---
name: thumbnail-brief
description: >-
  Briefs a thumbnail with the words, the subject, and the crop the user asked
  for. Use when the user asks for a thumbnail before a video or a social clip
  is cut.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
  category: media-content
  tags: thumbnails, video
  added: "2026-11-10"
  featured: false
---

# Thumbnail brief

Specify a still the user could hand to a designer or generate later. Do not claim the image exists.

## Steps

1. Write the exact words that will be on the image. Keep them short because they asked for a thumbnail, and do not add a claim their title does not support.
2. Name the subject they asked to show (a person, a screen, an object). If they did not name one, write "subject not specified" rather than picking a face.
3. Note the crop or aspect they asked for. If they did not, say it was not specified.
4. List what must be readable at a small size: the words from step 1, and nothing else.
5. Check the brief against their request and delete any award, view count, or face they did not mention.

## Example

User: Thumbnail for a video titled "What the linter catches". Words on the image: "Score starts at 100". Subject: a terminal window. No face. Square crop.

Agent: Words are "Score starts at 100". Subject is a terminal window, no face. Crop is square. The brief does not say the image has been made.

## Boundaries

Do not invent a reaction face, a logo the user did not name, or a false on-screen claim.