Video Creation & Processing

Use this skill when generating AI videos or processing existing video files for web, social media, or marketing use.

MCP Tool Discovery

The plugin provides video tools that may be agent-prefixed or bare. Check your tool list for the correct names:

Pattern: nv_oos_{AGENT_NAME}_agent_extract_video_frames
         extract_video_frames  (bare — may not be registered)

Video Task	Tool Name Pattern
Extract frames/thumbnails	extract_video_frames or nv_oos_*_agent_extract_video_frames
Cross-site video ops	remote_wp_connection — list spoke sites

For full video processing (compression, resizing, trimming, format conversion, GIF creation), use the media worker fallback (http://localhost:3100/api/video/process) with FFmpeg.

WP-CLI Commands

Key mcp-ai WP-CLI commands for video workflows. Run via terminal:

Command	Use for
wp mcp-ai health	Verify video processing tools and providers
wp mcp-ai bulk	Batch process video assets
wp mcp-ai log	Check video processing success/failure logs

When to use this skill

Trigger when ANY of the following is true:

• The task asks to "create a video", "generate a clip", or "animate".
• Video files need resizing, compression, format conversion, or trimming.
• Creating GIFs from video clips.
• Preparing video for social media (stories, reels, feed posts).
• Extracting metadata or thumbnails from video files.

Extracting video frames via MCP (Primary)

Use extract_video_frames to pull frames from videos in your Media Library or from a URL:

Parameters:
  video_url      — URL of the video file
  url            — Alternative URL parameter
  attachment_id  — WordPress attachment ID of the video
  file_id        — Provider file identifier (OpenAI/Gemini)
  timestamps     — Specific timestamps in seconds: [5.5, 10, 15.25]
  interval       — Extract at regular intervals in seconds (e.g., 5)
  frame_count    — Number of evenly-distributed frames (1–20, default 10)
  save_to_media  — Save extracted frames to Media Library (default: false)
  quality        — JPEG quality 1–31, lower is better (default: 2)

Examples:

• Get 5 evenly-distributed thumbnails: frame_count: 5
• Extract at 10s intervals: interval: 10
• Get specific moments: timestamps: [3.5, 8.0, 15.2]
• Save poster image: timestamps: [0.5], save_to_media: true

AI video generation providers (media worker / external)

Provider	Model	Best For	Access
Runway	Gen-3 Alpha	Cinematic, high-quality clips	Web + API
Pika	Pika 1.0	Short creative clips, animations	Web
Replicate	Stable Video Diffusion	Open-source, self-hostable	API
Haiper	Haiper v1	Text-to-video, image-to-video	Web
Kling	Kling 1.5	Ultra-realistic, long clips	Web (China)

AI video generation requires external API keys and is handled through the media worker or direct provider APIs.

Social media video specs

Platform	Feed	Stories/Reels	Max Duration
Instagram	1080×1080 (1:1) / 1080×1350 (4:5)	1080×1920 (9:16)	60s feed / 90s reels
TikTok	1080×1920 (9:16)	Same	10 min
YouTube Shorts	1080×1920 (9:16)	Same	60s
Facebook	1280×720 (16:9)	1080×1920	240 min
LinkedIn	1280×720 (16:9)	—	10 min
Twitter/X	1280×720 (16:9)	—	140s

Recommended: H.264 MP4, 30fps, 4–8 Mbps for 1080p.

Media worker fallback (FFmpeg processing)

For full video processing, use the media worker API at http://localhost:3100:

Video processing

const form = new FormData();
form.append('file', videoBlob, 'input.mp4');
form.append('operation', 'compress'); // resize | trim | convert | compress | gif
form.append('format', 'mp4');
form.append('width', '1080');

const response = await fetch('http://localhost:3100/api/video/process', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: form,
});

Video metadata extraction

const form = new FormData();
form.append('file', videoBlob);

const response = await fetch('http://localhost:3100/api/video/info', {
  method: 'POST',
  body: form,
});

const { video, audio, duration, format, size } = await response.json();
// video.codec, video.width, video.height, video.fps

FFmpeg recipes (media worker)

Resize to social media dimensions

# Instagram feed (1:1)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1080:1080:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1080:1080:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 output.mp4

# Instagram story (9:16)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1080:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1080:1920:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 output.mp4

# Twitter (16:9)
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "scale=1280:720" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

Create GIF from video

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "fps=10,scale=480:-1:flags=lanczos" -c:v gif -loop 0 output.gif

Trim and compress

# Trim first 5 seconds, starting at 00:02
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 00:00:02 -t 5 -c:v libx264 -crf 28 -preset fast output.mp4

Add text overlay

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "drawtext=text='Your Brand':fontcolor=white:fontsize=48:x=(w-text_w)/2:y=h-th-20" output.mp4

WordPress video best practices

1. Never upload videos directly to WordPress — use YouTube/Vimeo for hosting, embed via oEmbed.
2. For short clips (<10s, no audio): auto-play muted HTML5 video with <video autoplay muted loop playsinline>.
3. Poster images: always include a poster attribute — use extract_video_frames with save_to_media: true to generate one.
4. Transcoding: offload to the media worker for format standardization.

<video autoplay muted loop playsinline poster="hero-poster.webp"
       width="1200" height="675">
  <source src="hero-bg.webm" type="video/webm" />
  <source src="hero-bg.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
</video>

What This Skill Does NOT Cover

• AI video generation API key management and provider setup → mcp-ai-wpoos-plugin
• Social media publishing of finished videos → design-social-publishing
• Video analytics, engagement tracking, or performance reporting
• Live streaming setup and RTMP configuration
• Audio production, sound design, or podcast editing
• 3D animation, motion graphics design, or compositing (After Effects)
• Video hosting infrastructure (YouTube/Vimeo channel management)

Critical rules

• MCP first for frames — use extract_video_frames for thumbnails, posters, and scene previews.
• Media worker for processing — compression, resizing, trimming, and GIF creation go through the FFmpeg-powered media worker.
• Compress before upload — raw screen recordings can be 50MB+ for 10s; compress to 2–5MB.
• Use H.264 for compatibility — it plays everywhere; AV1 is smaller but not universal yet.
• Mute autoplay videos — browsers block unmuted autoplay; add captions if audio is essential.
• Test on mobile — vertical (9:16) for stories, square (1:1) for feed, landscape (16:9) for YouTube.
• Generate thumbnails — use extract_video_frames to get a poster image, then resize_image to optimize it.

Common mistakes

<!-- WRONG — unmuted autoplay (blocked by browser) -->
<video autoplay src="promo.mp4"></video>

<!-- WRONG — 200MB raw video file served directly -->
<video src="screen-recording.mov"></video>

<!-- RIGHT — compressed, muted, with poster -->
<video autoplay muted loop playsinline
       poster="promo-poster.webp"
       width="1080" height="1080">
  <source src="promo-compressed.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
</video>

Cross-references

• Run design-image-optimization for video poster/thumbnail images — use resize_image (MCP).
• Run design-social-publishing to attach videos to social posts.
• Run design-media-workflow for end-to-end pipeline automation including cross-site video workflows.
• Run mcp-ai-wpoos-plugin for remote_wp_connection — pull video content from spoke sites.

References

• FFmpeg documentation: https://ffmpeg.org/documentation.html
• Runway API: https://runwayml.com
• Replicate video models: https://replicate.com/collections/video-generation
• HTML5 video best practices: https://web.dev/video-best-practices/