Learn-skills.dev recreate-thumbnails

Face-swap YouTube thumbnails to feature Your Name using AI. Use when user asks to recreate thumbnails, face swap images, generate YouTube thumbnails, or create thumbnail variations.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/NeverSight/learn-skills.dev

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/NeverSight/learn-skills.dev "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/data/skills-md/aiagentwithdhruv/skills/recreate-thumbnails" ~/.claude/skills/neversight-learn-skills-dev-recreate-thumbnails && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: data/skills-md/aiagentwithdhruv/skills/recreate-thumbnails/SKILL.md

source content

Recreate YouTube Thumbnails

Goal

Face-swap YouTube thumbnails to feature Your Name using Gemini image model. The system analyzes face direction, matches reference photos by pose, and generates variations.

Scripts

```
./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py
```
- Main generation script
```
./scripts/analyze_face_directions.py
```
- Reference photo analyzer

Quick Start

# From YouTube video (auto-downloads thumbnail)
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --youtube "https://youtube.com/watch?v=VIDEO_ID"

# From local thumbnail
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --source ".tmp/thumbnails/source.jpg"

# Edit pass on generated thumbnail
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --edit ".tmp/thumbnails/recreated_v3.png" \
  --prompt "Change colors to teal. Change 'AI GOLD RUSH' to 'AGENTIC FLOWS'."

Full Workflow

Step 1: Build Reference Photo Bank (One-time)

# Drop 30-40 photos of Nick into raw folder
mkdir -p .tmp/reference_photos/raw

# Analyze and rename with face direction metadata
python3 ./scripts/analyze_face_directions.py

Creates files like:

```
nick_yawL30_pitchU10.jpg
```
— looking 30° left, 10° up
```
nick_yawR45_pitch0.jpg
```
— looking 45° right, level

Step 2: Generate Thumbnails

# From YouTube URL (analyzes face, finds best reference, generates 3 variations)
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --youtube "VIDEO_URL"

# Custom variation count
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --source "thumbnail.jpg" -n 5

# Skip direction matching
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --source "thumbnail.jpg" --no-match

Step 3: Edit & Refine

# Single edit
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --edit ".tmp/thumbnails/recreated_v3.png" \
  --prompt "Change colors to teal brand colors."

# Chain multiple edits
python3 ./scripts/recreate_thumbnails.py --edit ".tmp/thumbnails/edited_1.png" \
  --prompt "Make text bigger. Change background to white."

CLI Reference

Flag	Description
`--youtube` , `-y`	YouTube video URL
`--source` , `-s`	Source thumbnail path or URL
`--edit` , `-e`	Image to edit (enables edit mode)
`--prompt` , `-p`	Edit instructions (required for edit mode)
`--variations` , `-n`	Number of variations (default: 3)
`--refs`	Number of reference photos (default: 2)
`--no-match`	Skip face direction matching

Output Organization

.tmp/thumbnails/
├── 20251205/              # Date folder
│   ├── 104016_1.png       # Variation 1
│   ├── 104016_2.png       # Variation 2
│   ├── 104016_3.png       # Variation 3
│   └── 104532_edited.png  # Edit pass

API Details

Model:
```
gemini-3-pro-image-preview
```
(Nano Banana Pro)
Cost: ~$0.14-0.24 per generation/edit
Latency: 10-60+ seconds per image
Output: ~1376x768 (close to 16:9)

Learnings

2 reference photos is optimal (1 loses likeness, 3+ causes regeneration)
Must explicitly request 16:9 format in prompt
Label images in prompt: "IMAGE 1: Reference, IMAGE 2: Thumbnail"
"100% exact duplicate except face" instruction works well
Edit passes work for text, colors, graphs, backgrounds

Environment

NANO_BANANA_API_KEY=your_key

Schema

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
`youtube_url`	string	No	YouTube video URL (auto-downloads thumbnail)
`source`	file_path	No	Source thumbnail image path
`variations`	integer	No	Number of variations (default: 3)
`edit_image`	file_path	No	Image to edit (enables edit mode)
`prompt`	string	No	Edit instructions for edit mode

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
`thumbnails`	array	Generated thumbnail file paths in .tmp/thumbnails/

Credentials

Name	Source
`NANO_BANANA_API_KEY`	.env

Composable With

Skills that chain well with this one:

cross-niche-outliers

youtube-outliers

Cost

$0.14-0.24 per generation