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Generate AI Videos from Claude Code: The Golpo Skill Plugin

Install the Golpo skill for Claude Code and generate animated explainer videos without leaving your terminal. Type a request, hand Claude a prompt, a script, an audio file, or a PDF, and Claude submits the job, polls until it is done, downloads the MP4 to your computer, and prints both the local file path and the hosted URL. This guide explains what the plugin does, how to install it, how the first-run setup works, and how to get the API key you need to use it.

Golpo Team8 min read
Claude Code terminal showing the Golpo skill submitting a video generation job and printing the local MP4 path and hosted URL when the job finishes

The Golpo skill for Claude Code is a plugin that turns your Claude Code conversation into a video pipeline. You type a normal request — "make a 30-second video about why the sky is blue," or "summarize this PDF as a video" — and Claude submits the job to Golpo, watches it render, and downloads the finished MP4 to your computer. Everything happens inside the terminal you were already working in. No browser tab, no copy-pasting URLs, no waiting around.

This guide explains what the plugin is, what it can do, how to install it, and how to get the API key you need to use it.

What the plugin is

The Golpo skill is published as a Claude Code plugin and listed in the Anthropic plugin directory as Golpo Video. Inside the manifest the plugin id is golpo and the marketplace id is GolpoSkill — those are the case-sensitive identifiers you use to install (see the install commands below). When installed, it registers a single skill called golpo that Claude Code automatically triggers when it sees video-related phrasing in your messages — "make a video", "create an explainer", "turn this into a whiteboard video", and so on.

Under the hood the skill is a small Python helper. Claude calls the helper to verify your environment, save your API key on first run, upload any attachments, submit the generate job, poll the status endpoint, and download the resulting MP4. You never have to touch the helper directly — but it is also a fully working CLI on its own if you want to script around it.

Source code and full documentation live on GitHub at github.com/Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill.

What it can do

The skill exposes the full Golpo video API through plain English. Anything you can do via the API or the Golpo dashboard, you can ask Claude to do for you in conversation:

  • Generate from a prompt: "Make a 30-second video about why the sky is blue."
  • Generate from your own script: Paste the script and Claude sends it as new_script with timing that is at most 1050 characters per min.
  • Use your own narration audio: Point Claude at a local .mp3 or .m4a file and it uploads the audio, then submits the job with audio_clip set.
  • Summarize a PDF, DOCX, PPTX, or TXT as a video: Hand Claude a document path and it uploads the file and passes it as upload_urls.
  • Embed your own images or videos in the output: Provide URLs and descriptions, and the skill wires them into the payload.
  • Pick a visual engine: Golpo Sketch (Classic, Improved, Formal, Dry Erase, Professional Clean, Crayon), or Golpo Canvas (Chalkboard B/W, Chalkboard Color, Whiteboard, Modern Minimal, Playful, Technical, Editorial, Sharpie). On Canvas you can also add a drawing-cursor effect with stylus, marker, or pen.
  • Pick a voice and language: Four voices (warm female, energetic female, calm male, dramatic male), 44+ languages, and on Canvas you can split narration language and on-screen text language — for example, Hindi voice with English on-screen text.
  • Add background music: jazz, lofi, whimsical, dramatic, engaging, hyper, inspirational, or documentary.
  • Choose vertical or horizontal format: 16:9 long-form or 9:16 vertical short.
  • Manage videos you have already made: "List my last 5 videos," or "re-download video <id>."

By default, the skill saves every finished MP4 to ~/Golpo/videos/ with a readable filename like 20260429-015405_why-is-the-sky-blue_a1b2c3d4.mp4 — date, slugified title, short video ID. You can override the destination per video ("save it to ~/Desktop/clips/") or globally with the GOLPO_VIDEO_DIR environment variable. The hosted URL is always printed too, in case you want to share without downloading.

How to get started

Step 1 — Install the plugin

The fastest install is through the Claude Code plugin marketplace. Inside Claude Code, run:

/plugin marketplace add Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill

/plugin install golpo@GolpoSkill

Both names are case-sensitive: golpo is the plugin name, GolpoSkill is the marketplace name. Once installed, you can update later with /plugin update golpo as new versions ship.

If you would rather install manually, clone the repo into your Claude Code plugins directory:

git clone https://github.com/Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill.git ~/.claude/plugins/golpo

Then restart Claude Code so it picks up the new plugin.

Step 2 — Make sure Python and requests are installed

The helper script needs Python 3.8 or newer (preinstalled on macOS and most Linux distros) and the requests library. If requests are missing, the skill will tell you exactly what to run:

pip3 install --user requests

Step 3 — Get a Golpo API key

The skill needs a Golpo API key to do anything. There are three ways to get one:

  • Subscribe to the Scale plan (monthly/yearly) — API access is included by default.
  • Buy the API add-on on the Business plan — adds API access on top of your existing Business subscription.
  • Subscribe to the API-Only plan — an API-first tier with no UI seat included and completely usage-based with no monthly commitment.

Pick whichever fits how you plan to use Golpo and grab your API key from the dashboard. Plans and pricing details are at video.golpoai.com.

Step 4 — First-run setup

The first time you ask Claude to make a video, three things happen automatically:

  • Environment check: Claude runs golpo.py check and confirms Python, requests, and the API key are in place.
  • Key prompt: If the key is not configured, Claude explains that the skill needs your API key, then asks you to paste it.
  • Save: Behind the scenes, the helper writes your key to ~/.golpo/api_key with 0600 permissions. Subsequent invocations skip auth.

If you ever need to rotate the key, you can do it from the terminal directly:

python3 ~/.claude/plugins/golpo/skills/golpo/scripts/golpo.py auth --key NEW_KEY --force

Or set GOLPO_API_KEY as an environment variable, which overrides the saved file.

What it looks like in practice

Once installed and authenticated, you just talk to Claude:

You: Make a 30-second video about why the sky is blue.

Claude: ✓ Submitted. Polling… Generating… done.

Saved to ~/Golpo/videos/20260429-015405_why-is-the-sky-blue_a1b2c3d4.mp4

Also at your library on https://video.golpoai.com/ (if on a monthly/yearly plan) and also hosted at https://golpo-podcast-inputs.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/files/894a-…mp4


A few more examples of phrasing that the skill handles cleanly:

  • "Make it a vertical short with marker style." — adds --video_type short --use_2_0_style true --image_style marker.
  • "Use this script: …" — adds --new_script "…" and bumps the duration if the script runs longer than the requested timing.
  • "Use my voice from ~/voice.mp3." — uploads the audio, then passes --audio_clip <url>.
  • "Summarize this PDF: ~/report.pdf." — uploads the file, then passes --upload_urls <url>.
  • "Hindi narration with English captions." — sets --language hi --display_language en on Canvas.
  • "Don't download, just give me the URL." — adds --no_download.
  • "List my last 5 videos." — runs golpo.py list --limit 5.

You do not need to remember any flags. Claude reads your message, figures out what you mean, picks reasonable defaults for anything you did not specify, and only asks follow-up questions when something is genuinely ambiguous.

How the skill works internally

The skill is deliberately simple. Each conversation that touches video generation goes through these steps:

  • Trigger: Claude Code matches your message against the description field of SKILL.md. The skill fires on phrasing like "make a video," "create an explainer," "summarize this PDF as a video," and so on.
  • Bootstrap: Claude runs golpo.py check to confirm Python, requests, and the API key are configured.
  • Auth (first run only): If the key is missing, Claude asks you to paste it and saves it via golpo.py auth --key <KEY>.
  • Plan: Claude turns your intent into a concrete payload, defaulting anything you did not explicitly specify.
  • Upload: For audio or document inputs, Claude calls golpo.py upload per file. The helper handles the two-step flow: POST /api/v1/videos/upload-file to get a presigned S3 URL, then a PUT of the file bytes to that URL.
  • Generate: golpo.py generate posts to /api/v1/videos/generate, captures the job_id and video_id, and polls /api/v1/videos/status/{job_id} until terminal. Polling backs off exponentially (5 s → 30 s) and retries 5xx responses up to 5 times.
  • Download: When the API returns video_url, the helper streams the MP4 to ~/Golpo/videos/ (or your chosen override) with a readable filename.
  • Report: The helper prints VIDEO_FILE=<path> and VIDEO_URL=<url>. Claude shows both to you with a clickable file link.

Direct CLI use

Because the helper is a standalone CLI, you do not have to use Claude Code to drive it. Anywhere a shell will run, you can use it directly:

HELPER=~/.claude/plugins/golpo/skills/golpo/scripts/golpo.py


# Sanity check

python3 "$HELPER" check


# Save the API key

python3 "$HELPER" auth --key sk-...


# Upload an attachment

python3 "$HELPER" upload ~/report.pdf

# -> FILE_URL=https://...


# Generate (auto-downloads to ~/Golpo/videos/)

python3 "$HELPER" generate \

--prompt "Summarize this report" \

--upload_urls "https://..." \

--use_2_0_style true --image_style marker --pen_style stylus \

--timing 1 --video_type long


# Manage existing videos

python3 "$HELPER" list --limit 10

python3 "$HELPER" get <video_id> # re-downloads

python3 "$HELPER" status <job_id>

Run python3 "$HELPER" generate --help to see every flag.

A few things worth knowing before you ship

  • Sketch and Canvas are mutually exclusive. Pick one engine per video.
  • display_language only works on Canvas. Setting it on Sketch is silently ignored — the on-screen text falls back to language.
  • Document URLs are single-use. Once you pass a file_url into upload_urls, it is deleted after extraction. Audio URLs persist.
  • Pricing is metered and as per the plan you are on. Billing happens server-side; check your usage at video.golpoai.com.
  • API access is plan-gated. If a job returns "Your current plan does not include API access," upgrade to Scale, add the API add-on to Business, or move to the API-Only plan.

Wrap up

If you live in Claude Code anyway, the Golpo skill is the shortest possible path from "I want a video about X" to a finished MP4 sitting on your desktop. Install the plugin, paste your API key once, and the next time you need an explainer, ask for it the same way you would ask Claude to write a function or summarize a file.

Get the plugin: github.com/Golpo-AI/golpo-claude-skill. Get an API key (Scale plan, API add-on on Business, or the API-Only plan) at video.golpoai.com. Full API reference: video.golpoai.com/api-docs/endpoints/v1.

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