Channel Engine
An animated YouTube series, produced on your own computer with Claude. You direct. It produces. You publish.
1 / 10Make an original animated YouTube series on your own computer, working with Claude.
Channel Engine is a production kit for Claude Code. You choose the idea and approve each step. Claude researches the niche, writes the series bible and scripts, records the voices, composes the music, animates every scene, checks the frames and prepares an upload-ready package. You watch it, give notes and upload it yourself.
Everything renders locally. There are no paid APIs and no per-video fees. You need your own Claude plan.
What it is
Channel Engine is a folder you open in the Code tab of the Claude app. It contains an animation engine (Remotion, React and SVG), local text-to-speech (Kokoro) and speech recognition (Whisper), a music and sound-effect synthesizer written in code, automated quality checks, a local dashboard, and a detailed set of instructions that tell Claude how to run the whole production with you. You don't need to code or type commands. You talk to Claude in plain language, and Claude asks your permission before it runs anything.
Every episode ends as a complete upload package
- The finished video, loudness-mastered to −14 LUFS, with a captions file generated from the real voice timing
- Three titles and three thumbnails for YouTube's Test & Compare
- 2–4 vertical Shorts with covers, each built to stand on its own
- Description with chapters, tags and a pinned comment
- Every YouTube Studio setting, in Studio's order, with the value to choose
- A schedule suggestion and an upload checklist
All of it waits in a local dashboard, with a Copy or Download button on each item.
Before the first episode, a channel built properly
Niche research
10 series concepts researched on the web and scored on ad-rate band, competition, evergreen demand, production fit, policy risk and name risk. Every number has a source or is marked unverified. You get a top 3 to choose from.
Series bible
The world, the recurring characters, an episode formula, season arcs and a bank of 30 episode ideas.
Name clearance
For the channel name, handles and invented names, with evidence links.
Policy brief
Made-for-kids decision, AI-disclosure default, sensitive topics, and what the narrator must never say.
Voices
Auditions for each character from Kokoro's US and UK English voices. You pick.
The look and brand art
Palette, fonts from an open-licensed library, shapes and motion style, plus profile picture, banner and watermark.
Season plan
A 10-episode season with a distinctness check and a release plan.
In the box
- The Channel Engine kit (zip), version 1.0.0
- Installers for macOS/Linux and Windows, plus a health check that tells you what to fix
- A finished example channel marked DEMO (The Ledger · Financial Crimes), so you can see a full episode package before you start
- The buyer guide (PDF): setup on each OS, a first-episode walkthrough, costs and time, YouTube policy, troubleshooting and the license
How it works
- 1
Set up once
"Set up Channel Engine for me."
Unzip the folder and open it in Claude → Code. Claude installs what is missing and downloads the voice and speech models (about 1.5 GB, 5–20 minutes the first time). You click Allow when Claude asks.
- 2
Find your niche
"Find me a good YouTube niche about space."
Claude researches 10 concepts and recommends 3.
- 3
Build your channel
"Let's go with number 2."
Bible, characters, voices, look and brand art. You approve the bible and pick the voices.
- 4
Make episode 1
"Make episode 1."
Claude writes the script and waits for your OK. Then it voices the lines, composes the music, animates the scenes, runs the frame checks and shows you a review cut. You give notes, it fixes them, and you approve the final.
- 5
Upload it yourself
"Open my dashboard."
Follow the episode page from top to bottom in YouTube Studio. Channel Engine never uploads, schedules or posts anything.
On the smallest supported machine, an Apple-chip Mac with 8 GB of memory, the kit's authors measured about 3 hours from a new channel to a finished 78-second pilot. Most of that time Claude is working and you don't need to watch. Rendering on that machine runs at about 14 seconds per second of video, so longer episodes take longer. Later episodes are faster because the characters and sets already exist.
Built for original series, and honest about YouTube's rules
In July 2025 YouTube renamed its "repetitious content" policy to "inauthentic content". Mass-produced, templated videos are not eligible for monetization. YouTube's own policy page also says what is allowed: "a series following a set of characters across episodes … in which each video has a distinct storyline, focus, or concept." Channel Engine is designed for that pattern:
- Recurring characters, a consistent world and a season with arcs. Every season plan includes a distinctness check.
- The episode formula is a spine, not a template. If two episodes could swap titles, rewrite one.
- Each Short stands on its own. No text-swapped variants.
- AI-disclosure guidance for every upload. Synthetic voices are never hidden.
- Made-for-kids guidance, name clearance, fact-check files for anything real, and no synthetic "expert" giving health, legal or financial advice.
It can't care about the series for you. The idea, the taste and the consistency are still yours, and that's what YouTube's policy rewards.
Who it's for
- Creators who want to run an animated series without a team of animators, voice actors and composers, and who are willing to direct it.
- Writers, educators and explainers with a subject and a point of view who want to tell it with recurring characters.
- Small studios and freelancers producing original series for their own channels or for clients. The license allows client work: you deliver the videos, not the kit.
- People comfortable with a paid Claude plan who'd rather pay once for the kit than per video.
Who it's not for
- Anyone looking for a hands-off channel or income without ongoing work. You approve every script and watch every cut, and nothing here promises views, subscribers or revenue.
- Anyone who wants mass-produced or auto-uploaded content. The kit doesn't upload, and it's designed against templated videos.
- Photorealistic video. The style is stylized 2D animation and motion graphics.
- Older Intel Macs. The voice software doesn't run there.
- Anyone without a paid Claude plan. Claude Code requires one, and Max is recommended.
Compare editions
All prices in EUR. Checkout and delivery are handled by Dodo Payments: your download links arrive by email as soon as the payment clears. Claude is billed separately by Anthropic under your own plan.
Guide
The buyer guide (PDF) on its own, without the software.
- The YouTube policy chapter, quoting YouTube's own pages
- Series craft: episode engines, distinctness, arcs, honest packaging, release rhythm
- The full Channel Engine workflow, so you can decide whether you want the kit
Kit
Most chosenEverything you need to make the series yourself.
- The Channel Engine kit, v1.0.0
- The buyer guide (PDF)
- The DEMO example channel
- One-buyer commercial license (your own channels and client work)
- 12 months of updates, emailed to you as a new zip
Done-with-you
For when you'd rather start with someone beside you.
- Everything in the Kit
- Two 90-minute calls with us: we set up the kit with you, then build your first episode together, through to the upload package
- Up to 5 places a month. After checkout we email you to book
- We never ask for your Claude or YouTube login, and you upload the episode yourself
If your organisation has more than 3 employees, you also need a Remotion Company License from Remotion (remotion.dev/docs/license). Individuals and companies of up to 3 people can use Remotion for free.
What it costs to run
Requirements
Questions
Do I need to know how to code?
No. You talk to Claude in plain language and Claude runs every command. The kit's instructions tell Claude never to ask you to open a terminal or edit a file.
Does it upload to YouTube for me?
No, by design. Claude is instructed never to upload, schedule or post anything, and the dashboard has no connection to YouTube. You publish every video yourself, from a package that's ready to paste in.
Will this make me money?
We can't promise that, and we don't. Channel Engine is a production tool. Many channels never reach YouTube's Partner Program thresholds, and ad rates vary widely by topic, country and audience. Whether people watch depends on the series.
Is AI-made content allowed on YouTube?
Yes, with conditions. YouTube doesn't monetize mass-produced or templated content. It does allow a series with recurring characters where every episode has a distinct storyline, focus or concept. The guide covers this in detail, quoting YouTube's pages.
Do I have to disclose that it is AI?
YouTube requires disclosure when AI content appears realistic. Stylized animation generally doesn't need it; a realistic-sounding narrator presenting real events may. The kit's advice is to disclose whenever a viewer could mistake it for a real person. The decision, and the responsibility, are yours.
Which Claude plan do I need?
A paid plan, because Claude Code requires one. We recommend Max: an episode is a long working session, and smaller plans reach their usage limits sooner. We never ask for or handle your Claude login.
Are there any other subscriptions or API costs?
No paid APIs. Voices, speech recognition, music, sound and rendering all run on your computer. The one exception is licensing: organisations with more than 3 employees need a Remotion Company License.
What does the animation look like?
Stylized 2D vector animation, themed per channel, from a bright cartoon to a dark documentary look, with characters, sets, charts, maps, documents and on-screen phones and computers. It isn't photorealistic. The DEMO channel shows a finished example.
Which languages are supported?
The kit's voices are US and UK English (Kokoro), and speech recognition uses an English model.
Does it work on Windows?
Yes: Windows 10 and 11, with a PowerShell installer. Also macOS on Apple chips and Linux. Older Intel Macs are not supported.
Can I make videos for clients?
Yes. The license covers content for your own channels and your clients' channels. You deliver the videos, not the kit. Your employees and contractors can use your copy while working for you.
Can I resell or share the kit?
No. It's a one-buyer license: no resale, sharing, sublicensing, public repositories, or repackaging as a template, course or hosted service. The videos, audio, scripts and artwork you make are yours, with no attribution required.
What about music copyright?
All music and sound effects are synthesized in code, so there are no sample or stock-music licenses. A melody that copies an existing song can still infringe, so write original tunes.
What happens to my files and data?
Everything stays on your computer. The kit has no Rhomn server and no account system. Claude works under your own account and Anthropic's terms.
How do I get the files after paying?
Dodo Payments emails your download links as soon as the payment clears. Links in the email expire after a short time for security, and you can download again any time from the Dodo customer portal linked in that email.
Small print
Channel Engine is a software tool for producing video. It does not guarantee views, subscribers, monetization approval or income, and no figure on this page is a prediction of results. You are responsible for the content you publish and for following YouTube's policies, advertising and children's-privacy rules, and third-party rights.
Timings quoted are measurements from the kit's authors on one test machine, not promises. YouTube policy summaries reflect YouTube Help pages as checked in September and October 2026 and may change. They are not legal advice.
Rhomn & Co is not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic, YouTube/Google or Remotion. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic. YouTube is a trademark of Google LLC.