. Check stills before the full render, post with the version and a bullet list, and keep the project as next release's template

What works now (researched 2026-10-27)

Short single-feature videos win: 15–35 s, square or 16:9, the real terminal or UI doing the new thing within 2–3 s, then a logo card (Claude Code /goal: 2.0M views, 6,884 bookmarks). Teams that ship weekly post a numbered thread with one short raw demo each week. Long 'everything we shipped' reels that read out every fix get little reach.

  1. One feature per video, or one feature per 5–8 s scene with at most 3–5 items. Put the full list in the post text or changelog page, not in the video. The top release videos of 2026 each show one thing: /goal (24 s, 2.0M views), Managed Agents memory (15 s, 332k views), Paper Tabs (33 s, 207k views). The multi-item ones list the items in the post and keep the video to a few cards. (ClaudeDevs, Claude Code /goal release video (X, May 2026))
  2. Show the real product: replay the actual command, code or UI and its result (failing tests → goal achieved; tab bar → many files open). A title card may hold for 2–3 s, no longer. /goal spends about 3 s on the title, then replays a real terminal session to 'Goal achieved'. Managed Agents animates the real API call next to the memory panel it changes. Viewers judge the change, so it has to be on screen. (ClaudeDevs, Managed Agents memory update (X, Aug 2026))
  3. Ship on a cadence and treat every big feature as its own launch. If a release flops, change the hook and post again the next week. A founder who posts one launch video a month reports 200k+ views every time and says teams relaunch 3–5 times a month. Adam Fry's weekly ChatGPT 'feature drop' thread reached 362k views. (@fin465, launch video growth playbook (X, Jun 2026))
  4. Lead the post with the version number and the one-line benefit, then mirror the video's 3–5 cards as a bullet list. End the video on the install command or URL. Corey Haines' v1.9.0 release video (30 s, terminal look: version card → new skills → 'also improved' → stats → install line) got 1,952 bookmarks on 83k views, a save ratio of 1.9. (Corey Haines, Marketing Skills v1.9.0 release (X, Apr 2026))
  5. Keep it short. Aim for 10–30 s for a single feature; only a founder-narrated monthly update earns minutes. A widely shared take (158k views, 1,241 bookmarks) argues a feature launch video should be 10 s or less; the strongest single-feature videos here run 15–33 s. (@KMkota0, 'your launch video should probably be 10s or less' (X, Aug 2026))

Stopped working:

Prompts that work

Templates from the creators of the best current results and from the model guides. Fill in the {CAPS}.

Find the release moment worth animating (agent)

First step: the agent reads the release and repo, proposes ranked storyboards, then builds the one you pick in HyperFrames Adapted from @Voxyz_ai, Claude Motion approach prompt for Opus in Claude Code (X, Oct 2026).

Go through this project's latest release notes ({VERSION_RANGE}), the merged PRs, the README and the real UI. Find the changes most worth turning into an animation:
1. The new feature from this release that's most worth showing.
2. A change that falls flat as a bare number, like the new version's speed compared with the old one.
3. A flow one screenshot can't explain.
If the release doesn't have one of these, just say so. Don't force it.

For each idea, say who it's for ({AUDIENCE}), where it will play ({PLATFORM}, {ASPECT}) and how long it runs (15-30 s), then write a storyboard with how many seconds each scene lasts and which words, numbers and screenshots appear on screen. Use only real content from the project. Rank the ideas by how useful they'd be to me.

After I pick one, build it as a code animation with HyperFrames (install it first if it isn't installed), with all the text, numbers and timings kept in one place. Later, when I say "slow down the second scene" or "change this number to {N}", change only that one thing. Render a draft first, grab one frame per second and look through them, fix the problems, then export a 1080p MP4.

Show me the storyboards first. Don't build anything until I pick.

Feature replay: the real command or UI (agent)

One feature, 15-30 s: title card, the real terminal or UI acting out the change, one caption per step, install line Adapted from HyperFrames changelog-video skill and visualization registry (GitHub).

Make a {SECONDS}-second {ASPECT} release video for {PRODUCT} {VERSION} about one feature: {FEATURE}.

Visualize, don't list. Route the feature in this order: (1) a faithful mock of the real UI surface acting out the change, (2) an honest analog whose behavior IS the change (a render bar that finishes faster, a cached row that returns instantly), (3) a terminal replay, (4) a checklist only for non-visual fixes. Never invent UI for a screen that doesn't exist.

Beats: title card "{PRODUCT} {COMMAND_OR_FEATURE_NAME}" for at most 2 s, then the real command or click ({COMMAND}) types in with ~0.02 s per character, the result lands after a 0.3-0.5 s beat, one caption per step (8 words max) on the step it describes, the result holds 1 s, then logo plus "{INSTALL_LINE_OR_URL}".
Brand: {COLORS}, {FONTS}; one accent moment per scene, no more.

If there is a voiceover, write it in two layers: display text for captions and a spoken form for TTS ({TERM} read as "{PHONETIC}"). The voice is the clock: every beat sits on its word timestamps; if the TTS returns none, get them with Whisper.

Check 4 stills (title, mid-replay, result, end card) before the full render, and confirm captions on every spoken frame.

Release-notes promo from real components (agent)

Multi-item version update (3-5 cards) built from the product's own components, with code-written music and SFX Adapted from op7418, guizang product video skill README, changelog promo example prompt (GitHub).

Make an English changelog promo for {PRODUCT} {VERSION}, {SECONDS} s, {ASPECT}, for {AUDIENCE} who may be seeing the product for the first time. Read the release notes and the codebase. Keep the product's own components, fonts and colors; mount real components at video scale instead of drawing fake UI.

Cards: version card (3 s max), then 2-4 "New" cards, one feature each, each shown working in the real UI, then one "Also improved" card (5 short lines max), one stats card using numbers from the release notes only ({STATS}), and the install command or URL ({INSTALL}).

First explain what problem each update solves, then show the operation. Write each update as one plain full sentence: what changed and what is different when you use it. Don't read the commit log line by line; everything else goes in the post text.

First give me the selling points, the storyboard and 4 rendered key frames. After I approve, build the animation, an original music bed and a separate sound effect for each on-screen action (the music dips under each key hit), then export the MP4 and keep the editable project for the next release.

Trending formats to remake

To remake one: download the example with the media-download skill, take a frame a second and the transcript, write a beat list (time, shot, camera, on-screen text, sound), keep what the format needs, swap in the person's product or character (never the creator's face, voice, logo or footage), show the beat list and stills before spending, then make it with the skill named below.

  1. Feature replay: A 2–3 s title card, then the real terminal or UI performs the new feature step by step, with one caption per step, ending on the result and the logo. Why it spreads: Highest proven reach for a release: /goal 2.0M views and 6,884 bookmarks; Managed Agents 332k views and 1,044 bookmarks; Paper Tabs 207k views. Keep: A title card of 3 s or less, then the real command or UI runs the new feature to its result (failing tests to 'goal achieved'), one caption per step, logo card; 15-30 s, square. Swap in your own command and its real output, never a mock of a screen that doesn't exist. Make it with HyperFrames (hyperframes).
    • Example to remake: @ClaudeDevs on X, 2026-05-13, 2M views, 7K saves: 24 s square. Title 'Claude Code /goal' with a pixel mascot → terminal: '/goal all tests pass and lint is clean' → tests fail → edit → 'Goal achieved (4m · 3 turns)' → title again.
    • Example to remake: @ClaudeDevs on X, 2026-08-19, 332K views, 1K saves: 15 s. The code types itself, the changed lines highlight, a memory panel updates beside it, one caption per step, logo card. A clean template for API or SDK releases.
    • Example to remake: @stephenhaney on X, 2026-08-11, 207K views, 435 saves: 33 s, made by a human in After Effects. Opens on the real dashboard; short captions ('tabs, now in Paper', 'let your agents', 'work across different files') ride over UI close-ups; ends 'try tabs today' + logo.
  2. Release-notes card deck: Version card → 2–4 'new' cards → 'also improved' → one stats card → install command. Terminal or brand styling, 20–30 s, square. Why it spreads: Cheap to make from a CHANGELOG file and highly saved: Corey Haines' HyperFrames-made v1.9.0 video got a 1.9 bookmark-to-like ratio. Keep: Version card, 2-4 'new' cards, 'also improved', one stats card, install line, all in one consistent style (green-on-black terminal works), and the post text repeats the same list. Swap the version, items and install command. Make it with HyperFrames (hyperframes).
    • Example to remake: @coreyhainesco on X, 2026-04-24, 83K views, 2K saves: Made with HyperFrames. Green-on-black terminal cards: 'v1.9.0' → '/image' → '/video' → 'Also improved' → '40 skills / 52 integrations' → 'npx skills add …'. The post text repeats the same list.
  3. Weekly feature drop: A numbered thread every week ('This week's feature drop') with one short raw demo, or a founder on camera walking through the new version. Why it spreads: Cadence beats polish for teams that ship weekly: Adam Fry's ChatGPT drops reach 155k–362k views with a 16 s plain screen recording; Farza's v1.0.12 update got 91k views and 580 bookmarks. Keep: Same slot every week: one short raw demo (about 16 s of screen recording on a soft frame) or the founder on camera saying 'this is vX: a, b, c' cut with each demo; list every item in the post. Swap the items, keep the cadence and the numbered format. Make it with Herk Edit Kit (herk-edit-kit).
    • Example to remake: @adamhfry on X, 2026-08-07, 362K views, 293 saves: 16 s raw screen recording of one feature (paste into composer → formatting kept) on a soft gradient frame; the post lists five items. Shows that a weekly habit needs no motion design.
    • Example to remake: @FarzaTV on X, 2026-05-05, 91K views, 580 saves: 'This is v1.0.12. a) b) c)': founder on a bench talking to camera, cut with screen demos of each new feature. herk-edit-kit fits the edit (flub cuts, captions).

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