Vidgen

description

create viral tiktoks/reels/shorts easily with single prompt with subtitles all in one single browser

vidgen is a modern media web application built with next.js and typescript. it is made for working with audio, video, and creating custom compositions. it is modular, extendable and provides reusable components for simple and fast development.

this application streamlines media workflows. you can generate videos, work with audio, and use advanced video rendering through integration with remotion.

tech stack

• next.js
• remotion
• openai whisper
• shadcn
• tailwindcss

features

• web-based media processing
• reusable and consistent ui components
• video composition and rendering tools
• modern fast development stack

high level architecture for initial prototype

flow 1 focuses on script generation module using ai-sdk + gemini 2.5 flash

flow 2 focuses on audio generation module using elevenlabs api

flow 3 focuses on final video compilation which includes

• transcription generation using local whisper model
• reddit overlay generation
• and compiling the whole video server side from remotion and showing it on the nextjs dashboard

flow 4 is the future plan for script generation module

validate input

• check if the genre is valid (coincidences, friendship, or betrayal)
• if invalid, throw error and stop

check cache first

• look for previously generated story for this genre
• if found in cache and not expired (less than 1 hour old), return it immediately
• if not found, continue to generation

try model 1: gemini 2.5 flash

• attempt to generate story using gemini
• if succeeds, move to validation
• if fails with 503 overload error, retry up to 2 times with exponential backoff (1s, 2s, 4s)
• if fails with rate limit or other errors, skip to next model

try model 2: grok beta

• if gemini fails completely, try grok as backup
• same retry logic (up to 2 retries with 2s wait between attempts)
• if fails, move to next model

try model 3: gpt 4o mini

• last ai model attempt, most reliable option
• same retry logic as grok
• if this also fails, use fallback template

fallback safety net

• if all three ai models fail, use pre written template story for the requested genre
• ensures system never crashes
• user always gets a story even during complete api outages

validate output schema

• check if generated story has correct format and required fields
• if schema validation fails, force use of fallback template
• this prevents malformed data from breaking the app

add metadata

• calculate character count of the story
• estimate audio duration based on character count (roughly 1000 characters per minute)
• attach this metadata to the story object

cache the result

• save successful story to cache with 1 hour expiration time
• next request for same genre will use cached version
• reduces api calls and improves response time

log metrics and return

• log which model was used successfully
• log total generation time
• log retry count if any
• return the completed story object to caller

key benefits of this approach:

• never crashes due to multiple fallback layers
• fast response when cache hits
• cost effective by trying cheaper models first
• resilient against api failures and rate limits
• fully observable with detailed logging at each step

todos

• [ ✅ ] install whisper-cpp locally using @remotion/install-whisper-cpp
• [ ✅ ] generate captions from audio file using whisper
• [ ✅ ] display captions using @remotion/captions
• [ ✅ ] create reddit style overlay using react component and remotion
• [ ✅ ] implement gemini-api using ai-sdk for script generation
• [ ✅ ] implement elevenlabs-api for audio generation
• build the UI interface
• [ ✅ ] bundle and render the video, server-side forn local download

reference docs:

• https://www.remotion.dev/docs/captions/caption (done)
• https://www.remotion.dev/docs/install-whisper-cpp/ (done)

important log [Jan 21, 2026]

error:

module not found: Error: Can't resolve '[project]/node_modules/.pnpm/style-loader@4.0.0_webpack@5.96.1/node_modules/style-loader/dist/cjs.js [app-rsc] (ecmascript)'

what was happening

• trying to render and bundle the final video server side
• remotion does not support ssr rendering with tailwind v4
• next.js bundling failed and threw the above error

solution

use cli rendering instead of ssr

npx remotion render remotion/index.ts MyVideo output.mp4

• runs directly in node.js
• bypasses next.js completely
• bundling and rendering work without errors

technical details

• using @remotion/bundler with enableTailwind() from @remotion/tailwind-v4
• inside a next.js server action / api route:
  • remotion attempts to bundle with webpack
  • enableTailwind() injects style-loader and css-loader
• next.js already has its own bundling system (turbopack / webpack)
• overriding webpack config inside a server action is not supported
• this causes module resolution to fail

production note

• running cli commands in production is not ideal
• @remotion/lambda solves this by:
  • bundling and rendering on aws lambda
  • avoiding next.js conflicts
  • providing horizontal scalability

contributing

contributions are welcome. fork the repository, make a branch for your changes, and create a pull request.

license

this project uses the mit license.

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Created with ❤️ by Subhraneel

GitHub • X (Twitter)