Make the Problem Easier to Show
My head kept flickering in my videos, and I could not say why. So I asked my agent for a tool to show it instead. Here is what it built, how it found the fix, and the prompt to use when you cannot explain what is wrong.
- Where
- In the terminal, with Claude Code
- Size
- A longer one
- Short link
- piy.show/s012
Why this Short, and my head kept flickering
I just moved from Final Cut to a video workflow coded entirely by my agent. It cuts me out of the camera picture, puts me over the background, and adds the cards and the glow. No editor.
Of course, something was broken. Around the edge of my head, parts went in and out between frames. A flicker you see at full speed and cannot point at. And how was I going to fix it? Not by reading the code.
The Short is seventy-five seconds. This page is the part it cannot hold: the tools the agent built, the fix, and the second problem the video leaves out.
Why did my head flicker? Three videos side by side
First I asked for three videos side by side: the original from the camera, the generated version, and my old Final Cut result. Same moment, same size, one page.
That gave me a reference to judge every fix against. The agent tried a few, among them a different model to cut me out.
After a few fixes, still flickering. The comparison told me it was wrong, not where. That needs a closer look.
How do I do this step myself? Prompt it yourself
Put three versions of my video side by side on one page, the same moment and the same size, so I can compare them while they play.
Frame by frame, and mark where it breaks
So I asked for a frame-by-frame viewer and a slow-motion loop. Buttons to step one frame back and one forward, the time on screen, and a box I can draw.
I stepped through it and marked the exact part where my head disappeared and came back. A box round the broken part, the time, and a few words: what is wrong, hair, ear, shoulder, flicker.
That is the step that matters. "It flickers" is a feeling. A box on frame 69.80 seconds with a note is something the agent can measure.
Why does marking the frame help the agent? Prompt it yourself
Build me a viewer for this video with a slow-motion loop, buttons to step one frame back and forward, and a way to draw a box and add a note. Save every mark with its time.
The fix was in the neighbouring frames
My marks helped the agent realise it needed to check the neighbouring frames. One frame on its own looked fine. The broken edge was there in one frame, gone in the next, back in the one after.
So each frame's cutout is now checked against six frames before it and six after. The agent follows how I moved between them, lines them up, and averages them, giving more weight to the frames that match best. An edge that blinks for one frame does not survive the average.
It measured the flicker at the moment I marked, before and after. Half of what it was. Ta-da! Success!
What are neighbouring frames? 
I can help you build yours
I build things like this with an AI agent, on my own computer. In a private session I help you do the same with your idea. Or bring it to the show, free.
Not so fast, the glow was late
Then the glow round my head lagged when I turned. The steadied edge left a ghost of my head where it had just been. This part did not make it into the Short.
Same approach. Show the problem, compare the options, pick the best one. The fix was a stricter rule: a neighbouring frame counts only where the movement leads back to the same spot. The ghost went down by half, and the flicker stayed fixed.
A fix often makes the next problem. Keep the tools you built.
Why did this work? Prompt it yourself
The fix works but now something lags when I move. Use the same viewer, compare the fixes on the frames I mark, and keep the one that solves both.
If you cannot explain it, show it
Here is the trick. If you cannot explain what is wrong, ask your agent to build a tool that helps you show it.
You and the agent talk past each other because you have no shared picture. You say flicker, it changes code. A tool gives you both the same picture: the frame, the box, the note. Then it is not your word against its guess.
It is not only video. A slow page, a wrong number in a report, a layout that breaks on one phone. Ask for the tool that shows it first, the fix after.
What tool would show my problem? The prompt
You do not need to know the solution. You just have to make the problem easier to show. Start with the prompt from the Short, and tell the agent what you are looking at.
What do I do next? Prompt it yourself
Help me mark the problem, compare possible fixes, and check what actually works.
Do it in the terminal
I do this with Claude Code, the AI agent in the terminal. It works in a folder on your own computer, so it reads your files every time and can look things up for you.
A web chat works too, but there you paste everything in again in every new chat.
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Get Claude Code
It comes with Claude Pro, US$20 a month, paid to Anthropic. Claude's plans
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Make a folder for it, and open it
mkdir -p ~/projects/my-video-tool && cd ~/projects/my-video-tool
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Start the agent
claude
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Ask it
Help me mark the problem, compare possible fixes, and check what actually works.
Never opened a terminal? In a private session I put Claude Code on your computer with you, and you start your first idea.
Prompty