Common sticking points
This collects the spots you commonly hit while making video. With many external tools, getting stuck at install is common. Find by symptom and read only the relevant item.
Install and environment
Section titled “Install and environment””command not found: ffmpeg”
Section titled “”command not found: ffmpeg””ffmpeg isn’t installed. macOS: brew install ffmpeg. Linux and WSL2: sudo apt install -y ffmpeg. After installing, check with ffmpeg -version.
OPENAI_API_KEY isn’t picked up
Section titled “OPENAI_API_KEY isn’t picked up”Check with echo $OPENAI_API_KEY. If empty, put export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..." in a shell startup file (~/.zshrc, etc.) and open a new terminal. Planting it only in .env may not pick it up in the shell.
”command not found: codex”
Section titled “”command not found: codex””The Codex CLI needed for the generative track isn’t installed. Install it via the official OpenAI Codex CLI guidance. If you only use remix, you don’t need codex.
Remix tools
Section titled “Remix tools”yt-dlp download failure
Section titled “yt-dlp download failure”The case where it can’t get the source URL. Confirm install with yt-dlp --version, and check whether the URL is a supported platform (youtube, tiktok, instagram, vimeo, x, etc.). If yt-dlp is an old version, it may not keep up with platform changes, so update to the latest.
No Whisper model
Section titled “No Whisper model”If you use whisper-cli and there’s no local model, transcription gets blocked. Fetch a model file into ~/.whisper/models/, or leave it to fall back to the Whisper API via OPENAI_API_KEY. The command to fetch the model is in the remix item of prerequisites.
The license gate
Section titled “The license gate”Remix stops saying there’s no license label
Section titled “Remix stops saying there’s no license label”A deliberate halt. The source’s license is unclear. Switch to a source with a clear license, or explicitly accept responsibility. The detailed spot is in when-ai-gets-stuck.
Switching videos
Section titled “Switching videos”I’m working on the wrong video
Section titled “I’m working on the wrong video”The active video (active_slug) is pointing at a different video than you intended. Confirm with “which video am I working on?” and move with “continue with video X.”
Images and speed
Section titled “Images and speed”A character has a different face from scene to scene
Section titled “A character has a different face from scene to scene”The character sheet isn’t set. Say “make this character’s sheet first” to set the sheet and regenerate. See the image item in when-ai-gets-stuck.
Video generation is too slow
Section titled “Video generation is too slow”It may be running in final mode. Return to the fast mode with “run it in preview.” Setting REPLICATE_API_TOKEN makes preview images faster.
”Permission denied” running a script
Section titled “”Permission denied” running a script”The script doesn’t have execute permission. Retry after chmod +x.
If it still doesn’t resolve
Section titled “If it still doesn’t resolve”Open a GitHub issue or post in the team Slack. Write down three things together.
- Where you got stuck (which track, which gate)
- The full error message
- Environment info (operating system, ffmpeg version)