<!-- Canonical hyperframes-authoring skill. Use BEFORE writing any hyperframes composition HTML — the rules below are load-bearing for render-time correctness. Re-run scripts/configure-openclaw.sh (OpenClaw) or scripts/configure-claude.sh (Claude Code) after any helmdeck release to re-stamp helmdeckVersion. -->

Hyperframes authoring — render-deterministic rules

When you write composition HTML/CSS/JS for hyperframes, the renderer seeks to each frame index rather than playing the timeline forward. Anything that depends on continuous wall-clock time, animation history, or post-paint DOM mutation breaks during seek — even if it looks perfect in hyperframes preview. Upstream tracks this as "the hardest class of bug in agent-authored compositions". The rules below collapse to one principle: everything must be reconstructible from the timeline's current `totalTime()` alone.

Before you write any composition: the four rules to remember

1. One GSAP timeline per composition, registered synchronously, keyed by `data-composition-id`.
2. Layout in HTML/CSS (final visible state); animate with `gsap.from()` into that state.
3. No `setTimeout`, `setInterval`, `requestAnimationFrame`, `repeat: -1`, or post-paint DOM mutation.
4. All assets local (no Google Fonts CDN, no S3 URLs, no jsdelivr except GSAP itself).

The structural contract

Timeline registration

Every composition ends its <script> with this exact shape:

const tl = gsap.timeline({ paused: true });
// ... synchronous tl.from() / tl.to() / tl.addLabel() calls ...
window.__timelines = window.__timelines || {};
window.__timelines["<composition-id>"] = tl;   // ← KEY MUST EQUAL data-composition-id ATTRIBUTE

The <composition-id> key MUST exactly match the data-composition-id attribute on the composition's root <div>. If they differ, the timeline is registered but never auto-attached to the parent — the composition renders as static last-frame.

Do not write `mainTimeline.add(subTimeline, offset)` calls manually. The runtime auto-sequences sub-compositions via their data-composition-src + data-start + data-duration attributes. Manual tl.add() triggers gsap_studio_edit_blocked warnings and conflicts with auto-discovery.

Composition duration ≡ GSAP timeline duration

The composition's data-duration="N" and its GSAP timeline's intrinsic length MUST match. If they don't:

• timeline shorter than data-duration → composition holds final frame for the remainder (looks frozen)
• timeline longer than data-duration → renderer cuts before the animation ends

Decide the composition's total length FIRST, then build the timeline to fit exactly.

Sub-composition sequencing is declarative

<div data-composition-id="main" data-start="0" data-duration="30">
  <div data-composition-id="intro"
       data-composition-src="compositions/intro.html"
       data-start="0" data-duration="5"></div>
  <div data-composition-id="body"
       data-composition-src="compositions/body.html"
       data-start="5" data-duration="20"></div>
  <div data-composition-id="outro"
       data-composition-src="compositions/outro.html"
       data-start="25" data-duration="5"></div>
</div>

All sub-composition data-duration values should sum to the host's data-duration (5+20+5 = 30, matches the host's 30). Gaps render as black. Overlap renders as whichever has higher CSS z-index.

The authoring-style contract

Layout-before-animation

Define each element's final visible state in HTML/CSS (with absolute positioning + explicit z-index). Then animate FROM invisible/offscreen TO that final state with gsap.from():

.title { position: absolute; left: 50%; top: 40%;
         transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
         font-size: 96px; opacity: 1; }

tl.from(".title",
  { opacity: 0, y: -50, duration: 1, ease: "power2.out" }, 0);

gsap.from() is the only animation pattern that handles seek correctly. The renderer can mathematically compute the element's state at any timestamp because the START state (provided to from()) and END state (in CSS) are both explicit.

Avoid `gsap.to({ opacity: 0 })` for exits. Use scene transitions (next scene covers current one) instead. Renderer seek to "halfway through an exit" lands at indeterminate state.

Synchronous construction only

NO async/await, NO setTimeout, NO setInterval, NO requestAnimationFrame, NO fetch().then(...). If timeline construction is deferred, the renderer seeks the frame BEFORE the animation registers and captures empty state.

// ❌ BROKEN — registers timeline after first paint, renderer misses it
setTimeout(() => {
  const tl = gsap.timeline({ paused: true });
  // ...
  window.__timelines["scene-1"] = tl;
}, 100);

// ✅ CORRECT — synchronous, registered at script-execution time
const tl = gsap.timeline({ paused: true });
// ...
window.__timelines["scene-1"] = tl;

No DOM mutation, no infinite loops

• repeat: -1 (infinite GSAP repeat) — breaks the capture engine
• Runtime DOM mutation (element.appendChild, dynamic <svg path d> recalculation, setInterval typing animations) — frame N's state depends on N-1 prior mutations; seeking directly to N produces undefined state

For typewriter effects: gsap.to({ text: "finalString", ease: "none" }) with the TextPlugin. For SVG path drawing: gsap.to(".path", { drawSVG: "100%" }) with DrawSVGPlugin.

The asset contract

Media needs id

Every <audio> and <video> MUST have an id. Without it, the renderer can't discover the element and the audio is silent in the rendered MP4.

<!-- ❌ silent in renders -->
<audio src="assets/narration.mp3" data-start="0" data-duration="60"></audio>

<!-- ✅ renders correctly -->
<audio id="narration" src="assets/narration.mp3" data-start="0" data-duration="60"></audio>

helmdeck's hyperframes.attach_audio pack adds this automatically since v0.29.4 — id="aroll-audio-<content-hash>".

All assets local

External URLs fail in the sandbox. Fonts via local @font-face pointing at .woff2 files (NOT fonts.googleapis.com). Video/audio bundled in assets/ (NOT S3 URLs). GSAP via jsdelivr IS allowed (whitelisted).

/* ❌ blocked in sandbox */
@import url("https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@400;600");

/* ✅ uses local capture */
@font-face {
  font-family: "Inter";
  src: url("capture/assets/fonts/Inter-Regular.woff2") format("woff2");
  font-weight: 400;
}

No CSS transform on GSAP-tweened elements

If GSAP tweens x, y, scale, rotation, or transform on an element, DO NOT set `transform: ...` on that element in CSS. GSAP overwrites the full CSS transform on first tween, discarding what the CSS set.

// ✅ put the origin in GSAP, not CSS
tl.fromTo(".text", { y: 200 }, { y: 0, duration: 1 });

The pre-render validation gate — REQUIRED before artifact upload

Three helmdeck packs catch most of the failures these rules prevent. Always run them before `hyperframes.render` in any pipeline that authors a composition. All three soft-surface by default; pass strict:true to abort downstream packs on any error-severity finding — that's the publish-gate setting.

Once all three pass, then run hyperframes.render. If you skip the gates and render fails, the typical failure mode is silent (blank canvas, no error) — the pipeline succeeds but the artifact is unwatchable. The gates exist to make those failures loud and pre-render-cost-cheap.

Pipeline shape

- helmdeck__pack-run:
    name: hyperframes.lint
    input:
      project_artifact_key: "${steps.previous.project_key}"
      strict: true   # abort if any error
- helmdeck__pack-run:
    name: hyperframes.inspect
    input:
      project_artifact_key: "${steps.previous.project_key}"
      at_transitions: true
      strict: true
- helmdeck__pack-run:
    name: hyperframes.validate
    input:
      project_artifact_key: "${steps.previous.project_key}"
      strict: true
- helmdeck__pack-run:
    name: hyperframes.render
    input:
      project_artifact_key: "${steps.previous.project_key}"

Common LLM mistakes — pre-emptively avoid

When the agent is asked to write a composition, the LLM's training data is full of interactive web patterns that break in render. These are the most common ones — actively suppress them:

• "Animate text with setTimeout loops" → use gsap.to({ text: "..." }) with TextPlugin
• "Draw SVG connectors at runtime" → pre-draw the path, animate with drawSVG
• "Use requestAnimationFrame for smooth motion" → GSAP already does this; just use tl.to(...)
• "Load fonts from Google Fonts" → use local @font-face with bundled .woff2
• "Embed YouTube/Vimeo player" → won't render; use local bundled video file
• "Make elements interactive on click" → renderer doesn't dispatch events; static-only

Worked example skeleton — the smallest render-deterministic composition

When the user prompt asks for "a hyperframes composition that animates a title and subtitle over 8 seconds," the LLM should produce something with this exact skeleton:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8" />
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=1920, height=1080" />
  <title>Hello World</title>
  <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/gsap.min.js"></script>
  <style>
    @font-face {
      font-family: "Inter";
      src: url("capture/assets/fonts/Inter-SemiBold.woff2") format("woff2");
      font-weight: 600;
    }
    html, body { margin: 0; width: 1920px; height: 1080px; overflow: hidden;
                 background: #0a0a0f; font-family: "Inter", sans-serif; color: white; }
    .title    { position: absolute; left: 50%; top: 40%;
                transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
                font-size: 96px; font-weight: 600; opacity: 1; }
    .subtitle { position: absolute; left: 50%; top: 56%;
                transform: translate(-50%, -50%);
                font-size: 36px; opacity: 1; color: #c0c0d0; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <div id="root" data-composition-id="main" data-start="0" data-duration="8"
       data-width="1920" data-height="1080">
    <div class="title">Hello, World</div>
    <div class="subtitle">A render-deterministic composition</div>
  </div>
  <script>
    const tl = gsap.timeline({ paused: true });
    tl.from(".title",    { opacity: 0, y: -40, duration: 1.0, ease: "power2.out" }, 0.5);
    tl.from(".subtitle", { opacity: 0, y:  40, duration: 1.0, ease: "power2.out" }, 1.2);
    // Add a hold by addLabel; the data-duration=8 owns the timeline length.
    tl.addLabel("hold", 2.5);
    window.__timelines = window.__timelines || {};
    window.__timelines["main"] = tl;
  </script>
</body>
</html>

Key points: data-composition-id="main" ↔ window.__timelines["main"]. data-duration="8" matches the timeline's intent (animation + hold). All elements are positioned absolutely with CSS-resting states; GSAP animates from invisible (opacity: 0 + y offset) to that resting state. No external font from CDN. No setTimeout. No infinite loops. Composition will render correctly.

See also

• Explanation page (the "why" behind these rules): /docs/explanation/authoring-render-deterministic-compositions
• Reference: hyperframes.lint, hyperframes.inspect, hyperframes.validate, hyperframes.render
• Field report: Render ≠ preview
• Upstream: heygen-com/hyperframes skills (motion-principles, beat-builder)
• The minimal upstream-only reproducer: scripts/hyperframes-bare-baseline.sh