Pipeline Notes

Automation and APIs for video creators

Automate short video like you automate deploys

Turning one long recording into a week of vertical clips is a pipeline problem. It has inputs, stages, failure modes and a cost per run. This site treats it that way.

The guides here are written for developers and technical creators who would rather script a job once than repeat it by hand every week. Expect shell commands you can run, JSON you can read, links to the official documentation behind every platform limit, and honest notes on what is worth building yourself.

$ ingest episode.mp4 # pull the long recording
$ transcribe --srt   # speech to timed text
$ find-highlights    # score and rank moments
$ cut --vertical     # 9:16 reframe, captions burned in
$ publish --schedule # upload through official APIs
  • PipelinesIngest, transcription, highlight detection, cutting, reframing, captions and retries, stage by stage.
  • FormatsContainers, codecs, bitrates and frame rates that platforms accept, with ffmpeg commands that work.
  • APIs and webhooksUploading and scheduling through official endpoints, and wiring clips into Drupal, WordPress or a headless CMS.
  • Build vs buyWhere open source tools shine, where hosted tools save weeks, and how to tell which one you need.

Guides

  1. How an automated clip pipeline works, stage by stageIngest, transcription, highlight detection, cutting, reframing, captions, export, storage, retries and cost: an engineer's map of a short video clip pipeline.
  2. Headless video tools: connect clipping to your site or CMSHow to wire a clipping pipeline into Drupal, WordPress or a headless CMS: media storage, JSON:API and REST uploads, webhooks, decoupled front ends and embeds.
  3. Automate Shorts publishing with APIs and webhooksUpload and schedule Shorts with the YouTube Data API: OAuth, resumable uploads, quotas and publishAt, plus what TikTok and Instagram document for posting.
  4. Video format and codec for short clips: an ffmpeg guideContainers, H.264, HEVC and AV1, bitrate, frame rate, AAC audio and aspect ratios for short clips, with official platform specs and ffmpeg commands that work.
  5. Open source vs hosted video repurposing: build or buyffmpeg, Whisper and PySceneDetect vs hosted clipping tools: an honest look at control, cost, maintenance, licensing and where each approach wins.

Why this domain

This address used to host a Spanish-language podcast about Drupal. We are not that show, but we share the habit it celebrated: solve a problem with open tools, then write down how you did it. Read more on the about page.