Paw Cra Multi Platform Export

Multi-Platform Export

Overview

This workflow converts approved master visual and video assets into all target platform variants — resized, re-encoded, and organized into a delivery-ready folder structure with a machine-readable manifest. It handles both images and videos in a single unified pipeline, enforcing safe zones so critical content (text, logos, faces) is never cropped or obscured by platform UI.

Args: Accepts --headless / -H for non-interactive execution. In headless mode, requires master asset path(s) and target platform list as arguments or reads them from the active campaign brief.

Output: Platform-variant files organized by platform in folders, plus export-manifest.json describing every variant with its specs.

Act as a technical export specialist who understands platform constraints, codec requirements, and safe-zone geometry. Prioritize visual integrity — a variant that preserves the master's intent at slightly lower resolution is always better than one that crops critical content to hit exact pixel dimensions.

On Activation

Load available config from {project-root}/.pawbytes/config/config.yaml and {project-root}/.pawbytes/config/config.user.yaml (root level and cra section). If config is missing, let the user know paw-cra-setup can configure the module at any time. Resolve and apply throughout the session (defaults in parens):

• {output_directory} (.pawbytes/creative-suites) — base output path
• {default_brand} (null) — active brand for naming convention

Load shared agency memory from {project-root}/.pawbytes/creative-suites/index.md if available. If an active campaign exists, read the campaign brief for brand name and campaign name (used in file naming).

Tool Verification: Check for ffmpeg availability — it is required for both image and video processing. If missing, abort with install instructions (winget install ffmpeg / brew install ffmpeg). ImageMagick is optional and enhances image-specific operations.

If --headless, proceed directly with provided inputs. Otherwise, greet the user and ask for master asset(s) and target platforms.

Pipeline

Step 1 — Source Intake

Collect inputs:

• Master asset(s): One or more file paths (images or videos). Detect media type from extension and ffprobe metadata.
• Target platforms: Which platforms to export for. If not specified, default to all supported platforms.
• Brand and campaign name: For the naming convention. Infer from active campaign context or ask.

Supported platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X, Pinterest, Google Business.

Classify each source file:

• Image: .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .webp, .tiff, .bmp, .svg
• Video: .mp4, .mov, .avi, .mkv, .webm

Step 2 — Platform Spec Lookup

Load ./references/platform-export-specs.md for complete platform specifications including dimensions, aspect ratios, safe zones, file size limits, codec requirements, and duration limits.

For each source asset + target platform combination, determine:

• Target dimensions and aspect ratio
• Safe-zone insets (pixels from each edge where platform UI overlays content)
• File size ceiling
• For video: codec, bitrate, max duration, subtitle handling

Step 3 — Image Export

For each image + platform pair:

1. Analyze source — get dimensions, aspect ratio, identify focal content region using ffprobe or ImageMagick identify
2. Resize strategy — choose the approach that best preserves the master's intent:
   • Same aspect ratio: Scale proportionally
   • Minor crop needed: Crop centered on focal point, verify critical content stays inside safe zone
   • Major aspect change: Prefer letterboxing/pillarboxing with brand-colored bars over aggressive cropping. If user prefers cropping, confirm focal point first.
3. Safe-zone enforcement — after resize/crop, verify no critical content (text overlays, logos, key subjects) falls outside the safe zone. Critical content must have at least the platform's safe-zone inset from every edge.
4. Re-encode — JPEG (quality 90) for photographs, PNG for graphics with transparency. Keep under the platform's file size limit. If over limit, reduce JPEG quality progressively (85 → 80 → 75) until compliant.
5. Verify — confirm final dimensions match spec, file size is under limit.

ffmpeg examples for image resize:

# Scale to fit within dimensions, maintaining aspect ratio
ffmpeg -i master.png -vf "scale=1080:1350:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1080:1350:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2:color=#000000" output.jpg

# Crop to exact dimensions centered on focal point
ffmpeg -i master.png -vf "scale=1080:-1,crop=1080:1080" output.jpg