git:20261104.00e047d to git:20261104.75fba36

14 added, 4 removed. Audit B to B.

---

name: review-desk

description: Optional. Open the Reel Studio desk (a local review app) and work from its review notes - notes pinned to frames, renders, approvals. Use only when the person asks for the desk or already uses it - "open the desk", "apply my desk notes", "fix what I marked", "what's on this frame" - or a production has a review.json. Never required: reviewing and approving in chat works the same.

---

# Review desk (optional)

- The kit works the same without it: storyboards are approved in chat, and QA is the `make-video` steps. Don't start

- the desk or suggest it unless the person asks, or they already use it (a `review.json` in the production).

+ The kit works the same without it: storyboards are approved in chat, and QA is the `make-video` steps. Start the

+ desk when the person asks, or they already use it (a `review.json` in the production). `make-video` offers it once,

+ when a storyboard is ready; don't push it beyond that.

The desk (`desk/`) is a local page for the person: it plays a production's composition frame-exact through the

renderer's own clock (`__seek`), and lets them pin notes to frames, render stills, preview videos and QA, read the

storyboard, approve, and send notes to a coding agent. It only reads and writes files in the project, so everything it does

reaches you as files (and, if it is registered, through the `reel-desk` MCP server).

## Open it

- `node desk/server.mjs` (run it in the background), then the person opens <http://127.0.0.1:4100>. In the Claude

- desktop app, open that URL in the browser pane; elsewhere, give the person the URL. `npx reel-studio desk` does the same. Port: `--port <n>`.

+ Open it for the person; don't hand them a command to run (many are not technical).

+ - **Claude desktop app** (a `preview_start` tool is available): `preview_start` with name `desk`. It starts the

+ server from `.claude/launch.json` and shows the desk in the app's browser pane, next to the chat. `setup` writes

+ that entry; if it is missing, add it: `{"name": "desk", "runtimeExecutable": "node", "runtimeArgs":

+ ["desk/server.mjs", "--port", "4100"], "port": 4100}` under `configurations`.

+ - **Elsewhere** (terminal, Codex, Copilot): run `node desk/server.mjs` in the background and give the person

+ <http://127.0.0.1:4100>. `npx reel-studio desk` does the same. Port: `--port <n>`.

+ Then open the production they are working on, and say in one line what they can do there: play it, pin notes to a

+ frame, approve the storyboard.

The `reel-desk` MCP tools below are not registered by default. If they aren't available and the person wants them:

Claude Code: `claude mcp add reel-desk --scope project -- node desk/mcp.mjs`; Codex:

`codex mcp add reel-desk -- node desk/mcp.mjs`; Copilot: add it to `.vscode/mcp.json` or the Copilot CLI's

`/mcp add` (then restart the session). Without them, read and

write `review.json` directly.

## Where things are

| | |

|---|---|

| Notes and approvals | `productions/<brand>/<ID>/review.json` (tracked in git: it is the review record) |

| What the person has open | `desk/.state.json`, or the `desk_state` tool |

| Desk renders | `productions/<brand>/<ID>/qa/desk/` (stills, `preview.mp4`, `qa/`); never the delivered export |

## Working from notes

1. `desk_state` tells you which production and time "this frame" means. `list_notes` gives the open notes

(`id`, `t` in seconds, `text`). Without the MCP server, read `review.json`.

2. For each note: change the composition, check it with `render_frame` at the note's `t` (or

`node core/render.mjs still … --t <t>`) and **look at the image**.

3. `resolve_note` with a one-line reply saying what changed. If a note needs a fact, an asset or a decision you

don't have, keep it `open` and put the question in the reply. Only the person closes notes (after checking).

4. Your own QA findings can go on the timeline too: `add_note` (they show as by `claude`, the desk's name for any agent).

The desk's **Send to agent** button runs exactly this loop headlessly with the person's own login: Claude Code

(`claude -p`, `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` removed, tools limited to read/edit/render/QA and `reel-desk`) or Codex

(`codex exec`, workspace-write sandbox, `OPENAI_API_KEY` removed), picked with `REEL_AGENT`. One session per

production (`review.json` → `claude.session` / `codex.session`).

## Approvals are the person's

The desk's **Approve storyboard** ticks `- [x] Storyboard approved` in the production README and fills

*Approved by / date*; **Approve final cut** adds a final-cut line. Both are logged in `review.json` → `approvals`.

**Never write an approval yourself**, in the README or in `review.json`, and never treat a fixed note as approval.

When a storyboard is ready, say "it's in the desk for approval" and stop (golden rule 2).