Ovid: A pi extension that makes it record proof its features actually work

Ovid, a new extension for the pi coding agent, automatically verifies features by recording terminal and browser videos of e2e tests and attaching them to pull requests. The tool runs on macOS and Linux, requires Node.js and Chromium, and generates polished videos with window chrome, captions, and cursor effects. Ovid aims to make feature verification cheap and reliable without relying on LLMs.

ovid makes pi https://github.com/earendil-works/pi verify the features it builds and record a polished terminal + browser videos of each verification onto your PR. The verifications are ordinary code assertions decide pass/fail , so re-running them is cheap and no LLM is needed. Works on any-language projects Node is only needed to run ovid . Today it plugs into the pi coding agent; support for others Codex, Claude Code may come later. Ovid works on macOS and Linux. On Linux you also need a C/C++ toolchain build-essential + python3 , Chromium's system libs npx playwright install --with-deps chromium , and a system ffmpeg with the drawtext filter apt-get install -y ffmpeg as the bundled ffmpeg-static lacks drawtext there. Run npx ovid doctor before installing ovid to check. cd your-project npm i -D @srinivasa314/ovid Node ≥20; also needs Chromium npx playwright install chromium and gh npx ovid init scaffolds config, the spec guide, and the pi extension Then use pi as normal. Note: You have to trust the project the first time so the extension loads or pass -a in headless/CI . When you ask the agent to build something and open a PR, it will, on its own: - write and run an ovid e2e test for the change, - review the recorded keyframes - attach the terminal+browser video + per-step notes to the PR New tests are always shown with a video; tests it only modified are included at its discretion. pi opened this PR https://github.com/Srinivasa314/ovid/pull/1 for the sample app, adding full-text search across the API, web UI, and flask notes CLI. It attached this video of its own e2e test multiple terminals plus the browser, on one timeline : - Terminal + browser in one video, stitched on a shared timeline as a focus-cut cuts to whichever surface is active . - Multiple terminals named, long-lived shells and multiple browser tabs/pages in a single test. - Polished output: mac window chrome, titlebar labels, lower-third captions, a moving cursor + click-ripple, readable pacing - configurable viewport, video size/fps, pacing via ovid.config.ts . - Lazy rendering: videos are produced only when you need them, like when a PR is created or a test fails so passing runs stay fast. You can drive ovid yourself too but its primarily for agents. Write specs in ovid/ .spec.ts , use ovid.terminal cmd, opts for shells and ovid.browser caption, fn for a Playwright page. The full docs are in ovid/WRITING-OVID-E2E-TESTS.md . | Command | What it does | |---|---| npx ovid init | Scaffold config, guide, .gitignore , pi extension | npx ovid test filter | Run specs records raw artifacts; videos render lazily — only on failure | npx ovid render filter | Render saved runs into final.mp4 / .gif e.g. to view a passing run | npx ovid publish --apply | Extract keyframes / upload media + create-or-update the PR | npx ovid doctor | Check external components Chromium, ffmpeg, git, gh | A generated spec looks like this: js import { test, expect } from "@srinivasa314/ovid/test"; test "note persists", async { ovid } = { await ovid.terminal "flask --app api/app.py run -p 3001", { name: "API", waitFor: /Running on/ } ; await ovid.browser "Create a note", async page = { await page.goto "http://localhost:3000" ; await page.getByRole "button", { name: "Save" } .click ; await expect page.getByText "Buy milk" .toBeVisible ; } ; } ; A spec drives terminals and browsers and asserts behavior in code. ovid runs it while recording the real shell and the live browser against a shared timeline, then stitches a video showing them, then overlays window chrome, captions, and a cursor. Built with: node-pty + an asciinema cast replayed in headless xterm.js terminal , @playwright/test + playwright-recorder-plus browser , a timeline-driven focus-cut composited with ffmpeg. examples/notes/ a Flask API + SQLite + vanilla web UI application and a flask notes CLI, with ovid specs covering both multi-server and mixed terminal+browser flows. v0 targets macOS and Linux, local, single-machine. Parallel execution, CI, and remote runs are future work.