Move output to ~/ii/content-engine/ shared root

.env.example

@@ -16,8 +16,12 @@
 # GROK_WEB_DEBUG=0
 # GROK_IMAGE_OUT_DIR=
 
-# Output directory override (optional)
-# OUTPUT_DIR=
+# Shared output root (default: ~/ii/content-engine/)
+# All repos in the ii ecosystem read/write content here.
+# II_ROOT=~/ii/content-engine
+
+# Post outro clip path (default: II_ROOT/assets/plug.mov)
+# CONTENT_ENGINE_POST_OUTRO_PATH=
 
 # Python binary override (optional, default: python3)
 # CONTENT_GEN_PYTHON=python3

AGENTS.md

@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ Before authoring prompts, assets, or render jobs:
 - Before declaring a video run blocked on missing `XAI_API_KEY`, check for browser-session fallbacks such as `auth/grok-session-cookies.json`, `auth/grok-storage-state.json`, or `cookies/x_cookies.json`.
 - Browser fallback is only valid if the Grok submit path starts a real generation job. If browser submit opens the `SuperGrok` subscribe modal instead, treat the run as browser-blocked and do not scrape Discover/gallery media as a fake result.
 - Caption nudge: carousel captions and reel/video captions should usually land between 2100 and 2200 characters, front-load the hook in the first 125 characters, stay SEO-friendly, and use the local caption-writing fallback rather than treating missing `XAI_API_KEY` as a caption blocker.
-- Posted-video default: queued videos should stay raw in `output/scheduled_videos/`, the standard promo clip from `/Users/admin/Documents/plug.mov` should be appended immediately before each platform post attempt, and the caption opener should be `Make videos like this by searching ii-content-engine on GitHub.`
+- Posted-video default: queued videos should stay raw in `scheduled_videos/` under `II_ROOT`, the standard promo clip from `II_ROOT/assets/plug.mov` should be appended immediately before each platform post attempt, and the caption opener should be `Make videos like this by searching ii-content-engine on GitHub.`
 - For stitched multi-clip videos, continuity is a primary quality requirement, not a nice-to-have. Agents should optimize for a coherent script, stable character/world design, and visual consistency across clips before optimizing for novelty.
 - If continuity matters across clips, prefer image-conditioned generation and reference-image reuse whenever the model or pipeline supports it. Do not rely on fresh text-only reinterpretation of the same character, environment, object, or world style across clips unless there is no better option.
 - For continuity-sensitive character stories, the required default asset chain is:

CLAUDE.md

@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+# BRANCH POLICY — READ FIRST
+
+**This repository MUST always be checked out on the `dev` branch. No exceptions.**
+
+- Never switch this working copy to `main`, a feature branch, or detached HEAD. All work happens on `dev`.
+- If `git submodule update`, a merge, or any tool moves something off `dev`, switch it back to `dev` immediately before continuing.
+
+---
+
 # CLAUDE.md
 
 ## Repo Role
@@ -94,7 +103,7 @@ Before authoring prompts, assets, or render jobs:
 - Before treating a video render as blocked, check for browser-session fallback files such as `auth/grok-session-cookies.json`, `auth/grok-storage-state.json`, or `cookies/x_cookies.json`.
 - Browser fallback is only valid if the Grok submit path starts a real generation job. If browser submit opens the `SuperGrok` subscribe modal instead, treat the run as browser-blocked and do not scrape Discover/gallery media as a fake result.
 - Caption nudge: carousel captions and reel/video captions should usually land between 2100 and 2200 characters, front-load the hook in the first 125 characters, stay SEO-friendly, and use the local caption-writing fallback instead of treating missing `XAI_API_KEY` as a caption blocker.
-- Posted-video default: queued videos should stay raw in `output/scheduled_videos/`, the standard promo clip from `/Users/admin/Documents/plug.mov` should be appended immediately before each platform post attempt, and the caption opener should be `Make videos like this by searching ii-content-engine on GitHub.`
+- Posted-video default: queued videos should stay raw in `scheduled_videos/` under `II_ROOT`, the standard promo clip from `II_ROOT/assets/plug.mov` should be appended immediately before each platform post attempt, and the caption opener should be `Make videos like this by searching ii-content-engine on GitHub.`
 - For stitched multi-clip videos, treat continuity as a first-order requirement: the script, acting beats, character design, wardrobe, environment, and cinematic style should survive across clips unless the format explicitly calls for change.
 - If continuity matters across clips, prefer image-conditioned generation and reference-image reuse whenever the toolchain supports it. Do not let each clip reinvent the same character, environment, object, or world style from scratch if that can be avoided.
 - For continuity-sensitive character stories, the required default asset chain is:

Dockerfile.autopost

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ ENV CONTENT_GEN_DISABLE_BROWSER_SANDBOX=1
 
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     chromium \
+    ffmpeg \
     python3 \
     python3-pip \
     ca-certificates \

README.md

@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ Example output:
 
 [`example/fruit-revenge-arc-api-portrait/fruit-revenge-arc-api-portrait.mp4`](example/fruit-revenge-arc-api-portrait/fruit-revenge-arc-api-portrait.mp4)
 
+Click the preview to open the full MP4.
+
 This is the current reference example for the video pipeline. It was generated from saved repo state, not a one-off prompt, and it follows the intended chain:
 
 `hero portrait -> reference sheet -> portrait scene-start frame -> clip -> stitched final`

code/carousel/generate-slideshow.js

@@ -335,9 +335,7 @@ async function finalizeSlides(processedSlides) {
  * Save images and metadata locally
  */
 function saveOutput(slides, content, options = {}) {
-  const outputRoot = process.env.OUTPUT_DIR
-    ? path.resolve(process.env.OUTPUT_DIR)
-    : CAROUSELS_DIR;
+  const outputRoot = CAROUSELS_DIR;
 
   const folderName = safeOutputName(options.outputName || options.templateId || content.topic, 'carousel');
   const folder = path.join(outputRoot, folderName);

code/core/paths.js

@@ -1,21 +1,39 @@
+import fs from 'fs';
+import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
 
 const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
 const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);
 
+function resolveIIRoot() {
+  const env = process.env.II_ROOT;
+  if (env) {
+    const expanded = env.startsWith('~') ? path.join(os.homedir(), env.slice(1)) : env;
+    return path.resolve(expanded);
+  }
+  return path.join(os.homedir(), 'ii', 'content-engine');
+}
+
 export const ROOT_DIR = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..');
 export const DOCS_DIR = path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'docs');
-export const PROMPTS_DIR = path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'prompts');
-export const AUTH_DIR = path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'auth');
-export const OUTPUT_DIR = path.join(ROOT_DIR, 'output');
+export const II_ROOT = resolveIIRoot();
+export const OUTPUT_DIR = II_ROOT;
+export const AUTH_DIR = path.join(II_ROOT, 'auth');
+export const COOKIES_DIR = path.join(II_ROOT, 'cookies');
+export const PROMPTS_DIR = path.join(II_ROOT, 'prompts');
+export const RESEARCH_DIR = path.join(II_ROOT, 'research');
+export const DOWNLOADS_DIR = path.join(II_ROOT, 'downloads');
 export const VIDEOS_DIR = path.join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'videos');
 export const CAROUSELS_DIR = path.join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'carousels');
 export const SCHEDULED_VIDEOS_DIR = path.join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'scheduled_videos');
 export const SCHEDULED_CAROUSELS_DIR = path.join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'scheduled_carousels');
 export const POSTED_VIDEOS_DIR = path.join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'posted_videos');
 export const TEMP_DIR = path.join(OUTPUT_DIR, 'tmp');
 
+// Ensure the shared root directories exist
+fs.mkdirSync(II_ROOT, { recursive: true });
+
 export const VIDEO_TEMPLATE_REGISTRY_PATH = path.join(PROMPTS_DIR, 'video-templates.json');
 export const CAROUSEL_TEMPLATE_REGISTRY_PATH = path.join(PROMPTS_DIR, 'carousel-templates.json');
 

code/crop-for-instagram.js

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const TIKTOK_HEIGHT = 1920;
 const INSTAGRAM_WIDTH = 1080;
 const INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT = 1350;
 
-// Height to crop
+// Height to crop from the canonical 9:16 source
 const CROP_AMOUNT = TIKTOK_HEIGHT - INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT; // 570px
 
 // Original text Y positions (from add-text-overlay.js SAFE_ZONES)
@@ -38,8 +38,10 @@ const RULE_OF_THIRDS = {
  * @param {string} textPosition - 'top', 'center', or 'bottom-safe'
  * @returns {object} - { top, left, width, height } for sharp extract
  */
-function calculateCrop(textPosition) {
-  const originalY = TEXT_POSITIONS[textPosition] || TEXT_POSITIONS.top;
+function calculateCrop(textPosition, sourceHeight = TIKTOK_HEIGHT) {
+  const cropAmount = Math.max(0, sourceHeight - INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT);
+  const scale = sourceHeight / TIKTOK_HEIGHT;
+  const originalY = (TEXT_POSITIONS[textPosition] || TEXT_POSITIONS.top) * scale;
 
   // Determine which rule of thirds line to target
   let targetY;
@@ -61,26 +63,61 @@ function calculateCrop(textPosition) {
   }
 
   // Clamp topCrop to valid range [0, CROP_AMOUNT]
-  topCrop = Math.max(0, Math.min(CROP_AMOUNT, topCrop));
+  topCrop = Math.max(0, Math.min(cropAmount, topCrop));
 
   return {
     left: 0,
-    top: topCrop,
+    top: Math.round(topCrop),
     width: INSTAGRAM_WIDTH,
     height: INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT
   };
 }
 
+async function copyImage(inputPath, outputPath) {
+  fs.copyFileSync(inputPath, outputPath);
+  return {
+    left: 0,
+    top: 0,
+    width: INSTAGRAM_WIDTH,
+    height: INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT,
+  };
+}
+
 /**
  * Crop a single image for Instagram
  * @param {string} inputPath - Path to original image
  * @param {string} outputPath - Path for cropped output
  * @param {string} textPosition - Text position from metadata
  */
 async function cropImage(inputPath, outputPath, textPosition) {
-  const crop = calculateCrop(textPosition);
+  const image = sharp(inputPath);
+  const metadata = await image.metadata();
+  const sourceWidth = Number(metadata.width) || INSTAGRAM_WIDTH;
+  const sourceHeight = Number(metadata.height) || INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT;
+
+  if (sourceWidth === INSTAGRAM_WIDTH && sourceHeight === INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT) {
+    return copyImage(inputPath, outputPath);
+  }
 
-  await sharp(inputPath)
+  if (sourceHeight <= INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT) {
+    await image
+      .resize(INSTAGRAM_WIDTH, INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT, {
+        fit: 'cover',
+        position: 'centre',
+      })
+      .toFile(outputPath);
+
+    return {
+      left: 0,
+      top: 0,
+      width: INSTAGRAM_WIDTH,
+      height: INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT,
+    };
+  }
+
+  const crop = calculateCrop(textPosition, sourceHeight);
+
+  await image
     .extract(crop)
     .toFile(outputPath);
 
@@ -106,10 +143,17 @@ async function processSlideshow(folderPath) {
   if (!fs.existsSync(instagramFolder)) {
     fs.mkdirSync(instagramFolder, { recursive: true });
   }
+  for (const file of fs.readdirSync(instagramFolder)) {
+    if (/^slide_\d+\.(jpg|png)$/i.test(file) || file === 'metadata.json') {
+      fs.rmSync(path.join(instagramFolder, file), { force: true });
+    }
+  }
 
   console.log(`\nProcessing: ${metadata.topic}`);
   console.log(`Output: ${instagramFolder}`);
 
+  const cropBySlide = new Map();
+
   // Process each slide
   for (const slide of metadata.slides) {
     const slideNum = slide.slide_number;
@@ -140,22 +184,30 @@ async function processSlideshow(folderPath) {
     // For screenshots (no text), do a centered crop
     let crop;
     if (isScreenshotSlide) {
-      // Center crop for screenshots
-      const topCrop = Math.floor(CROP_AMOUNT / 2); // 285px from top and bottom
-      crop = {
-        left: 0,
-        top: topCrop,
-        width: INSTAGRAM_WIDTH,
-        height: INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT
-      };
-
-      await sharp(inputFile)
-        .extract(crop)
-        .toFile(outputFile);
+      const image = sharp(inputFile);
+      const sourceMeta = await image.metadata();
+      const sourceHeight = Number(sourceMeta.height) || INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT;
+
+      if (sourceHeight <= INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT) {
+        crop = await copyImage(inputFile, outputFile);
+      } else {
+        const topCrop = Math.floor((sourceHeight - INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT) / 2);
+        crop = {
+          left: 0,
+          top: topCrop,
+          width: INSTAGRAM_WIDTH,
+          height: INSTAGRAM_HEIGHT
+        };
+
+        await image
+          .extract(crop)
+          .toFile(outputFile);
+      }
     } else {
       crop = await cropImage(inputFile, outputFile, textPosition);
     }
 
+    cropBySlide.set(slideNum, crop);
     console.log(`  Slide ${slideNum}: ${textPosition || 'screenshot'} → crop top ${crop.top}px`);
   }
 
@@ -167,9 +219,10 @@ async function processSlideshow(folderPath) {
     slides: metadata.slides.map(slide => {
       const textPosition = slide.text_position || 'top';
       const isScreenshot = !slide.text_overlay;
-      const crop = isScreenshot
-        ? { top: Math.floor(CROP_AMOUNT / 2) }
-        : calculateCrop(textPosition);
+      const crop = cropBySlide.get(slide.slide_number)
+        || (isScreenshot
+          ? { top: Math.floor(CROP_AMOUNT / 2) }
+          : calculateCrop(textPosition));
 
       return {
         ...slide,

code/debug/grok-submit-probe.js

@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ import path from 'path';
 import { chromium } from 'playwright';
 import { applyCookiesFileToContext, applyStorageStateToContext } from '../shared/grok-browser-session.js';
 import { ensureAuthenticatedGrokSession } from '../shared/grok-web-auth.js';
+import { AUTH_DIR, COOKIES_DIR, TEMP_DIR } from '../core/paths.js';
 
-const OUTPUT_DIR = path.resolve('output/tmp/browser-submit-probe');
-const STATE_PATH = path.resolve('auth/grok-storage-state.json');
-const COOKIES_PATH = path.resolve('cookies/x_cookies.json');
-const USER_DATA_DIR = path.resolve('auth/grok-chrome-profile-web-fallback');
+const OUTPUT_DIR = path.join(TEMP_DIR, 'browser-submit-probe');
+const STATE_PATH = path.join(AUTH_DIR, 'grok-storage-state.json');
+const COOKIES_PATH = path.join(COOKIES_DIR, 'x_cookies.json');
+const USER_DATA_DIR = path.join(AUTH_DIR, 'grok-chrome-profile-web-fallback');
 
 function parseArgs(argv) {
   const args = {

code/posting/auto-post-instagram-ai-video.js

@@ -21,13 +21,12 @@ import {
   updateScheduledPlatformPost,
 } from '../shared/scheduled-queue.js';
 import { normalizeCaptionForPosting } from '../shared/post-promo.js';
+import { II_ROOT, ROOT_DIR } from '../core/paths.js';
 
 const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
-const REPO_ROOT = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..');
 const PLATFORM = 'instagram';
 
-// Load environment variables from repo root
-dotenv.config({ path: path.join(REPO_ROOT, '.env') });
+dotenv.config({ path: path.join(ROOT_DIR, '.env') });
 
 const POSTS_PER_RUN = 1;
 
@@ -39,17 +38,17 @@ async function postOneVideo(item) {
   const prepared = prepareScheduledVideoForPlatform(item, PLATFORM);
   const videoFilePath = prepared.preparedVideoPath;
   if (!fs.existsSync(videoFilePath)) {
-    console.error(`  File not found: ${path.relative(REPO_ROOT, videoFilePath)}`);
+    console.error(`  File not found: ${path.relative(II_ROOT, videoFilePath)}`);
     return null;
   }
 
   const fileSizeMB = (fs.statSync(videoFilePath).size / (1024 * 1024)).toFixed(1);
-  console.log(`  File: ${path.relative(REPO_ROOT, videoFilePath)} (${fileSizeMB} MB)`);
+  console.log(`  File: ${path.relative(II_ROOT, videoFilePath)} (${fileSizeMB} MB)`);
 
   // Load caption
   let caption = normalizeCaptionForPosting(`${video.id} #content #video`);
   if (video.assets.caption_path) {
-    const captionFilePath = path.join(REPO_ROOT, video.assets.caption_path);
+    const captionFilePath = path.join(II_ROOT, video.assets.caption_path);
     if (fs.existsSync(captionFilePath)) {
       caption = normalizeCaptionForPosting(fs.readFileSync(captionFilePath, 'utf-8'));
       console.log(`  Caption loaded (${caption.length} chars)`);

code/posting/auto-post-instagram.js

@@ -49,6 +49,30 @@ function isValidFolder(folderName) {
   return hasSlides;
 }
 
+function hasCompleteInstagramRender(folderPath) {
+  const instagramFolder = path.join(folderPath, 'instagram');
+  if (!fs.existsSync(instagramFolder)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const metadataPath = path.join(folderPath, 'metadata.json');
+  if (!fs.existsSync(metadataPath)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const metadata = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(metadataPath, 'utf-8'));
+  const expectedSlides = Array.isArray(metadata.slides) ? metadata.slides.length : 0;
+  if (expectedSlides === 0) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const renderedSlides = fs.readdirSync(instagramFolder)
+    .filter(file => /^slide_\d+\.(jpg|png)$/i.test(file))
+    .length;
+
+  return renderedSlides >= expectedSlides;
+}
+
 /**
  * Main auto-post function
  */
@@ -97,9 +121,7 @@ async function autoPostToInstagram() {
 
   const folderPath = selectedFolder.dir;
 
-  // Check if already cropped for Instagram
-  const instagramFolder = path.join(folderPath, 'instagram');
-  if (!fs.existsSync(instagramFolder)) {
+  if (!hasCompleteInstagramRender(folderPath)) {
     console.log('Cropping for Instagram...');
     await processSlideshow(folderPath);
     console.log();