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fix(engine,cli): render command improvements - headless-shell fallback, better errors#135

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miguel-heygen wants to merge 3 commits intomainfrom
fix/render-improvements
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fix(engine,cli): render command improvements - headless-shell fallback, better errors#135
miguel-heygen wants to merge 3 commits intomainfrom
fix/render-improvements

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Summary

  • Fall back gracefully when system Chrome is not headless-shell
  • Show clear error for zero-duration compositions
  • Catch and surface output directory creation errors

Consolidates PRs #129, #130, #131.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

mkdirSync for the render output path was not wrapped in try-catch,
exposing a raw Node.js EACCES stack trace when the path was invalid
or permissions were denied.

Reproducer:
  npx hyperframes render --output /root/nope/output.mp4
  # Was: raw "Error: EACCES: permission denied" with stack trace
  # Now: clean "Cannot create output directory" error box
When a composition had zero duration (empty GSAP timeline, no
data-duration), Docker render hung for 45s then showed the misleading
hint "Check Docker is running" even though Docker was fine. Now
detects the __hf-not-ready error and suggests adding data-duration or
GSAP tweens instead.

Reproducer:
  # Create composition with empty timeline and no data-duration
  npx hyperframes render --docker --output out.mp4
  # Was: "Check Docker is running: docker info"
  # Now: "Composition may have zero duration. Add data-duration..."
…eadless-shell

The engine assumed any binary passed via PRODUCER_HEADLESS_SHELL_PATH
supported the HeadlessExperimental.beginFrame CDP command. When the
CLI resolved system Chrome (e.g. /usr/bin/google-chrome) instead of
chrome-headless-shell, the render would silently hang for 120s
then timeout — the #1 new-user friction point.

Now checks the binary path for "chrome-headless-shell" before
selecting beginframe capture mode. System Chrome falls back to
screenshot mode which works universally.

Reproducer:
  # On a machine with system Chrome but no chrome-headless-shell cached
  npx hyperframes init test --template blank --non-interactive
  cd test && npx hyperframes render --output out.mp4
  # Was: 120s hang, then "Timed out after waiting 120000ms"
  # Now: renders successfully via screenshot mode
@miguel-heygen miguel-heygen changed the title fix(engine,cli): render command improvements — headless-shell fallback, better errors fix(engine,cli): render command improvements - headless-shell fallback, better errors Mar 31, 2026
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