SwoReel: explain anything as a short animated reel

How it works

You talk. Claude draws.

There is nothing to draw and no timeline to edit. A reel is a small file Claude writes for you, and everything about it can be changed by asking.

Ask for it

Describe what you want explained. Claude picks the right kind of picture, writes the reel and checks its own render before showing you.

Make a reel of how our checkout handles a declined card.

Watch and refine

It plays in a pane beside the chat. Point at what you see and say what to change; Claude edits that step and shows it again.

Shorten this caption, and add a step for the retry.

Share it

Export a video, one image or an image per step, in wide, tall or square. Put it in a post, a doc, a slide or a message.

Export it as a tall video and a set of stills.

What it makes

Sixteen kinds of reel

Each one builds up a step at a time, with a caption for every step. These are stills from real reels, exactly as they export.

A sequence diagram of a request passing through four services — Sequences who talks to whom

A code file with one line picked out — Code walkthroughs line by line

A line chart rising slowly — Charts bar, line, scatter, pie

A screenshot with arrows and notes on it — Annotated screenshots arrows and notes

A derivation set as typeset maths — Maths typeset, line by line

A world map with a route between two places — Maps places and routes

A project's folders as a tree — Trees files and hierarchies

A mock-up of a checkout page — Screen mock-ups state by state

A Gantt chart of five tasks — Plans and timelines what happens when

Also: system and request flows, state machines, array and algorithm steps, and freehand sketches.

Install

Let Claude set it up for you

SwoReel works only inside Claude Code, so Claude can install it on your Mac, Windows PC or Linux machine. Paste one line and it does the rest, telling you what it is about to do and asking before it runs anything.

Recommended

Paste this into Claude Code

Set up SwoReel for me. Follow the steps at https://sworeel.com/setup.md

That is all. When it finishes, restart Claude Code once and ask for your first reel.

What happens on your computer

Checks for Node.js and ffmpeg, which SwoReel runs on, and installs whichever is missing with your system's own package manager.
Adds the SwoReel plugin to Claude Code.
Asks if you want the desktop app, and installs it only if you say yes.
Changes nothing else. SwoReel has no account and collects no data, and you approve each command before it runs.

You can read exactly what Claude is told to do.

Or do it by hand

The same setup as three steps, if you would rather run it yourself. About five minutes.

Check you have Node and ffmpeg

SwoReel needs Node.js 22.18 or newer to run, and ffmpeg to make video. Images work without ffmpeg.

# macOS
brew install node ffmpeg

# Windows
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS Gyan.FFmpeg

# Linux: use your package manager, for example
sudo apt install nodejs ffmpeg

Add the plugin to Claude Code

Run these two commands inside Claude Code. The first tells it where SwoReel lives; the second installs it.

/plugin marketplace add tomswokowski/sworeel
/plugin install sworeel@tomswokowski

Then ask for a reel: "make a reel of how a request reaches the database." Type /sworeel any time to browse and play what you have made.

Get the desktop app optional

The window shown at the top of this page: browse, play, organise and export your reels. It works with the plugin from the step above, so install that first.

macOS Your system

Download .dmg

Open the file and drag SwoReel to Applications. One download for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

Windows Your system

Download .exe .msi

The installer is not signed yet, so Windows shows a warning. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Linux Your system

AppImage .deb .rpm

The AppImage runs on any distribution: make it executable with chmod +x and open it.

These are always the newest version.

Make it yours

Nothing to configure. Just say what you want.

The defaults are ready to share as they are. When you want something different, there is no settings maze: tell Claude and it changes.

Your credit

A small watermark, such as your handle, in the corner of everything you export.

Put @me on my exports.

Your colours

Reels are drawn in ten colours you can change, for every reel or just one.

Match our brand: navy and orange, on a light background.

Your habits

Tell Claude once how you like your reels and it keeps to it from then on.

Always keep captions under ten words.

Do I need the desktop app?

No. Everything works from Claude Code: making reels, playing them beside the chat, exporting and organising. The app is for when you would like a window with thumbnails, a scrubber and drag and drop.

The app says it cannot find the sworeel command

That command comes with the plugin, so install the plugin in Claude Code first, then start the app again. If Node.js is missing or older than 22.18, the command cannot start; install or update it.

How do I move my reels to another computer?

In the app, open Settings and choose Export All Reels, or ask Claude to bundle them. You get one .sworeel file holding your reels and their pictures. Import it on the other computer. Nothing already there is replaced.

How do I update?

The plugin updates through Claude Code: /plugin update sworeel@tomswokowski. For the app, download the newest version from this page and install it over the old one. Your reels and settings are kept.

Is it free?

Yes. SwoReel is free and open source under the MIT licence. It is made exclusively for Claude Code, so you need Claude Code to use it.