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External Projects

External Manim projects can use Manim Studio without copying their scenes into this repository. Mount the external project at /workspace in the reusable runtime container and run studio from that mounted root.

Generate a Project

Create a new external project:

studio project init ./demo --name "Demo Project"

Generated projects use manim-studio:local by default. To write a different locally available image tag into the generated Docker and MCP configuration:

studio project init ./demo --name "Demo Project" --image-tag manim-studio:custom

Project generation writes the starter files only. It does not build Docker images, pull runtime images, validate the environment, start MCP, or render.

Generated projects include:

  • .gitignore
  • README.md
  • AGENTS.md
  • compose.yml
  • mcp.manim-studio.json
  • catalog/scenes.yaml
  • a registered starter scene
  • docs/conventions.md
  • Windows command wrappers

Verify the generated project separately:

studio project verify ./demo

Run a draft render only when explicitly requested:

studio project verify ./demo --render

This flow is not yet a zero-dependency public installer. Build or install the configured runtime image, such as manim-studio:local, before verification. Public bootstrap installers, automatic Codex or Claude configuration, and cloud rendering are future distribution work.

One-Shot Docker Commands

Build the runtime image from the Manim Studio repository:

docker build --target runtime -t manim-studio:local .

Run commands against an external project:

docker run --rm \
  -v "/path/to/project:/workspace" \
  -w /workspace \
  manim-studio:local \
  studio doctor --catalog

docker run --rm \
  -v "/path/to/project:/workspace" \
  -w /workspace \
  manim-studio:local \
  studio list

docker run --rm \
  -v "/path/to/project:/workspace" \
  -w /workspace \
  manim-studio:local \
  studio render demo/smoke --profile draft

Export an all-slides deck:

docker run --rm \
  -v "/path/to/project:/workspace" \
  -w /workspace \
  manim-studio:local \
  studio export my_slides --format pptx --profile final

Generated builds/, media/, slides/, and review artifacts are written inside the mounted project.

Compose

docs/compose.external.yml is a copyable Compose service for an external project:

services:
  studio:
    image: manim-studio:local
    working_dir: /workspace
    environment:
      MANIM_STUDIO_REPO_ROOT: /workspace
    volumes:
      - .:/workspace

Copy it to the external project as compose.yml or adapt the service block. Expected commands from the external project root:

docker compose run --rm studio studio doctor --catalog
docker compose run --rm studio studio list
docker compose run --rm studio studio catalog validate
docker compose run --rm studio studio render demo/smoke --profile draft
docker compose run --rm studio studio export my_slides --format pptx --profile final
docker compose run --rm -T studio manim-mcp

MCP From Docker

Run the MCP stdio server without allocating a TTY:

docker run --rm -i \
  -v "/path/to/project:/workspace" \
  -w /workspace \
  -e MANIM_STUDIO_REPO_ROOT=/workspace \
  manim-studio:local \
  manim-mcp

Do not add -t; MCP stdio clients expect a non-interactive process.