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Cinematic UI FAQ

Cinematic UI answers: licence, supported agents, 3D, image generation, browsers, naming a director, Chinese typesetting, and how it differs from a template.

Is Cinematic UI free?

Yes. It is open source under the MIT licence. The code is on GitHub at github.com/akseolabs-seo/cinematic-ui. Some optional routes use other people’s services, such as the Runware image-generation script, which needs your own key and your explicit yes.

Which agents does it work with?

Claude Code and Codex CLI by cloning the repository into ~/.claude/skills/cinematic-ui or ~/.codex/skills/cinematic-ui. For any other agent, point it at SKILL.md. Everything is plain Markdown, plain JavaScript and Node scripts, so nothing needs building.

Does it need 3D?

No. Photoreal 3D is one medium among many, not the default. The medium is cast from the film: ink, pencil, cel, pixel, print, neon, type, photography or 3D. A film made of type or drawings may need no canvas at all, and several of the demo productions use no WebGL.

Does it generate images without asking?

No. It runs an asset call first: one message asking whether you will supply each asset, whether it should come from a free licensed library, whether it should be AI-generated, or whether the shot should be redesigned. Generation credits are never spent without a yes, and real things like logos, products, people and screenshots are requested from you rather than invented.

Does it work in Safari and Firefox?

That has not been verified. The kit and scripts were verified in headless Chrome, and the README lists Safari, Firefox, real phones and screen readers as untested. Plan to test those yourself before relying on them.

How long does a production take?

The sources do not give a fixed time. The length depends on the form: the method includes a full screening on rendered frames and reshoots before anything is called finished, so it is a real production, not a one-shot generation.

Can I name a director or a film?

Yes, and your choice wins. If you name a film, the skill researches it and extracts mechanisms. If you only describe a look, such as “90s Hong Kong late night, lonely, humid”, it searches for films that match the picture and offers candidates. If it thinks your choice would hurt the product, it says so once and offers the mechanism it would keep. You can also ask it to pitch three directions.

Does it handle Chinese and other CJK languages?

Yes. CJK is treated as its own composition system, not Latin type with other glyphs: shorter and larger headlines, display set by phrase, mixed-script rules, vertical setting where it suits, and typeface casting for Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Several demo productions are Traditional Chinese for Taiwan, and the README is available in Traditional Chinese.

How is this different from a template?

A template picks a style and applies it to a layout. Cinematic UI casts a director by the product’s dramatic problem, a medium, a grade and a world from the film, gives one lead an arc, writes a shot list for every scene and screens the rendered frames. A filmography check makes each new production differ from the last three, so two sites made with the kit should share no visible trait.

Will it copy a film’s look, characters or props?

No. The rule is to borrow the film’s mechanics, never its costume. Film titles, characters, props and quotes do not appear in the product’s UI unless you ask for a homage, and a film’s poster is used for its composition grammar, never its artwork or lettering.

Can it build dashboards and admin panels?

Yes, in app mode, covering dashboards, back offices, admin panels, consoles and the signed-in side of a SaaS product. See app mode.