meme-card-maker

Distinct from quote-card-maker:

• Two text blocks (top + bottom), not one quote + attribution
• Impact-font bold-with-stroke typography (the universal meme look)
• Often references a known meme template (drake, distracted-boyfriend, expanding-brain)
• Aesthetic: meme template, NOT editorial — uglier is often funnier

Distinct from flyer-maker / cover-maker:

• No event details, no creator metadata
• Different aesthetic vocabulary (Impact font, stroke outline, low-fidelity feel)
• Often references specific cultural meme formats

This skill does NOT:

• Generate animated GIF memes — use gif-maker separately
• Watermark / credit the original meme template creator — that's your responsibility
• Verify cultural appropriateness — your judgment
• Translate meme captions — pass in target language
• Place text at PIXEL-perfect template positions — model approximates

ROLE

Read top text + bottom text + optional template hint + optional base photo → pick visual-integration-strong model → assemble prompt cueing Impact-style typography with stroke, meme aesthetic → batch execute → save PNGs.

PIPELINE

1. Resolve text:

   • --top "<text>" — top caption (≤8 words, ALL CAPS rendered)
   • --bottom "<text>" — bottom caption (≤8 words, ALL CAPS rendered)
   • At least one of top / bottom required

2. Resolve template (optional):

   • --template drake|distracted-boyfriend|expanding-brain|two-buttons|change-my-mind|custom
   • drake: 2-panel "rejects / approves"
   • distracted-boyfriend: 3-character composition
   • expanding-brain: 4-panel ascending
   • two-buttons: sweaty decision
   • change-my-mind: seated man with sign
   • custom: just the captions on whatever centerpiece the model generates
   • Default: custom

3. Resolve base photo (optional):

   • --base-photo <path-or-url> — use user image as centerpiece
   • Implies --template custom (template hints are ignored when base photo is provided)

4. Pick model:

   • With --base-photo: nano-banana-pro (preserves visual, adds caption layer)
   • Template-based: gpt-image-2 (best at illustration + text rendering)
   • Override: --model <slug>

5. Compose ONE LLM call — load common/visual-prompt-library/system-prompt.md (shared SYSTEM_PROMPT) and buildUserMessage(opts) with Mode=meme-card, N=<variants>, top + bottom captions + template + optional base photo. Spawn ONE Agent. Receives JSON {"slides":[{"number":1,"prompt":"..."}]} — 1–3 sentence prompts with template-specific composition + Impact-style typography cues + meme aesthetic ("white text with thick black stroke, all caps, low-fidelity, slight JPEG artifacts"). Captions in double quotes. See references/templates.md for template composition. Library styles via common/visual-prompt-library/styles/_index.md.

6. Estimate cost + confirm — inherits SKILLS_CAROUSEL_BUDGET=1.50.

7. Batch execute — common.runners.batch.run_batch().

8. Output:

   ./generated/meme/<slug>/
     meme-v1.png
     meme-v2.png
     manifest.json
     prompts.md
   

MODES

Required

• meme-card-maker --top "<text>" (top) OR --bottom "<text>" (bottom; at least one required)

Optional content

• --template drake|distracted-boyfriend|expanding-brain|two-buttons|change-my-mind|custom
• --base-photo <path-or-url> — user image as centerpiece
• --context "<note>" — situational context to help the model interpret captions
• --lang en|ru — language hint (default: en)

Visual

• --variants N — variants (default 3)
• --model auto|<slug> — image provider
• --style-mod "<override>" — append tweak (e.g., "extra pixelated, deepfried meme aesthetic")
• --aspect square|portrait|landscape — composition aspect (default square 1080×1080)

Execution

• --execute — actually generate
• --output <dir> — custom output
• --parallelism N — concurrent calls (default 2)
• --yes — skip cost confirmation
• --resume — retry failed
• --prompts-only — dry run

REFERENCES (load on demand)

File	When to load
references/templates.md	Step 2 — meme template anatomy, composition cues per template
references/typography.md	Step 5 — Impact font conventions, stroke outline rules, when to deviate
references/troubleshoot.md	When text doesn't read, template doesn't recognize, etc.

EXAMPLES

See examples/before-after.md — 3 calibration runs: drake template developer joke, custom photo meme, expanding-brain progression.

CONSTRAINTS

• Captions ≤8 words each. Past 8, text overflows; Impact-style bold needs space.

• ALL CAPS rendering. All meme captions auto-uppercase. If you pass lowercase, it's rendered uppercase. Exception: --lang ru keeps mixed case for Cyrillic readability (Cyrillic ALL CAPS is harder to read).

• Default model is gpt-image-2. Best at illustration + integrated text. nano-banana-pro when base photo is provided.

• Template recognition is approximate. "Drake" template is approximated by the model — won't be pixel-identical to the original. For exact template: use a meme generator tool (Imgflip, Memegenerator).

• Cultural sensitivity is YOUR responsibility. The skill doesn't filter. Don't ship punchy memes about sensitive topics without consideration.

• Generated memes can resemble copyrighted templates. Original meme creators rarely enforce, but for commercial use: check the template's original source.

• Cost confirm ONCE per batch. Sum across variants.

• Aspect default is square. Most platforms display memes 1:1 well. --aspect portrait for IG portrait posts; --aspect landscape for Twitter inline.

• Never print API keys. Mask in errors.

INVOCATION HINTS

When the user says any of:

• "make a meme", "meme for X", "meme template Y"
• "drake meme", "expanding brain meme", "distracted boyfriend"
• "сделай мем про X", "мем формат Y"
• "сгенерируй мем"

If the user names a template explicitly, set --template <name>. If unclear, default --template custom (lets the model interpret).

If the user pastes a photo path: --base-photo <path> + --template custom.

Defaults: --variants 3 --aspect square --template custom --model gpt-image-2. Without --execute, returns prompts.

This skill is distinct from:

• quote-card-maker — text-dominant editorial cards (single quote + attribution)
• image-prompt — free-form image gen (no meme conventions)
• gif-maker — animated content (memes here are static)
• flyer-maker / cover-maker — structured professional formats