Getting Started
System Requirements
Required software and supported platforms for playwright-recast.
Runtime requirements
| Dependency | Minimum version | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js | 18.0+ | Runtime environment |
| ffmpeg | 5.0+ | Video encoding, filtering, audio mixing |
| ffprobe | 5.0+ (bundled with ffmpeg) | Media file inspection |
Both ffmpeg and ffprobe must be available on your system PATH. The library invokes them as child processes.
Supported platforms
| Platform | Status |
|---|---|
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | Fully supported |
| macOS (Intel) | Fully supported |
| Linux (x64) | Fully supported |
| Windows (x64) | Supported |
Optional dependencies
| Dependency | Required for |
|---|---|
| OpenAI API key | .voiceover() with OpenAIProvider |
| ElevenLabs API key | .voiceover() with ElevenLabsProvider |
| Playwright | Generating trace files (not needed if you already have trace.zip) |
Performance considerations
- Frame interpolation (
mcimode) is CPU-intensive, especially at 4K resolution. Expect longer processing times on lower-end hardware. - Multi-pass interpolation multiplies processing time by the number of passes.
- TTS voiceover requires network access to the provider API. Processing time depends on subtitle count and audio length.
- Video resolution directly impacts rendering time. Use
720pfor faster iteration during development, then switch to1080por4kfor final output.
Verifying your setup
Run these commands to confirm everything is installed:
# Check Node.js
node --version
# Check ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version
# Check ffprobe
ffprobe -version
# Check playwright-recast
npx playwright-recast --help