Explainer Video

Create narrated explainer videos with AI-generated visuals from a topic, URL, or text, in info or story mode.

Generate explainer videos that pair a single narrator's voiceover with AI-generated visuals. Best for product introductions, concept explanations, and tutorials. You can produce a full narrated video, or just the script text first to review before committing to video.

Trigger

Invoke this skill with /explainer, or use any of these phrases:

Phrase	Language
`explainer video`	English
`explain this as a video`	English
`tutorial video`	English
`解说视频`	Chinese
`解释一下 XXX（视频形式）`	Chinese

Requires ListenHub Skills to be installed — see Getting Started.

Quick Example

Make an explainer video introducing Claude Code

The AI confirms the language, style, and output type through a short Q&A, then writes the script, selects a voice, generates visuals for each section, and produces the video.

Explainer and Slides both turn a topic into visual content. Use Explainer for a continuous narrated video. Use Slides for a deck of discrete slides where narration is optional and off by default. Explainer uses exactly one speaker. If you want audio without visuals, use Speech or Podcast.

Modes

Explainer supports two modes. Set with --mode; the default is info.

Factual, structured presentation. Clear progression: intro, key points, summary.

Best for product introductions, feature walkthroughs, and educational content.

Narrative storytelling approach. Engaging flow: hook, build-up, climax, resolution.

Best for brand stories, case studies, and emotional topics.

Intent	Recommended mode
"Introduce this product"	`info`
"Explain how X works"	`info`
"Tell the story of X"	`story`
"Make an engaging video"	`story`
No preference stated	`info` (default)

Explainer accepts only info or story. The slides mode belongs to the Slides skill — use that instead for a slide deck.

Options

The AI collects these through a short Q&A before generating. You can also pass them directly when driving the listenhub explainer create command yourself.

Option	CLI flag	Values	Default
Topic / content	`--query`	Free text, or pair with a source	Required
Source URL	`--source-url`	A URL to summarize (repeatable)	None
Source text	`--source-text`	Reference text (repeatable)	None
Mode	`--mode`	`info`, `story`	`info`
Language	`--lang`	`en`, `zh`, `ja`	Auto-detected from the topic
Speaker	`--speaker`	A voice name	Built-in default for the language
Speaker ID	`--speaker-id`	A speaker inner ID	Resolved from `--speaker`
Text only	`--skip-audio`	Present = script only, no audio/video	Off (full video)
Image size	`--image-size`	`2K`, `4K`	`2K`
Aspect ratio	`--aspect-ratio`	`16:9`, `9:16`, `1:1`	`16:9`
Visual style	`--style`	Free text style hint for the visuals	None

Language

--lang accepts en, zh, or ja. If omitted, the language is auto-detected from your topic text. If you set a default language in config, the AI pre-fills it and skips the question.

Speaker

Explainer uses exactly one speaker. If you do not name a speaker, the AI uses the built-in default voice for the chosen language. To use a different voice, ask to change it and the AI fetches the available voices — speaker IDs are never hardcoded.

Image size and aspect ratio

--image-size controls the resolution of generated visuals (2K or 4K; default 2K). --aspect-ratio controls the video shape: 16:9 (default, landscape), 9:16 (vertical), or 1:1 (square).

Source URL or text

To build an explainer from existing material, provide a reference. The AI passes a page link as --source-url or pasted content as --source-text alongside your --query, and the script is generated from that content. Both flags are repeatable.

Output type

Choose between a full narrated video or just the script text.

The default. Generates the narration script, then produces a video with AI-generated visuals matching each section.

listenhub explainer create \
  --query "Introduce Claude Code: what it is, key features, and how to get started" \
  --mode info \
  --lang en \
  --speaker "Mars" \
  --image-size 2K \
  --aspect-ratio 16:9 \
  --timeout 600 \
  --json

Typical generation time: 5–10 minutes.

Pass --skip-audio to generate just the narration script — no audio and no video. Useful for reviewing content before committing to a full render.

listenhub explainer create \
  --query "Introduce Claude Code" \
  --mode info \
  --lang en \
  --skip-audio \
  --json

Typical generation time: 2–3 minutes.

Output

When generation finishes, the AI presents the result based on your configured output mode.

Online episode

Every run produces an online episode you can view and share:

https://listenhub.ai/app/explainer/{episodeId}

The full narration script is available in the episode detail.

Result fields

The create command returns the episode detail. The shape depends on the output type:

Output type	Returned links
Text + Video	`videoUrl` (the rendered video), `audioUrl` (the voiceover track), `credits`
Text only (`--skip-audio`)	Script only — no `audioUrl` or `videoUrl`; view the script at the online episode link

With --json, the command prints the full episode detail (including id / episodeId, title, and processStatus). Without --json, it prints a compact summary.

Download

If your output mode is download or both, the AI also saves files into the current working directory:

Text only — a script file, e.g. claude-code-explainer.md
Text + Video — a claude-code-explainer/ folder containing script.md and audio.mp3

The online episode link is always shown, regardless of output mode.

Credit cost varies by script length, image size, and whether video is rendered, and is shown in the result after generation. There is no separate estimate command for explainer — generate text only first if you want to review scope before rendering video.

Tips

Detailed descriptions in your prompt produce richer visuals.
One concept per section works best for clarity.
Request text only first to review the script, then generate the video.
Use --aspect-ratio 9:16 for vertical social formats and 4K for higher-resolution visuals.