Violin — operating skill

Always uses the default config (Together for translation, cartesia/sonic-3 for TTS). If the user asks for OpenAI, ElevenLabs, or custom configs, stop and point them to the Violin repo — those flows aren't supported through the global CLI.

Pre-flight

Run these silently first. Abort if any fails:

command -v violin                 # 1. CLI on PATH
test -f "<input>"                 # 2. Input exists
printenv TOGETHER_API_KEY         # 3. Key available

If violin is missing: tell the user to uv tool install violin, then violin --install-skill to refresh this skill file. Do not auto-install.

If TOGETHER_API_KEY is missing:

• Inside the Violin repo → populate .env (auto-loaded)
• Elsewhere → export TOGETHER_API_KEY=... in ~/.zshrc / ~/.bashrc, then source it

Decisions

• CLI vs API: single run-and-wait file → CLI (violin). Multi-job / HTTP / web UI → API server (violin-api); print the command, don't auto-start it.
• Style (--style): default standard. Kids content → kids, formal/lecture → academic, casual → casual, dramatic → storyteller, news → news. Run violin --style list if unsure.
• Voiceover: keep default (mix dubbed audio over a quiet original). Use --no-voiceover only when the user explicitly says "replace audio entirely".

Run

violin <input> <output> --language <Lang> [flags]

Flags

Flag	Default	When to set
--language / -l	required	Target language (e.g. Chinese, Spanish, Japanese).
--voice / -v	auto (native voice picked by preferences.voice_gender)	Only when the user names a specific voice from the catalog (e.g. "warm female narrator"). Otherwise omit and let the default kick in.
--source-language	auto-detect	Only if Whisper mis-detects the source language.
--style / -s	standard	See Decisions above.
--no-subtitles	off	User says "no SRT" / "video only".
--no-voiceover	off	User says "replace original audio entirely".
--config / -c	config/default.yaml	Don't use through this skill — repo-only flow.
--timings-out	off	Only when the user wants a per-step timing JSON for debugging / benchmarking.

Language coverage

33 target languages total. 16 ship with handpicked native-speaker voices: Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Turkish, German, Korean, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch, Swedish. The other 17 fall back to the English voice catalog (multilingual under Cartesia Sonic 3) — quality is decent but the voice isn't a native speaker. Mention this caveat only if the user is translating to a fallback language and asks about voice quality.

Report back

• Output video path + SRT path (printed by the run).
• Total cost (printed at end — surface, don't hide).
• If voiceover was on, mention the _original.m4a sidecar.

Don'ts

• Don't run on multi-GB videos without first quoting the rough cost (audio length × per-provider rates in pipeline/pricing.py).
• Don't fabricate a "subtitles-only" mode — the CLI requires the full pipeline. If the user only wants SRT, run the full pipeline and hand them just the .srt, warning them of the cost first.
• Don't try to switch to OpenAI or ElevenLabs from this skill. Point the user to the repo + --config config/other_api.yaml (or their own override).
• Don't paraphrase the README. For supported languages (33), voice catalog, and full flag docs, point them at README.md or violin --help.