Quick start

1. Install Capra

Download the installer from Releases, or build it:

npm install
npm run dev      # run it in development
npm run dist     # build an installer into release/

Node 24 or later. There are no native npm dependencies to compile — persistence uses node:sqlite from Electron's own runtime — so npm install is quick and nothing needs a build toolchain.

2. Install ffmpeg

Capra will not start work without it, and says so plainly on the welcome screen when it cannot find one.

winget install ffmpeg      # Windows
brew install ffmpeg        # macOS
sudo apt install ffmpeg    # Debian / Ubuntu

It is not bundled on purpose: ffmpeg builds vary in what they are licensed to include, and most people working with video already have one they trust. If you want to pin a specific build, drop it in resources/ffmpeg before packaging and it wins over PATH.

3. Give it a model

See Models for the detail. The short version:

• Local — install LM Studio or Ollama,

load a vision model, press Find local servers in Settings.

• Cloud — Settings → Add Google Gemini / Add OpenAI / Add OpenRouter,

paste a key, pick a model from the list it fetches.

A vision model is the one that matters. Without it Capra still finds shots, scenes, dialogue and sound — it simply cannot say what is in the picture.

4. Open a video

Open a video, choose a subtitle file if you have one, pick the language you want the screenplay written in, and start.

Nothing waits for the end. Scenes appear as they are found, the cast fills in, and the screenplay is written scene by scene while you watch. The analysis log in the corner says what is happening; it hides itself when the queue goes quiet.

What to do first when it finishes

1. Questions — settle what Capra could not. Each answer changes the script: a merge

collapses two cards into one everywhere, an attribution rewrites the character cue on the page.

1. Cast — name the people who matter. A name propagates through every reference.

Extras are numbered and need no names; nobody asks you about them.

1. Script — read it. Click any line to watch the seconds it came from. Edit anything;

what you write survives every rewrite.

Ctrl-Z takes back the last thing you did, and Ctrl-Shift-Z puts it back.