Freedom251 › Explainer Video Software
Chalkboard
What Chalkboard is
Chalkboard turns a topic into a narrated explainer video and renders an MP4 through a staged pipeline. Separate stages handle scripting, claim verification, Manim animation code, visual review, and rendering, with retries when a stage fails. Its verifier annotates numerical claims, dates, and causal statements and rewrites unsupported claims. After rendering, Claude reviews sampled frames for overlapping text, off-canvas elements, unreadable contrast, and obscured labels. Users can set the audience, tone, template, visual theme, narrator, and effort level. Outputs may include an SRT caption file, embedded chapter markers, a YouTube chapter list, and the source script. The hosted API supports bearer authentication, idempotency, signed webhooks, and test-mode keys. The project is MIT licensed, offers a local CLI using the user’s Claude key, and says its pipeline is sandboxed through Docker. Standard costs $25 a month for 2,500 credits. Credit estimates are roughly 30 to 70 for a short video and 80 to 200 for a max-reliability run with a premium narrator.
Who it suits
Chalkboard suits creators who want configurable narrated explainers with verification, animation, captions, and chapter outputs. Developers can use its API or self-hosted CLI, subject to hosted beta access.
What it does well
- Separate verification and visual QA stages
- Configurable audience, tone, and visual style
- Caption, chapter, and source-script outputs
- Self-hosted MIT-licensed CLI
- 1080p export quality
What to know first
- Hosted service is closed beta
- Invite required for hosted access
- Standard costs $25 a month
- Video use consumes credits
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 2,500 credits, refreshed every billing cycle · Every video, narrator, and effort level included · Library + API access · Roughly 35 to 80 normal-effort videos per month, depending on length and options · Email support | $25 a month |
| Top-up pack | 6,000 credits (+20% bonus) · Available to subscribers and free accounts · Coming soon | $50, paid once |
As chalkboard.studio lists them, read 5 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Verdict
Chalkboard combines automated scripting, checking, animation, narration, and rendering with configurable outputs. Its hosted service is invite-only during closed beta, while the paid Standard plan uses a monthly credit allowance.
Facts from Chalkboard's own pages
- API
- The hosted API supports bearer authentication, idempotency, signed webhooks, and test-mode keys; hosted access requires a beta invite. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Automated pipeline
- The pipeline has separate stages for scripting, verification, animation, visual QA, and rendering, with retry logic when a stage fails. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Availability
- The hosted service is in closed beta, with invite codes required for access and a waitlist for people without an invite. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Customization
- Users can configure audience, tone, template, visual theme, narrator, and effort level. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Data controls
- The pricing page says account holders can export their data, set a spend-alert threshold, manage email notifications, and delete their account and associated videos, jobs, and history. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Fact-checking
- A verifier annotates numerical claims, dates, and causal statements and rewrites claims that do not hold up. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The self-hosted project documents Claude, Manim, ElevenLabs, Kokoro, and OpenAI as pipeline or narration components. · github.com, 5 Oct 2026
- Security
- The homepage says the pipeline is sandboxed via Docker. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Self-hosting
- The project is MIT licensed and can run locally through its open-source CLI using the user's own Claude key. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Support
- The pricing page lists email support, and the site provides [email protected] as a contact address. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Usage limits
- Videos consume credits based on compute; the pricing page estimates roughly 30 to 70 credits for a short video and 80 to 200 for a max-reliability run with a premium narrator. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Video assets
- Each video can include an SRT caption file, embedded chapter markers, a YouTube chapter list, and a source script. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- Visual QA
- After rendering, Claude reviews sampled frames for overlapping text, off-canvas elements, unreadable contrast, and obscured labels. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
- What it does
- Chalkboard turns a topic into a narrated explainer video by scripting, fact-checking, generating Manim animation code, synthesizing narration, and rendering an MP4. · chalkboard.studio, 5 Oct 2026
Where Chalkboard stands on Freedom251
- Explainer Video Software#2 of 40