# How to find a viral Short idea and build it with HyperFrames > Use viralshooter to spot caption-led Shorts, list videos and chart explainers taking off now, then have Claude Code build yours with HyperFrames. Source: https://viralshooter.com/blog/guides/hyperframes-ai-video (Published November 6, 2026, by viralshooter) Some of the videos taking off right now were never filmed. Caption-led Shorts, list videos with a title card per item, animated chart explainers and quote cards are made of text, images, motion and sound, which means a coding agent such as Claude Code can build them for you. This guide shows how to use viralshooter to find which of those formats is working this week, turn a handful of examples into a brief, and then hand that brief to HyperFrames to make your own version. ## Step 1: find the videos that are taking off Start where viralshooter puts young videos, ranked by how they perform for their age rather than by how many views they have in total: - [Shorts](https://viralshooter.com/shorts) and [Videos](https://viralshooter.com) list young videos by how they are doing for their age. Signed in, you also get the last 1, 6 and 12 hours, which is the earliest you can catch something. - [New on the charts](https://viralshooter.com/new) shows videos first seen on the charts in the last 24 hours. - [Countries](https://viralshooter.com/countries) and the per-country charts such as [/trending/us](https://viralshooter.com/trending/us) and [/trending/kr](https://viralshooter.com/trending/kr) show what is moving in one market. Compare two countries to see where a style is working. - [Categories](https://viralshooter.com/categories) and [Hashtags](https://viralshooter.com/hashtags) show which topics are moving. - [Channels](https://viralshooter.com/channels) shows who is getting watched, and [Markets](https://viralshooter.com/markets) shows where the views are moving. - [Chart history](https://viralshooter.com/history) shows what got watched in a past window, so you can check whether a style has been around for a while. ## Step 2: read the right columns For finding a format, four columns matter more than total views: - **Vs usual** ([glossary](https://viralshooter.com/blog/glossary#vs-usual)): how far a video is above what its channel's uploads usually get at the same age. This is the column that surfaces breakouts. - **Views/h**: how fast it is gaining views now, so you can tell a video that is still climbing from one that has levelled off. - **Channel size**: measured by the views a channel's uploads usually get, never by subscribers. - **Age**: how long it has been up. A video that is far ahead at a few hours old is more telling than one that took weeks. viralshooter ranks videos by their own numbers, never by subscribers, and that matters for this job. When a big channel's video does well, you can't tell whether the format worked or the audience was already there. When a small channel's video runs far above its usual, the video did it, and that is the kind of result you can learn from and repeat. ## Step 3: look for a format you can build in code Filter for formats a coding agent can make from text, images and your own clips: - **caption-led Shorts**, where large words on screen carry the story; - **list videos**, with a title card or number for each item; - **chart explainers**, where an animated chart or number reveal is the payoff; - **quote cards**, a line of text on a clean background with a voice or music under it. Skip anything whose appeal is the camera: a face, a place, a product in someone's hands. HyperFrames can add captions and titles to that footage, but it can't shoot it. ## Step 4: turn several outliers into one brief One video taking off can be luck. Several videos from different small channels doing the same thing is a format. Open the ones that look alike and note what they share: - the hook in the first seconds: a question, a bold claim, a number on screen; - length; - caption style: size, color, word by word or line by line, where it sits in the frame; - pacing: how often the screen changes; - topic and country. Pick the two or three that fit you best and write one paragraph: what the video opens on, how the text looks and moves, how long it runs, and what your own topic is. That paragraph is the brief you will hand to the agent. ## Let your agent do the research If you [connect viralshooter to your AI agent](https://viralshooter.com/agents), Claude Code can read the same data. The `early_videos` tool lists young videos for a window of 1, 6, 12 or 24 hours, or 3 or 7 days, sorted by `top` (best for its age), `vsUsual` (furthest above its channel's usual), `viewsNow` (most views per hour now) or `views`. Each video comes with `topPct` (top N% for its age), `vsUsual` and `channelSize`. There is also a ready `daily_brief` prompt for a quick read of the day. A prompt that does the research and then hands off to the build: > Use viralshooter's early_videos for Shorts in the last 24 hours, sorted by vsUsual, and look at the ones from small channels. Find a format that is built from on-screen text, title cards or charts rather than filmed footage, and that shows up in at least two or three videos. Tell me what they share: the hook in the first seconds, length, caption style, pacing. Write that as a one-paragraph brief for my topic, then stop so I can check it before we build. ## Step 5: check back tomorrow Run the same search the next day and the day after. If the style keeps showing up from different channels, it is a format worth building a series around. If it was one video, move on. ## Step 6: build your version with HyperFrames HyperFrames is a free, open-source framework from **HeyGen** (Apache 2.0) that turns HTML, CSS, media and animations into MP4 videos. It renders the page in headless Chrome frame by frame and encodes it with FFmpeg, and it ships agent skills that teach Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others how to write a valid composition. You need **Node.js 22 or later** and **FFmpeg**. Then add the plugin to Claude Code: > `claude plugin marketplace add heygen-com/hyperframes` > `claude plugin install hyperframes@hyperframes` Open Claude Code in your project folder and give it your brief: > Using /hyperframes, build a vertical 1080 by 1920 Short from this brief: [paste your paragraph]. Use my script in ./script.txt for the captions and my clips and images in ./footage. Keep captions and key text clear of the edges. Preview it before rendering, then render the MP4. Watch the preview and ask for changes in plain words ("bigger captions", "faster cuts in the middle") before you render again. If you prefer to drive it by hand, `npx hyperframes init`, `npx hyperframes preview` and `npx hyperframes render` do the same steps. Two honest limits. It is not a camera: it won't film you or make realistic footage by itself (HeyGen's paid Pro plan adds its own video, image, voice and music models). And a composition has to follow its rules, such as animations tied to the video's timeline rather than the wall clock, or the render can come out as a still frame, so always preview first. HyperFrames says it is inspired by Remotion; if you already work in React, Remotion is the other route. ## Make your own version Use the format, not the video. Bring your own idea, script, voice and footage, and don't download other people's YouTube videos to put in your edit (YouTube's Terms don't allow it without permission). To study how one particular video was put together, see [find a video that is taking off, then reverse-engineer how it was made](https://viralshooter.com/blog/guides/reverse-engineer-viral-videos). For other open-source tools that make the video step, see [open-source AI video tools](https://viralshooter.com/blog/guides/open-source-ai-video-tools). ## FAQ ### How do I find videos that are going viral right now? Open [Shorts](https://viralshooter.com/shorts) or [Videos](https://viralshooter.com), which rank young videos by how they perform for their age, and sign in for the last 1, 6 and 12 hours. [New on the charts](https://viralshooter.com/new) shows what was first seen on the charts in the last 24 hours. Sort by **Vs usual** to find small channels far above their usual. ### Why not just copy the biggest videos? The biggest videos often come from big channels, where the audience does much of the work. A small channel's breakout tells you the video itself worked, so its format is more likely to work for you too. And copying a video is not the same as using its format: make your own. ### Which viral formats can Claude Code build with HyperFrames? Formats built from text, images and motion: caption-led Shorts, list videos with title cards, animated chart explainers, quote cards, and captions or overlays on footage you shot yourself. It can't film anything for you. ### Is HyperFrames free? Yes. The framework and CLI are open source under Apache 2.0, with no per-render fees, and the Studio app is free to use. HeyGen's Pro plan adds its own media models; you don't need it for the videos in this guide. ## Sources - [HyperFrames on GitHub (heygen-com/hyperframes)](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes) - [HyperFrames Quickstart](https://hyperframes.heygen.com/quickstart)