thumbgen

Generate Instagram reel thumbnails with stylish text overlays.

Installation

npm install -g thumbgen-cli

Requires ffmpeg: brew install ffmpeg (macOS) or apt install ffmpeg (Linux)

Usage

# Basic - generates thumbnail with title
thumbgen video.mp4 "Song Title"

# With artist name
thumbgen video.mp4 "Castle of Glass" "Linkin Park"

# Pick a specific style
thumbgen video.mp4 "Numb" "Linkin Park" -s gradient

# Custom options
thumbgen video.mp4 "Title" --time 10 --font-size 96 --open

Options

| Option | Description | |--------|-------------| | <video> | Input video file (required) | | <title> | Song/video title (required) | | [artist] | Artist name (optional) | | -o, --output | Output file path | | -t, --time | Frame timestamp in seconds (default: middle) | | -s, --style | Style: clean, gradient (default: both) | | --all-styles | Generate all styles (default without -s) | | --text-behind | Text behind subject (experimental) | | --font-size | Title font size in pixels (default: 72) | | --open | Open result after generation |

Styles

• clean - Bold centered text with multi-layer shadow glow, no background element
• gradient - Dark vignette band across center, cinematic white text

How it works

1. Extracts a frame from video using ffmpeg
2. Applies subtle blur + darkening for text readability
3. Overlays styled text (optionally behind subject using AI)
4. Saves as PNG

License

MIT