F12 — Hero-component spine is a templating anti-pattern. The first
atelier proof (alexandria-fire) leaned on a single candle as scaffolding
under every scene with different text below — same hero, different
caption — which is exactly the "branded slides" pattern atelier was
supposed to break. The signature device is meant to appear in ONE or
at most two beats (typically the climactic moment), not as the visual
scaffolding of every scene. Each scene must earn its own composition:
a different primary visual subject, a different scale, a different motion
register. Doctrine added as step 1.5 in skills/meta/bespoke-composition.md
("Plan each scene as its own composition") plus a reviewer
scene_distinctness gate enforced at compose stage — the reviewer samples
one representative frame per scene and refuses to pass if two or more
scenes share their primary visual subject.
F9 — Captions/on-screen-text dedup. When a SerifLine reads the script
verbatim AND auto-captions emit the same text, the piece looks amateurish
even when the rest is beautiful. Rule added under engine mechanics: decide
once per piece whether captions add meaning (numbers, names, translations,
attributions) or are accessibility subtitles echoing narration — never
both for the same content. Reviewer gate at compose stage compares active
caption text against on-screen text in the same time window.
Both gates are CRITICAL; the publish-stage check was updated to expect
six (was four) resolved atelier findings.
Self-audit of alexandria-fire under the new rules: 4 of 5 scenes share
the candle as their primary visual subject — would now flag CRITICAL
scene_distinctness and require re-planning. (Re-author the piece in a
follow-up; the doctrine is the deliverable here.)
Closes the two biggest gaps from the atelier audit: hero bespoke renders
were skipping every automated quality gate, and the templated→atelier
inversion was advisory rather than enforced.
F6 — _render_via_atelier now runs the full _run_final_review (technical
probe + visual spotcheck + audio spotcheck + duration drift + transcript
comparison) plus two atelier-specific doctrine checks:
- stock_reuse_check: rglobs the bespoke project tree for imports from
the stock creative registry (src/components, src/Explainer, etc.).
Any hit fails the render with status="fail" and names the offending
file — the doctrine bypass is now mechanically caught.
- art_direction_check: requires edit_decisions.bespoke.art_direction.
Missing → warning surfaced in final_review.issues_found; forcing
function for step 1 of skills/meta/bespoke-composition.md.
Verified end-to-end on the compound-snowball proof render: positive case
status=pass, atelier checks clean; negative case (deliberate stock import
+ missing art_direction) returns status=fail with both findings named.
F7 — skills/meta/reviewer.md gets a "Composition Authoring Mode Review"
section that enforces the inversion at every stage:
- proposal: composition_mode must be a presented decision with both
options; hero briefs default to atelier; templated for hero requires
an explicit sanctioned reason.
- scene_plan/edit: any stock cut.type in an atelier piece is CRITICAL;
bespoke.{entry, composition_id, art_direction} required.
- compose: consumes final_review.checks.atelier from F6; mandates a
recorded distinctness review (the human taste call the tool can't
automate — its absence is itself CRITICAL).
- publish: blocks ship on any unresolved atelier finding.
Engine knowledge stays reusable; creative components don't.
Separates creative grammar (renderer_family) from technical engine
(render_runtime) so HyperFrames can stand alongside Remotion as a
first-class runtime instead of masquerading as a Remotion sub-case.
Locks runtime choice at proposal stage and enforces it end-to-end: the
schemas require it, video_compose routes by it, the reviewer fails
closed on silent swaps, and a parametrized contract test walks every
pipeline manifest to ensure each planning-stage skill explains the
conversation to the user. Adds hyperframes_compose (scaffold/lint/
validate/render/doctor/add_block), a playbook -> CSS style bridge, and
vendored HyperFrames Layer 3 skills from commit d291358, pinned via
PROVENANCE.md for future re-sync. Final_review now records
render_runtime_used and runtime_swap_detected so compose lies are
catchable after the fact.
Implements the 2026-04-02 transformation spec (Phases 1-8) and fixes all
critical bugs found during 5-pipeline E2E testing.
Governance & Decision Intelligence:
- Pipeline-specific stage order in checkpoint (replaces global STAGES list)
- Provider scoring engine (lib/scoring.py) with 7-dimension weighted ranking
- Decision log artifact enforced at proposal/idea stage across all 10 pipelines
- Delivery promise classifier prevents silent motion-to-still downgrades
- Structured shot language in scene_plan schema (camera, lens, lighting, DOF)
- Variation checker and slideshow risk scorer block samey output before render
- Creative intake, capability extension, and creative-intake meta skills
- Final self-review artifact with 5 mandatory checks before presenting output
- Source media review contract for user-supplied footage
Render & Theme System:
- Remotion AnimatedBackground now derives colors from playbook (no more hardcoded
dark blue fintech gradient on every video)
- video_compose builds custom ThemeConfig from playbook YAML colors/fonts —
custom playbooks flow through to Remotion automatically
- Explainer component wires theme to all child components (charts, cards, etc.)
- resolveAsset() handles absolute paths on Windows/Unix via file:// URIs
- RENDERER_FAMILY_MAP synced with actual Remotion compositions
Critical Bug Fixes:
- Windows npx subprocess: run_command() resolves .cmd wrappers via shutil.which()
- Silent renderer downgrade: Remotion failure now returns explicit error with
options instead of silently falling back to FFmpeg
- .env inline comment parsing strips trailing # comments from API keys
- concat_path UnboundLocalError in video_compose finally block
- audio_mixer and showcase_card capture=True kwarg bug
- Selector estimate_cost() calls fixed (_select_tool -> _select_best_tool)
- asset_manifest schema expanded with provider, license, subtype fields
- screen-demo subtitle_gen moved from required to optional tools
- Duration drift detection in post-render final review (>25% warns)
calesthio