Cat Meme Studio

Windows desktop app for making Chinese cat meme short videos.

Commands

PowerShell on Windows may block npm.ps1; use npm.cmd when that happens.

npm.cmd install
npm.cmd run dev
npm.cmd run lint
npm.cmd run test
npm.cmd run verify
npm.cmd run typecheck
npm.cmd run build:app

AI Engineering Workflow

This repository is prepared for an AI-agent coding flow:

• AGENTS.md is the operating manual for Codex/Claude/Gemini-style agents.
• docs/architecture.md explains the Electron, workspace, asset, and render boundaries.
• docs/coding-style.md defines code and media-editing rules.
• docs/api-spec.md describes the preload IPC API surface.
• docs/workflow.md describes branch, worktree, self-test, review, and CI flow.
• tasks/task-template.md is the starting point for every non-trivial task.
• tasks/lessons.md stores reusable project knowledge found during implementation.

Recommended loop:

git switch -c codex/task-000-short-name
npm.cmd run verify

Use one task file and one branch/worktree per task. Before final handoff, run npm.cmd run verify; CI runs the same gate on pull requests.

Workspace Rules

Workspace root priority:

1. CAT_MEME_HOME
2. development: current repository root
3. packaged app: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\cat_meme

The workspace keeps:

• assets/ for downloaded/imported media and processed caches
• projects/ for .catmeme.json project files
• output/ for exported videos and cover JPGs
• data/ for settings, asset index, render temp, and waveform cache
• templates/ for local templates

Conservative cleanup keeps assets/, projects/, output/, and 资源/. Historical packages, logs, render temp, and backup indexes can be deleted.

Current Features

• Local/seed asset library with background, character, green-screen, audio, prop, favorite, and recently used categories.
• Drag assets to the preview canvas or timeline; usage count and last-used time are saved globally.
• Favorite assets from the asset card star button.
• Green-screen transparent cache generation and unreferenced cache cleanup.
• Quick preview with visual layers, subtitles, role streams, audio tracks, and native video audio.
• Audio polish: volume, mute-by-track, fade in/out, waveform preview, peak/mean hints, and automatic BGM ducking to 35% while voice/SFX/native audio is active.
• Export MP4 and export cover JPG from the current preset coverFrame.

Editing Shortcuts

• Space: play or pause preview
• J / K / L: jump back, pause, play; repeated L increases preview speed
• Left/Right: step one frame
• Shift + Left/Right: jump 15 frames
• Ctrl + Left/Right: jump to previous/next edit point
• Alt + Left/Right: nudge selected clip by one frame
• Shift + Alt + Left/Right: nudge selected clip by ten frames
• Home/End: jump to start/end
• S, B, or Ctrl + K: split selected clip
• [ / ]: trim selected clip start/end to the playhead
• Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V: copy and paste selected clip
• Delete: delete selected clip
• Esc: clear selection
• Ctrl + S: save project
• Ctrl + D: duplicate selected clip
• H / Shift + V: flip selected visual clip
• R / Shift + R: rotate selected visual clip by 15 degrees
• 0: reset selected visual transform
• M: mute or unmute selected clip

Packaging

Development directory build:

npm.cmd run build

Full offline Windows package with bundled assets:

npm.cmd run build:full

The full package is written to release-full\Cat Meme Studio-0.1.0-full-offline-x64.zip.

Resource Import

Copy curated resource samples into the app asset library:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\import-resource-samples.ps1 -CleanManagedAssets

Import a larger hot green-screen set:

node scripts\import-full-green-screen-library.mjs

Pass --limit 0 only when intentionally importing every unique video from the source folder.

Demo Export

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\generate-demo-assets.ps1
npm.cmd run build:app
npx electron . --export-demo

Additional notes:

• Cat meme resource links: docs/cat-meme-resources.md
• Cat meme theater product notes: docs/cat-meme-theater-design.md