Documentation

OpenBBQ is an agent-friendly CLI for video translation and subtitle production. It provides composable commands for acquiring media, transcription, subtitle segmentation, translation review, export, and hard-subtitle burning.

Current status

OpenBBQ is pre-alpha software. The current implementation is centered on Python 3.12, FFmpeg, yt-dlp, and the whisper.cpp ASR backend. Verify important output before publishing it.

Start here

Installation

Install the CLI, FFmpeg, an ASR backend, and a model.

Quickstart

Produce bilingual subtitles from a local video.

Workflow model

Understand workspaces, stages, and resumable commands.

CLI reference

Look up every command, argument, option, and default.

The pipeline

source
  -> init
  -> fetch (URL sources only)
  -> extract-audio
  -> transcribe
  -> segment
  -> translate init/apply/check
  -> export
  -> burn (optional)

Each command writes a validated artifact and records its state in manifest.json. You can inspect progress with openbbq status, rerun an upstream stage, and continue from the resulting workspace.

Choose a guide

Local files and online video covers the two input paths and YouTube authentication.
Translation workflow explains worksheets and batch application.
Glossaries covers ASR biasing, correction, and translation terminology.
Export and burn covers SRT, ASS presets, bilingual output, and hard subtitles.
Agents and JSON covers machine-readable output and the packaged skill.