molecule-core/docs/demo/fractal-expansion-script.md

Fractal Expansion Demo — Recording Script

This document specifies the exact steps, canvas state, and UI interactions to record the hero GIF used in the README and marketing materials.

Output Spec

Property	Value
Format	.gif (or .webm converted to gif)
Resolution	800 × 500 px (2× for retina: record at 1600×1000, export at 800×500)
Frame rate	20 fps
Max file size	5 MB (use gifsicle -O3 or gifski to compress)
Duration	~12 seconds
Loop	Infinite
Alt text (for README)	Molecule AI fractal expansion: a single Engineering Lead node expands into a Frontend Dev, Backend Dev, and QA sub-team, then an A2A task arrives and escalates to human approval

---

Recording Tool Setup

Recommended: Kap (macOS) or LICEcap (Windows/macOS)

For highest quality, use ScreenToGif (Windows) or record with QuickTime → convert with ffmpeg + gifski:

# Convert QuickTime .mov → high-quality GIF
ffmpeg -i recording.mov -vf "fps=20,scale=800:-1:flags=lanczos" frames/frame%04d.png
gifski --fps 20 --width 800 -o fractal-expansion.gif frames/*.png

---

Pre-Recording Setup

1. Environment

• Run docker compose up and wait for all services to be healthy.
• Open Chrome at http://localhost:3000.
• Set browser zoom to 100%.
• Open DevTools → Network tab → enable "Slow 3G" throttling OFF (use full speed).
• Hide bookmarks bar for a clean capture area.

2. Canvas State (before recording)

Ensure the canvas has exactly one workspace node visible:

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                     │
│                                     │
│      ┌──────────────────────┐       │
│      │  🏗️  Engineering Lead │       │
│      │     status: online   │       │
│      └──────────────────────┘       │
│                                     │
│                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

Use setup-org.sh to provision the org, then delete all nodes except the Engineering Lead. Or provision a fresh single workspace via:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/workspaces \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"Engineering Lead","role":"Engineering Lead","tier":1}'

3. Canvas Viewport

Pan and zoom so the Engineering Lead node is centered, slightly left of centre, with breathing room above for the sub-nodes to appear during expansion. Save viewport: PUT /canvas/viewport.

---

Scene-by-Scene Script

Scene 1 — Establishing Shot (0:00 – 1:00)

Duration: ~1 second (pause on static canvas)

Canvas state:

• Single "Engineering Lead" node, status: online (green dot)
• Node is centred on canvas

Narrator voiceover / caption (optional):

"One node. One role."

---

Scene 2 — Right-click → Expand to Team (1:00 – 2:00)

Duration: ~1 second

Action:

1. Move mouse smoothly to the Engineering Lead node (no jitter — use a mouse recording tool with smoothing enabled)
2. Right-click the node to open the context menu
3. The context menu appears with options including "Expand to Team"
4. Hover over "Expand to Team" — it highlights

UI detail: The context menu is rendered by WorkspaceContextMenu in the canvas. "Expand to Team" appears as the second item below "View Details".

---

Scene 3 — Sub-nodes Materialise (2:00 – 5:00)

Duration: ~3 seconds

Action:

1. Click "Expand to Team"
2. The platform calls POST /workspaces/:id/expand
3. Three child nodes animate into view — they should slide in from the Engineering Lead node with the default React Flow fade transition:

          ┌──────────────────────┐
          │  🏗️  Engineering Lead │
          │     status: online   │
          └──────────┬───────────┘
                     │
          ┌──────────┼──────────┐
          │          │          │
   ┌──────┴──┐  ┌────┴────┐  ┌──┴──────┐
   │Frontend │  │Backend  │  │  QA     │
   │  Dev    │  │  Dev    │  │Engineer │
   └─────────┘  └─────────┘  └─────────┘

Timing note: If provisioning takes > 3 seconds in your recording, set the workspace tier to 1 (no Docker pull needed) and pre-build the workspace image (docker build -t workspace-template:latest workspace-template/).

---

Scene 4 — Nodes Come Online (5:00 – 7:00)

Duration: ~2 seconds

Action:

• All three child nodes transition from provisioning (grey dot) → online (green dot)
• The Engineering Lead's tier badge updates to show "Team Lead" indicator
• WebSocket events trigger the canvas update in real time (no manual refresh)

Visual target: All four nodes showing green online dots.

---

Scene 5 — A2A Task Arrives (7:00 – 9:00)

Duration: ~2 seconds

Action:

1. Using the MCP server or curl, send an A2A message to the Engineering Lead:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/workspaces/<engineering-lead-id>/a2a \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "message/send",
    "params": {
      "message": {
        "role": "user",
        "parts": [{"kind": "text", "text": "Ship the login feature by Friday"}]
      }
    }
  }'

2. An amber "current task" banner appears on the Engineering Lead node:

   "Decomposing: Ship login feature"

---

Scene 6 — Approval Escalation (9:00 – 12:00)

Duration: ~3 seconds

Action:

1. The Engineering Lead detects a high-risk action (e.g., "deploy to production") and creates an approval request via POST /workspaces/:id/approvals
2. An approval card animates into view at the top of the canvas:

   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │ ⚠️  Approval Required                        │
   │ "Deploy login service to production?"        │
   │ Requested by: Engineering Lead               │
   │  [Approve]  [Deny]                           │
   └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
   

3. End on this frame — the GIF loops back to Scene 1 (static canvas)

How to trigger an approval for the demo:

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/workspaces/<engineering-lead-id>/approvals \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "question": "Deploy login service to production?",
    "context": "The login feature is complete and passes all tests.",
    "risk_level": "high"
  }'

---

Post-Processing

# Compress with gifsicle (reduces file size 40-60%)
gifsicle -O3 --lossy=80 fractal-expansion-raw.gif -o fractal-expansion.gif

# Verify file size
ls -lh fractal-expansion.gif    # target: < 5 MB

# Save to:
cp fractal-expansion.gif docs/demo/fractal-expansion.gif

Then update README.md — replace the placeholder comment with:

![Molecule AI fractal expansion demo](./docs/demo/fractal-expansion.gif)

---

Checklist Before Publishing

• GIF file size < 5 MB
• Resolution exactly 800 × 500 px
• All nodes visible and labelled
• No personally identifiable info in terminal/UI
• Alt text set in README img tag
• Loops cleanly (last frame matches first frame visually)
• Tested in GitHub README preview (GitHub caps animated GIFs at 10 MB)