Explainer

When to Use

• User wants to create an explainer or tutorial video
• User asks to "explain" something in video form
• User wants narrated content with AI-generated visuals
• User says "explainer video", "解说视频", "tutorial video"

When NOT to Use

• User wants audio-only content without visuals (use /speech or /podcast)
• User wants a podcast-style discussion (use /podcast)
• User wants to generate a standalone image (use /image-gen)
• User wants to read text aloud without video (use /speech)

Purpose

Generate explainer videos that combine a single narrator's voiceover with AI-generated visuals. Ideal for product introductions, concept explanations, and tutorials. Supports text-only script generation or full text + video output.

Hard Constraints

• No shell scripts. Construct curl commands from the API reference files listed in Resources
• Always read shared/authentication.md for API key and headers
• Follow shared/common-patterns.md for polling, errors, and interaction patterns
• Always read config following shared/config-pattern.md before any interaction
• Never hardcode speaker IDs — always fetch from the speakers API
• Never save files to ~/Downloads/ — use .listenhub/explainer/ from config
• Explainer uses exactly 1 speaker
• Mode must be info (for Info style) or story (for Story style) — never slides (use /slides skill instead)

\x3CHARD-GATE> Use the AskUserQuestion tool for every multiple-choice step — do NOT print options as plain text. Ask one question at a time. Wait for the user's answer before proceeding to the next step. After all parameters are collected, summarize the choices and ask the user to confirm. Do NOT call any generation API until the user has explicitly confirmed.

\x3C/HARD-GATE>

Step -1: API Key Check

Follow shared/config-pattern.md § API Key Check. If the key is missing, stop immediately.

Step 0: Config Setup

Follow shared/config-pattern.md Step 0.

If file doesn't exist — ask location, then create immediately:

mkdir -p ".listenhub/explainer"
echo '{"outputDir":".listenhub","outputMode":"inline","language":null,"defaultStyle":null,"defaultSpeakers":{}}' > ".listenhub/explainer/config.json"
CONFIG_PATH=".listenhub/explainer/config.json"
# (or $HOME/.listenhub/explainer/config.json for global)

Then run Setup Flow below.

If file exists — read config, display summary, and confirm:

当前配置 (explainer)：
  输出方式：{inline / download / both}
  语言偏好：{zh / en / 未设置}
  默认风格：{info / story / 未设置}
  默认主播：{speakerName / 未设置}

Ask: "使用已保存的配置？" → 确认，直接继续 / 重新配置

Setup Flow (first run or reconfigure)

Ask these questions in order, then save all answers to config at once:

1. outputMode: Follow shared/output-mode.md § Setup Flow Question.

2. Language (optional): "默认语言？"

   • "中文 (zh)"
   • "English (en)"
   • "每次手动选择" → keep null

3. Style (optional): "默认风格？"

   • "Info — 信息展示型"
   • "Story — 故事叙述型"
   • "每次手动选择" → keep null

After collecting answers, save immediately:

# Follow shared/output-mode.md § Save to Config
NEW_CONFIG=$(echo "$CONFIG" | jq --arg m "$OUTPUT_MODE" '. + {"outputMode": $m}')
echo "$NEW_CONFIG" > "$CONFIG_PATH"
CONFIG=$(cat "$CONFIG_PATH")

Note: defaultSpeakers are saved after generation (see After Successful Generation section).

Interaction Flow

Step 1: Topic / Content

Free text input. Ask the user:

What would you like to explain or introduce?

Accept: topic description, text content, or concept to explain.

Step 2: Language

If config.language is set, pre-fill and show in summary — skip this question. Otherwise ask:

Question: "What language?"
Options:
  - "Chinese (zh)" — Content in Mandarin Chinese
  - "English (en)" — Content in English

Step 3: Style

If config.defaultStyle is set, pre-fill and show in summary — skip this question. Otherwise ask:

Question: "What style of explainer?"
Options:
  - "Info" — Informational, factual presentation style
  - "Story" — Narrative, storytelling approach

Step 4: Speaker Selection

Follow shared/speaker-selection.md for the full selection flow, including:

• Default from config.defaultSpeakers.{language} (skip step if set)
• Text table + free-text input
• Input matching and re-prompt on no match

Only 1 speaker is supported for explainer videos.

Step 5: Output Type

Question: "What output do you want?"
Options:
  - "Text script only" — Generate narration script, no video
  - "Text + Video" — Generate full explainer video with AI visuals

Step 6: Confirm & Generate

Summarize all choices:

Ready to generate explainer:

  Topic: {topic}
  Language: {language}
  Style: {info/story}
  Speaker: {speaker name}
  Output: {text only / text + video}

  Proceed?

Wait for explicit confirmation before calling any API.

Workflow

1. Submit (foreground): POST /storybook/episodes with content, speaker, language, mode → extract episodeId

2. Tell the user the task is submitted

3. Poll (background): Run the following exact bash command with run_in_background: true and timeout: 600000. Do NOT use python3, awk, or any other JSON parser — use jq as shown:

   EPISODE_ID="\x3Cid-from-step-1>"
   for i in $(seq 1 30); do
     RESULT=$(curl -sS "https://api.marswave.ai/openapi/v1/storybook/episodes/$EPISODE_ID" \
       -H "Authorization: Bearer $LISTENHUB_API_KEY" 2>/dev/null)
     STATUS=$(echo "$RESULT" | tr -d '\000-\037\177' | jq -r '.data.processStatus // "pending"')
     case "$STATUS" in
       success|completed) echo "$RESULT"; exit 0 ;;
       failed|error) echo "FAILED: $RESULT" >&2; exit 1 ;;
       *) sleep 10 ;;
     esac
   done
   echo "TIMEOUT" >&2; exit 2
   

4. When notified, download and present script:

   Read OUTPUT_MODE from config. Follow shared/output-mode.md for behavior.

   inline or both: Present the script inline.

   Present:

   解说脚本已生成！
   
   「{title}」
   
   在线查看：https://listenhub.ai/app/explainer/{episodeId}
   

   download or both: Also save the script file.

   • Create .listenhub/explainer/YYYY-MM-DD-{episodeId}/
   • Write {episodeId}.md from the generated script content
   • Present the download path in addition to the above summary.

5. If video requested: POST /storybook/episodes/{episodeId}/video (foreground) → poll again (background) using the exact bash command below with run_in_background: true and timeout: 600000. Poll for videoStatus, not processStatus:

   EPISODE_ID="\x3Cid-from-step-1>"
   for i in $(seq 1 30); do
     RESULT=$(curl -sS "https://api.marswave.ai/openapi/v1/storybook/episodes/$EPISODE_ID" \
       -H "Authorization: Bearer $LISTENHUB_API_KEY" 2>/dev/null)
     STATUS=$(echo "$RESULT" | tr -d '\000-\037\177' | jq -r '.data.videoStatus // "pending"')
     case "$STATUS" in
       success|completed) echo "$RESULT"; exit 0 ;;
       failed|error) echo "FAILED: $RESULT" >&2; exit 1 ;;
       *) sleep 10 ;;
     esac
   done
   echo "TIMEOUT" >&2; exit 2
   

6. When notified, download and present result:

Present result

Read OUTPUT_MODE from config. Follow shared/output-mode.md for behavior.

inline or both: Display video URL and audio URL as clickable links.

Present:

解说视频已生成！

视频链接：{videoUrl}
音频链接：{audioUrl}
时长：{duration}s
消耗积分：{credits}

download or both: Also download the audio file.

DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
JOB_DIR=".listenhub/explainer/${DATE}-{jobId}"
mkdir -p "$JOB_DIR"
curl -sS -o "${JOB_DIR}/{jobId}.mp3" "{audioUrl}"

Present the download path in addition to the above summary.

After Successful Generation

Update config with the choices made this session:

NEW_CONFIG=$(echo "$CONFIG" | jq \
  --arg lang "{language}" \
  --arg style "{info/story}" \
  --arg speakerId "{speakerId}" \
  '. + {"language": $lang, "defaultStyle": $style, "defaultSpeakers": (.defaultSpeakers + {($lang): [$speakerId]})}')
echo "$NEW_CONFIG" > "$CONFIG_PATH"

Estimated times:

• Text script only: 2-3 minutes
• Text + Video: 3-5 minutes

API Reference

• Speaker list: shared/api-speakers.md
• Speaker selection guide: shared/speaker-selection.md
• Episode creation: shared/api-storybook.md
• Polling: shared/common-patterns.md § Async Polling
• Config pattern: shared/config-pattern.md

Composability

• Invokes: speakers API (for speaker selection); may invoke /speech for voiceover
• Invoked by: content-planner (Phase 3)

Example

User: "Create an explainer video introducing Claude Code"

Agent workflow:

1. Topic: "Claude Code introduction"
2. Ask language → "English"
3. Ask style → "Info"
4. Fetch speakers, user picks "cozy-man-english"
5. Ask output → "Text + Video"

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.marswave.ai/openapi/v1/storybook/episodes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LISTENHUB_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sources": [{"type": "text", "content": "Introduce Claude Code: what it is, key features, and how to get started"}],
    "speakers": [{"speakerId": "cozy-man-english"}],
    "language": "en",
    "mode": "info"
  }'

Poll until text is ready, then generate video if requested.