profile-system

Profile System

Detect the host's GPU and ffmpeg encoder capabilities so other skills (create-render-profile, render-with-profile, transcode) can pick the right hardware encoder instead of falling back to CPU x264.

Procedure

1. Set up paths

DATA_DIR="${CLAUDE_USER_DATA:-${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/claude-plugins}/video-editing"
PROFILE_FILE="$DATA_DIR/system-profile.json"
mkdir -p "$DATA_DIR"

If $PROFILE_FILE already exists, show the user the current contents and ask whether to re-detect.

2. Detect GPU vendor

lspci | grep -iE 'vga|3d|2d'

Identify NVIDIA / AMD / Intel from the output. Also probe:

command -v nvidia-smi >/dev/null && nvidia-smi --query-gpu=name --format=csv,noheader
command -v vainfo     >/dev/null && vainfo 2>/dev/null | grep -E 'Driver version|VAProfile' | head -20
ls /dev/dri/ 2>/dev/null

Record the VAAPI render node (typically /dev/dri/renderD128) — needed for AMD/Intel hardware encode.

3. Probe ffmpeg encoders

ffmpeg -hide_banner -encoders 2>/dev/null | grep -iE 'nvenc|vaapi|qsv|amf|videotoolbox' || true

Bucket what's available per codec:

Codec	Preferred order
H.264	h264_nvenc (NVIDIA) → h264_vaapi (AMD/Intel on Linux) → h264_qsv (Intel) → h264_amf (AMD) → libx264
HEVC	hevc_nvenc → hevc_vaapi → hevc_qsv → hevc_amf → libx265
AV1	av1_nvenc → av1_vaapi → av1_qsv → av1_amf → libsvtav1 → libaom-av1

For AMD on Linux, prefer VAAPI over AMF — Mesa's VAAPI is more reliable and produces smaller files at the same quality than AMF in most ffmpeg builds.

4. Smoke-test the hardware encoder (optional but recommended)

For the chosen H.264 encoder, run a 1-second synthetic test:

ffmpeg -hide_banner -f lavfi -i testsrc=duration=1:size=1280x720:rate=30 \
  -vaapi_device /dev/dri/renderD128 -vf 'format=nv12,hwupload' \
  -c:v h264_vaapi -f null - 2>&1 | tail -5

(Adjust the command per encoder family.) Record working: true|false per encoder. A listed-but-broken encoder is common on AMD setups missing the right Mesa packages.

5. Write system-profile.json

{
  "detected": "<ISO-8601>",
  "gpu": {
    "vendor": "AMD|NVIDIA|Intel|unknown",
    "model": "<lspci string>",
    "render_node": "/dev/dri/renderD128"
  },
  "encoders": {
    "h264": { "preferred": "h264_vaapi", "available": ["h264_vaapi", "libx264"], "working": ["h264_vaapi", "libx264"] },
    "hevc": { "preferred": "hevc_vaapi", "available": ["hevc_vaapi", "libx265"], "working": ["hevc_vaapi", "libx265"] },
    "av1":  { "preferred": "libsvtav1",  "available": ["libsvtav1"],              "working": ["libsvtav1"] }
  },
  "ffmpeg_version": "<ffmpeg -version | head -1>"
}

Write atomically: jq (or cat <<EOF) to $PROFILE_FILE.tmp, then mv.

6. Report + offer next step

Print a short summary: vendor, render node, preferred H.264 / HEVC / AV1 encoders. Suggest the user run create-render-profile next.