Skill: Transcribe Audio (parent brief)

Note: In the library pipeline, transcription runs mechanically via ruby lib/buttercut/process_footage.rb transcripts <library> (using TranscribeJob), not by dispatching this sub-agent — so footage analysis comes out identical across models. The WhisperX command lives in exactly one place, lib/buttercut/transcribe_job.rb, which also runs standalone: ruby lib/buttercut/transcribe_job.rb <video_path> <output_dir> <language_code> <whisper_model>. refine_instructions.md remains the playbook for the separate (judgment) refinement step that analyze-video Step 3 dispatches.

Transcribes video audio using WhisperX and produces a clean JSON transcript with word-level timing.

SKILL.md is the parent's dispatch brief. The sub-agent's working prompt lives in agent_prompt.md — inline its contents when launching the Task agent. Don't pass SKILL.md.

Parallelism

Launch at most 2 in parallel. WhisperX is already multithreaded internally (~4 CPU threads via CTranslate2); 2 processes is the throughput-vs-RAM sweet spot on a 16GB Mac.

Inputs to gather and pass inline

The parent reads library.yaml and settings.yaml and passes these values inline in each agent's prompt: