Apod to short

Skill frankxai/starlight-agent-skills/skills/cosmos/apod-to-short

Portable Starlight substrate skills for agent runtimes, SIS, ACOS, and cross-agent workflow activation.

Install

npx -y skills add frankxai/starlight-agent-skills --skill apod-to-short

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

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Turn a NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) into a 30–60s vertical short — script, shot list, captions, and a rights line. Use when the user mentions APOD, 'astronomy picture of the day', or wants a daily space short/reel/TikTok from a NASA image.

SKILL.md

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APOD → Short

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day → a ready-to-shoot 30–60s vertical short.

Purpose

NASA publishes a stunning image with an expert explanation every day. This skill converts one APOD entry into a complete vertical short package: a hook, a tight narration script, an on-screen caption track, a shot/animation list, and a rights line — so a creator can film/edit in one sitting without misstating the science or the licensing.

When it fires

Keyword triggers: apod, astronomy picture of the day, daily space short, nasa image short, space reel
File triggers: apod.json, apod-*.md
Command triggers: /apod-to-short

Inputs

Input	Required	Notes
`apod`	yes	APOD URL/date, or the title + explanation text + image credit.
`length`	no	Target seconds, default `45` (range 30–60).
`voice`	no	`starlight` (default), `arcanea`, or `frankx` — see brand skills.

Workflow

Resolve the APOD — get title, date, explanation, media URL, and the exact image credit. If credit names a non-NASA party (ESA, an observatory, an individual), flag it for the rights step. ✅ Check: you have a verbatim credit string.
Extract the one idea — reduce the explanation to a single, true, surprising fact a non-expert can grasp. ✅ Check: it survives "what does that mean specifically?"
Write the hook (0–3s) — a question or claim that earns the first three seconds without clickbaiting the science.
Script the body — narration timed to length at ~2.5 words/sec. Keep every claim traceable to the explanation; never invent figures.
Build the caption track — short on-screen lines synced to beats (≤7 words each).
Write the shot list — Ken Burns push/pan on the still, plus any overlay labels (object name, distance, instrument). No fabricated footage.
Emit the rights line — exact attribution; route through rights-check-nasa-esa if credit is non-NASA.

Output contract

{
  "title": "string — APOD title",
  "hook": "string — 0–3s opener",
  "script": "string — full narration, timed",
  "captions": ["string — ≤7 words each"],
  "shot_list": ["string — shot/animation directions"],
  "rights_line": "string — exact attribution",
  "duration_sec": "number"
}

Tools & MCP

Tools: WebFetch (resolve APOD), Read.
MCP dependencies: none required. (Optional: a NASA-media MCP from starlight-mcp to fetch APOD JSON directly.)

Quality bar

Every stated fact is traceable to the APOD explanation — no invented numbers.
Rights line is verbatim and correct; non-NASA credit is flagged.
Narration fits length at ~2.5 words/sec.
Hook respects the audience's intelligence (no "scientists HATE this").

Example

See examples/example-01.md.

Built on SIP — Starlight Intelligence Protocol Substrate: starlightintelligence.org/protocol v1.1.0 Layers used: [file-contract, attestation, sovereignty] Vertical: starlight-agent-skills · portable capability layer