What If animation: a free skill for Claude Code and OpenCode

Type one line, "What if you could rewind 10 seconds?", and get a finished 15-25 second animated episode in the dusk-lit stick-figure style of the "What If" channels that took off on YouTube in October 2026.

Every frame is drawn in code: the AI writes the scenes as SVG and Remotion renders them. The voice and the sound effects come from ElevenLabs. No image model, no video model, no drawing. It runs in Claude Code, or for free in OpenCode with a free model. Made by FreshStack.

1. Writes the script on the seven-beat What If formula (decoded from five scripts across four channels): a cold open of quick demos, the premise as a title card, the fun, and a turn built on one real, checked fact.
2. Voices it with ElevenLabs, with word timings, and tightens the pauses to the genre's pace.
3. Lays out a shot list on the words, at the genre's pace (about 27 cuts a minute in the opening and up).
4. Renders a storyboard of one still per shot, before any animation.
5. Checks its own stills against an 11-point checklist and fixes what reads wrong.
6. Animates an original cast on one rig, in rooms drawn in real perspective, lit by their own lamps and windows.
7. Generates and syncs the sound: an effect on every action, lined up by its attack, ambience per place, a music bed, levels set against the voice.
8. Masters the episode to -14 LUFS and reports what it cost.

Why the character never changes: it isn't generated, it's a rig in code. The same function draws Pip in every shot, so there is nothing to drift.

• Claude Code, or OpenCode with a free model (see Use it in OpenCode)
• Node 18 or newer, ffmpeg (with ffprobe), Python 3.9+ with numpy and Pillow
• An ElevenLabs API key in your environment or a .env file as ELEVENLABS_API_KEY. The copy-paste episode cost 152 credits: 78 for the voice and 74 for 12 new sound effects. It reused 9 clips from the starter library that ships in studio/library/sfx/, and every clip you generate joins it for the next episode. Later runs cost 170 to 242 credits. ElevenLabs' free plan (10,000 credits a month when we checked, in October 2026) covers about 40 episodes, but it's for non-commercial use and asks you to credit ElevenLabs, so check its terms before you monetise.

Clone it into your skills folder, then set up the studio once:

git clone https://github.com/kelano86/what-if-animation ~/.claude/skills/what-if-animation
cp -r ~/.claude/skills/what-if-animation/studio ./what-if-studio
cd what-if-studio && npm install

Then, in Claude Code, from that folder:

Make a What If episode: what if you could pause everyone but you?

Claude follows SKILL.md: script, voice, shot list, storyboard (you'll see it before anything is animated), self- check, animation, sound, master. You get out/<slug>/<slug>-final.mp4 and out/<slug>/storyboard.jpg.

To see the examples first: npx remotion studio src/index.ts and open Rewind (the proof clip: three demos, each undone by playing the shot backwards) or CopyPaste (the skill's first full run). Both render straight away.

OpenCode is a free, open-source coding agent. In October 2026 it offers GLM-5.3-Flash Free at no cost, for a limited time, with no account or key. With this skill, that model made a full episode from one line: 28 minutes, one render, nothing typed in between, and $0 for the model (the voice and sound still use your ElevenLabs credits).

1. Install the tools above, then OpenCode: npm install -g opencode-ai

2. Make a folder for your episodes, put the skill in it under .claude/skills/, and add the /what-if command (OpenCode doesn't list skills when you type /, so the command loads it for you).

   Windows (PowerShell):

   mkdir what-if; cd what-if
   git clone https://github.com/kelano86/what-if-animation .claude/skills/what-if-animation
   mkdir .opencode/commands
   copy .claude/skills/what-if-animation/opencode/commands/what-if.md .opencode/commands/

   Mac or Linux:

   mkdir what-if && cd what-if
   git clone https://github.com/kelano86/what-if-animation .claude/skills/what-if-animation
   mkdir -p .opencode/commands && cp .claude/skills/what-if-animation/opencode/commands/what-if.md .opencode/commands/

   No git? Download the ZIP from GitHub and unzip it into .claude/skills/ (the folder's name doesn't matter), then copy opencode/commands/what-if.md from it into .opencode/commands/.

3. Put your key in a file called .env in the same folder, one line: ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key

4. Start OpenCode from inside that folder: cd into it (on Windows you can right-click the folder and choose Open in Terminal), then type opencode. Started anywhere else, it won't find the skill or the command.

5. Type /models, choose GLM-5.3-Flash Free, and press Ctrl+T until the reasoning level reads high.

6. Type /what-if What if you could pause everyone but you? and leave it running. The first run copies the studio into what-if-studio/ and installs it, which adds a few minutes.

Tips for the free model:

• One session per episode. An episode can fill most of its 200K context; start fresh for the next one.
• Search YouTube for your premise yourself. The free model's search can miss episodes that already exist, and the skill wants an original title.
• Open the source of the episode's fact (science in its episode.json) before you post.

• Original characters only: never a channel's hero, nothing that resembles a famous cartoon character.
• Original stories: the formula is shared, the episodes aren't anyone's.
• It never claims the viral channels are made with Claude or any other tool; nobody has said how they're made.
• Every fact in a script is worked out and sourced before it's voiced.

• Walk cycles and acting are simple next to a hand-animated channel; the look carries it.
• Painted, textured styles (the ink-and-paper explainers) aren't realistic in pure code; they need an image model.
• It's not one prompt: the storyboard step is where the episode gets good. Look at it.

• Fonts load from Google Fonts at render time (Bricolage Grotesque, Fragment Mono, Kalam: SIL Open Font License). To use your own title face, put it in studio/public/fonts/ and set titleFont in src/studio.config.ts.
• Remotion is free for individuals and for companies of up to three people; larger companies need a Remotion company licence.
• Voices and sound effects are generated by your ElevenLabs account under its terms. The example episodes' audio and the starter clips in studio/library/sfx/ were generated on a paid plan.
• The code is free to use, change and share.