Free guide

How the Opus 5.5 Clawd video was made in code

It is not a generated video. Claude writes a program that builds the 3D scene, moves the camera and renders every frame. You can open the code afterwards, change the character, the camera or the colours, and render it again.

The prompt

From the maker's own post on X, in his words as far as the post shows them. Swap Clawd for your own character.

The prompt
Make a one-minute video about the Claude mascot, Clawd. You can find assets online, like SVGs, then recreate and animate them yourself. Be as creative as you possibly can. Render 3D objects: Claude Code terminals, nature, whatever you like. No fonts, no text, only clean animations of Clawd. Sound must come from free, professional sounds and assets online, not generated in code.

He ran it with ultracode: type the word at the start of the prompt in Claude Code and it splits the job across a team of agents. He says it ran for about 12 hours.

Ask this first
Before you write any code, give me a 10 shot storyboard with the camera move and the sound for each shot.

What you need

  • Claude Code on a paid Claude plan, with Opus 5.5 selected (type /model inside Claude Code).
  • A laptop with Node.js and ffmpeg. Claude Code can install both if you ask.
  • A free sound library account: freesound.org or pixabay.com/sound-effects.
  • Time. His run took about 12 hours. A 15 second test takes under an hour.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Open Claude Code in an empty folder

    Pick Opus 5.5 with /model.

  2. 2

    Paste the prompt

    Put your own character or product in place of Clawd. Drop one or two reference images in the folder if you have them.

  3. 3

    Ask for the storyboard first

    Fix the shots you do not like now. It is cheap here and expensive later.

  4. 4

    Render a 5 second test

    Look at it and say what is wrong in plain words, like "the crab is too small" or "the camera moves too fast".

  5. 5

    Ask for a contact sheet every render

    One frame every 2 seconds in a grid. You check 30 frames in ten seconds instead of watching a whole minute.

  6. 6

    Run the full render

    Type ultracode at the start of the prompt to split the job across a team of agents, and leave it running.

  7. 7

    Sound last

    Tell it which library to use and to download real files. One sound per visible action, a quiet bed under everything.

  8. 8

    Export

    1080p at 60 fps, then a 9:16 copy for Instagram with the character in the middle.

Kits that do most of it for you

Open source, each one a skill or starter project for Claude Code.

What goes wrong

  • It drifts off the brief

    Keep the bans short and absolute: no text, no fonts, one character.

  • Renders look flat

    Ask for depth of field, a key light and a rim light by name. Add grass and particles only after the main shot works.

  • It makes music in code

    Say "download real files from freesound.org" in the prompt, or it will synthesise beeps.

  • Long runs stall

    Ask it to save each finished shot to its own folder, so a crash does not lose the lot.

  • Cost

    A 12 hour agent run on Opus 5.5 is not free. Start with a 15 second test and check your usage before the full one.

Credit

The video is by Leon Lin, @LexnLin on X. His prompt is quoted from his own reply. Guide by Allen Thomas at The Growth Engine.

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Also free: the humanize skill, the CLAUDE.md + AGENTS.md prompt and the edit my video by voice prompt.