GitHub Assets Branch Management

Automates the "assets branch" strategy for persistent image hosting in GitHub PRs. Solves the problem of transient CDN tokens (?jwt=...) that expire on private repo images.

Playwright MCP Integration

CRITICAL: When using Playwright MCP for E2E testing, video is recorded automatically.

Video Recording (Automatic)

Playwright MCP configured with --save-video=<resolution> records ALL browser sessions:

• •Storage: .playwright-mcp/ directory (project root)
• •Format: .webm files with timestamp (e.g., page-2026-01-06T22-49-59-407Z.webm)
• •Resolution: Matches config (default: 1920x1080)

Evidence Upload Workflow

When adding visual evidence to PRs:

DO NOT record a new video when adding video evidence. The video already exists from the browser session.

Standard Workflow

1. •Screenshots: Use browser_take_screenshot during E2E validation
2. •Video: After E2E session completes, find the .webm in .playwright-mcp/
3. •Upload: Use this skill to upload screenshots + video (auto-converts to MP4+GIF)

# Upload all evidence (screenshots + video)
/gh-assets-branch-mgmt upload outputs/screenshots/*.png .playwright-mcp/*.webm --context pr-42

The video will be automatically converted to H.264 MP4 (8x speed) + GIF for PR embedding.

Commands

Usage

Initialize Assets Branch

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt init

Creates an orphan assets branch with no commit history using Git's well-known empty tree SHA.

Upload Files

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt upload outputs/screenshots/*.png --context pr-42

Uploads all matching files to assets branch under pr-42/ path.

Get URLs

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt url screenshot.png --context pr-42

Returns: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OWNER/REPO/assets/pr-42/screenshot.png

Upload Videos

Videos are automatically converted and uploaded as both GIF + MP4:

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt upload ./recording.mov --context pr-42

The tool:

1. •Detects video by extension (mov, mp4, webm, avi, mkv, m4v)
2. •Converts to H.264 MP4 (720p, CRF 28, 8x speed by default)
3. •Generates GIF from the output MP4 (720px, 10fps, palette optimized)
4. •Uploads both GIF (for inline embed) and MP4 (for download)
5. •Outputs markdown for GIF embed + download link for MP4
6. •Cleans up temporary files

Output format:

![recording_converted](https://github.com/.../recording_converted.gif?raw=true)

[Download Recording](https://github.com/.../recording_converted.mp4?raw=true)

Why both? GIF embeds inline, MP4 provides full quality download option.

Note: Videos are sped up 8x by default (144s input -> 18s output). Audio is dropped.

Convert Video (Standalone)

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt convert-video ./demo.mov --preset pr-medium

Video Options:

• •--preset <name> - Compression preset (see table below)
• •--max-size <mb> - Target file size in MB (enables two-pass encoding)
• •--output <path> - Custom output path
• •--speed <factor> - Playback speed multiplier (default: 8 = 8x faster)

GIF Options:

• •--gif - Also generate GIF from output MP4
• •--gif-only - Generate only GIF, remove MP4 after
• •--gif-fps <n> - GIF frame rate (default: 10)
• •--gif-width <px> - GIF max width (default: 720)

Examples:

# Default: 8x speed, pr-small preset (MP4 only)
./gh-video-convert.sh demo.mov

# Generate MP4 + GIF
./gh-video-convert.sh demo.mov --gif

# Generate only GIF (no MP4 kept)
./gh-video-convert.sh demo.mov --gif-only

# Custom GIF settings
./gh-video-convert.sh demo.mov --gif --gif-width 1080 --gif-fps 24

# Original speed (no speedup)
./gh-video-convert.sh demo.mov --speed 1

Processing Pipeline:

Input Video -> MP4 (scaled, sped up) -> GIF (from MP4)

The GIF is always generated from the output MP4, ensuring visual consistency.

Video Presets

Download Videos

Download uploaded videos from the assets branch:

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt download-video pr-42

Downloads the latest video and opens it automatically.

Options:

• •--all - Download all videos (default: latest only)
• •--list - List videos without downloading
• •--no-open - Don't open video after download
• •--output <dir> - Download directory (default: /tmp)
• •--repo <owner/repo> - Repository (default: current repo)

Examples:

# Download & open latest video
./gh-assets-download.sh pr-42

# Download all videos
./gh-assets-download.sh pr-42 --all

# List available videos
./gh-assets-download.sh pr-42 --list

# Download to specific directory
./gh-assets-download.sh pr-42 --output ./downloads

Cleanup After PR Merge

/gh-assets-branch-mgmt cleanup --context pr-42

Removes all files under pr-42/ from the assets branch.

Implementation Details

Orphan Branch Creation

Uses Git's well-known empty tree SHA to create a branch with no history:

EMPTY_TREE="4b825dc642cb6eb9a060e54bf8d69288fbee4904"
COMMIT=$(gh api repos/$OWNER/$REPO/git/commits -X POST \
  -f message="chore: initialize assets branch" \
  -f tree="$EMPTY_TREE" --jq '.sha')
gh api repos/$OWNER/$REPO/git/refs -X POST \
  -f ref="refs/heads/assets" -f sha="$COMMIT"

File Upload Strategy

CRITICAL: Files must be uploaded sequentially (not in parallel). Use the bash script:

./gh-assets-upload.sh <source-dir> <context> <owner/repo>

Each file is uploaded via GitHub Contents API with inline base64 encoding:

gh api repos/OWNER/REPO/contents/{context}/{filename} -X PUT \
  -f message="assets({context}): add {filename}" \
  -f content="$(base64 -i {filepath})" \
  -f branch="assets" \
  --jq '.content.sha'

URL Format

Use blob URL with ?raw=true for embedding (works for both public and private repos):

https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/blob/assets/{context}/{filename}?raw=true

Markdown syntax:

![Alt Text](https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/blob/assets/{context}/{filename}?raw=true)

Directory Structure on Assets Branch

assets/
├── pr-1/
│   ├── screenshot1.png
│   └── screenshot2.png
├── pr-42/
│   └── demo.gif
└── README.md  (optional)

Bash Script Tools

Scripts are located in this skill directory:

• •gh-assets-upload.sh - Batch upload with auto video conversion
• •gh-video-convert.sh - Standalone video conversion tool
• •gh-assets-download.sh - Download videos from assets branch

Usage (from skill directory):

./gh-assets-upload.sh ./screenshots pr-42
./gh-video-convert.sh demo.mov --gif
./gh-assets-download.sh pr-42

Error Handling

• •Branch exists: Skip creation, proceed with upload
• •File exists: Update (PUT) overwrites existing file
• •Upload fails: Log error, continue with remaining files
• •Invalid context: Must match pattern [a-z0-9-]+
• •Video conversion fails: Falls back to uploading original file
• •ffmpeg not found: Logs error, skips video conversion

Limitations

Private Repo Image Embedding

For private repos, use the blob URL with ?raw=true format:

![Screenshot](https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/blob/assets/pr-1/screenshot.png?raw=true)

URL Format Comparison:

Correct Pattern:

https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}/blob/assets/{context}/{filename}?raw=true

Video Size Limits

GitHub has different video size limits by plan:

Use --preset pr-small for free plan compatibility, or --max-size <mb> for precise control.

GIF Size Guidance

For large GIFs, try --gif-width 480 or --gif-fps 8.

Other Limitations

• •File size: GitHub API limits (~100MB per file)
• •Rate limits: Sequential uploads to avoid GitHub API rate limiting
• •Public repos: Raw URLs work for embedding without issues
• •Video formats: MP4 output is H.264, GIF uses palette optimization
• •Audio: Dropped when speed > 1 (use --speed 1 to preserve audio)
• •GIF: Generated from output MP4, not raw input (ensures consistency)