AI-powered technical animation with ManimCE

English · 简体中文

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What is this?

manim-skill is a reusable skill package for creating technical animations with ManimCE. It works as a Codex native skill and as an agent-agnostic playbook for any AI coding assistant that reads markdown.

You describe the animation you want. The agent handles the rest — pattern selection, code generation, rendering, troubleshooting, and iteration.

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⚡ Agent Capabilities

When provided with SKILL.md and relevant references/ docs, AI agents can autonomously:

Step	What the agent does
1. Pattern selection	Choose the right animation type (bars, graphs, diagrams, 3D, camera moves)
2. Code generation	Write correct ManimCE scene code from your description
3. Rendering	Execute render commands with appropriate quality flags
4. Troubleshooting	Fix FFmpeg, TeX, font, and environment issues automatically
5. Iteration	Refine timing, colors, and layout until the output matches your intent

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🎨 Supported Agents & IDEs

Agent / IDE	How to use
Codex	Install as a native skill folder (~/.codex/skills/...)
Claude Code / Cursor / Cline	Use SKILL.md + references/ as project instructions or prompt context
Other agents	Use this repository as a structured Manim playbook

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🔥 Quick Start

Install

Option 1: Codex native skill

# macOS / Linux
python ~/.codex/skills/.system/skill-installer/scripts/install-skill-from-github.py \
  --repo awesome-skills/manim-skill \
  --path . \
  --name manim-skill

# Windows PowerShell
python $HOME\.codex\skills\.system\skill-installer\scripts\install-skill-from-github.py `
  --repo awesome-skills/manim-skill `
  --path . `
  --name manim-skill

Option 2: Standalone playbook

git clone https://github.com/awesome-skills/manim-skill.git
cd manim-skill

Then feed SKILL.md and relevant references/ files into your agent workflow.

Render

# Fast preview (480p)
uv run --with manim manim -pql examples/quicksort.py QuickSortBars

# GIF export (720p)
uv run --with manim manim -qm --format=gif examples/quicksort.py QuickSortBars

# 4K showcase (2160p60)
manim -qk examples/quicksort.py QuickSortBars

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🎬 Preview

▶️ Download preview video · 📷 Static fallback image

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📚 Content Overview

File	Lines	Description
SKILL.md	~380	Core instructions — loaded on skill activation
references/mobjects.md	~860	Mobject types, positioning, styling, grouping
references/animations.md	~620	Animation classes, timing, chaining, transforms
references/advanced.md	~890	3D scenes, camera, ValueTracker, updaters, custom anims
references/blog-patterns.md	~410	Blog-ready patterns: hero banners, step-by-step, comparisons

Total: 3,100+ lines of ManimCE guidance, loaded progressively per topic.

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📄 Examples

File	What it demonstrates
examples/basic_scene.py	Minimal scene setup, shapes, text, basic animations
examples/quicksort.py	Algorithm visualization with bar charts and step labels
examples/flowchart.py	Flowchart construction with arrows and styled boxes
examples/state_diagram.py	State machine with transitions and highlighting

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📁 Repository Structure

manim-skill/
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+-- SKILL.md                     # Core skill instructions (~380 lines)
+-- README.md                    # English documentation
+-- README.zh-CN.md              # Chinese documentation
|
+-- examples/                    # Ready-to-run animation scenes
|   +-- basic_scene.py           # Minimal hello-world scene
|   +-- quicksort.py             # Algorithm bar chart animation
|   +-- flowchart.py             # Flowchart with arrows and boxes
|   +-- state_diagram.py         # State machine visualization
|
+-- references/                  # Progressive reference guides
|   +-- mobjects.md              # Shapes, text, tables, graphs, grouping
|   +-- animations.md            # Create, Transform, Fade, timing control
|   +-- advanced.md              # 3D, camera, ValueTracker, updaters
|   +-- blog-patterns.md         # Blog-ready animation recipes
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+-- assets/                      # Media assets
    +-- banner.svg               # Repository banner
    +-- quicksort-preview.mp4    # Preview video
    +-- quicksort-preview.png    # Static fallback image

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✨ Key Highlights

• ManimCE v0.19+ — No external FFmpeg needed (uses pyav internally)
• Progressive loading — Only load the reference docs relevant to your task
• Windows-friendly — PowerShell setup, uv run one-liners, font fallback tips
• TeX-free fallback — Numeric labels and Text() alternatives when LaTeX is unavailable
• Production-ready — Quality presets from 480p preview to 4K60 showcase

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Priority areas:

• New algorithm animation templates
• Better cross-platform troubleshooting
• More agent integration examples
• Framework-specific patterns (D3-style, Matplotlib-style)
• Translations

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📄 License

MIT © awesome-skills