LOST EMPIRESThe Map Video Pipeline
The Claude Code skill behind 3.3M views in 30 days
Give Claude a claim and a region. It builds a finished 9:16 history map short: real historical borders, a satellite base map, a flying camera, a free local voiceover, word-by-word captions and sound. Then it checks its own work before you post.
Made with this exact pipeline
175K views
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120K viewsWhat's inside
The skill
The build order Claude follows, step by step, from script to finished render.
The lessons file
Every mistake from two months of daily posting and its fix: camera jitter, overlapping labels, wrong borders, dropped words.
The full code
Map builder, satellite plates, voiceover, captions, sound mix and the Remotion renderer.
Quality checks
Automatic checks for overlapping text, jerky camera moves and broken map events before you render.
A worked example
The Gauls video ("The French aren't Latin", 62 s), ready to build so you can see it work first.
Free data, no subscriptions
Historical borders, NASA imagery and the voice model all download free. No per-video costs.
You'll need
- Claude Code (any paid Claude plan)
- Python 3.11+, Node 18+ and ffmpeg installed
- A few GB of free disk space for the free map data and voice model
- To be comfortable running commands in a terminal. This is a toolkit for making videos yourself, not a one-click app.
- Built and tested on Windows.
Get the pipeline
Questions
How do I get the files?
Straight after payment you land on a download page. The link works for 30 days, so bookmark it. Stripe also emails your receipt.
Does it cost anything per video?
No. The borders, satellite imagery, voice and sound effects are all free. You only need your own Claude Code plan.
Can I post the videos commercially?
Yes, the videos you make are yours. Credit the borders in your captions: "Borders: Cliopatria / Seshat Global History Databank (CC BY 4.0)". Companies of more than 3 people need a Remotion company licence.
Do I need to know how to code?
No, Claude does the coding. You do need to install the tools above and run commands in a terminal.