Connect your product

Connecting a product takes seven steps in the studio wizard. Each step is checked automatically, and you can come back to any of them.

Before you start

• A web app deployed to an environment Ondaclip is allowed to film (DEV by default).
• Its repository on GitHub.
• A place for the shoots to run: Ondaclip Cloud (nothing to prepare), or your infrastructure, meaning a Google Cloud project of your own (usually the one for that environment) and a project admin to run one command. See where it runs.

1. The product

Give it a name, choose the languages for its videos (en-US, fr-CA, es-MX) and the environment to film: dev, staging or production. DEV is the safe default. On a live environment, only film screens without real customer data.

2. GitHub

Install the Ondaclip GitHub App on your app’s repository. The studio reads the code and proposes changes as pull requests. A person always merges them.

Then choose the branch and the Ondaclip folder: .ondaclip at the root, like .github (in a monorepo, apps/web/.ondaclip).

• No folder yet? The studio proposes a starter folder in a pull request, with config.yaml, one example tutorial, publication.yaml and a .gitignore for output/.
• Already have a config.yaml? The next steps are prefilled from it. Run each check to confirm.

Ondaclip never asks for a branch of its own. The branches it creates are named ondaclip/…: ondaclip/setup-<product>, ondaclip/spec-…, ondaclip/testids-….

3. Where it runs

Choose one of two options (compare them).

Ondaclip Cloud. Select it and the step is done. Ondaclip hosts the shoots, the demo accounts and the videos, and there’s nothing for you to run. The Free plan and the trial use this option.

Your infrastructure. Enter the Google Cloud project where the shoots will run. The studio needs setup permissions once: it shows one command for an admin to run in Cloud Shell (you can email it to them). It then shows its plan (two accounts with narrow roles, a private storage space, a machine template and a secret for the demo accounts), creates whatever is missing, and gives the setup permissions back. It keeps only what it needs day to day: starting runs and reading results. Then choose where to publish the videos: a folder in a private storage space in your project. If your app already reads videos from a folder, use that folder.

4. Demo accounts

Fictitious accounts the videos sign in with, one per role (for example client). They’re stored encrypted (by Ondaclip on Ondaclip Cloud, or in your project’s Secret Manager on your infrastructure), used only to sign in during your shoots, and never shown again, not even to you. A tutorial picks an account by its role. If your app has no sign-in, you don’t need an account.

5. App to film

The URL of the deployed app. Ondaclip is allowed to open only this URL. Say who can access it: anyone (the app has its own sign-in), or Google accounts only (Identity-Aware Proxy). Describe the sign-in form, then run the test: the studio signs in off camera and opens the home page. Does your app only support Google or Microsoft sign-in through Firebase? Use a signed token (your infrastructure only).

6. AI assistant

The assistant fixes failed shoots, reviews clips and drafts new tutorials. On Ondaclip Cloud, Ondaclip runs it. On your infrastructure, its model runs in your project: agy (Gemini) or claude-code (Claude; enable it in Model Garden first).

7. Go live

Once every step is done, set the product live. You can then film, review and publish its tutorials. Next: your first tutorial.

Film a branch on a preview

New features often live on a branch, deployed to a preview URL (a Firebase Hosting preview channel, for example). Ondaclip can film them before they reach DEV.

1. Allow the live host and its previews, once. In .ondaclip/config.yaml, write the DEV guard so it matches both:

   devGuard:
     appHostPattern: '^my-site(--[a-z0-9-]+)?\.web\.app$'

   my-site.web.app and my-site--my-feature-abc123.web.app both pass. Any other host still stops the shoot.

2. Let your API accept the previews. If the app calls an API from the browser, the API’s CORS rules must accept the preview origins. Add a pattern to your API code once (same idea as the guard). Make sure a regular API release doesn’t remove it, or every preview shoot will fail.

3. Keep the preview alive. Preview channels expire. Deploy with a long expiry (for example --expires 30d) and reuse the same channel name, so the URL stays the same between deploys.

4. Check and film the branch for a single run. Since v0.74.0, check and film accept ref (the branch) and appUrl (the preview URL). The product keeps its usual branch and URL.

5. Or change the filmed URL. update_product {appUrl} changes the URL Ondaclip films for every run, until you switch back to the live host. Ready to film checks that the guard allows it.

6. Don’t publish too early. Clips filmed on a branch show up in the product’s review like any other clip. Review them, but only publish them after the branch is merged.

To film a new feature in a single language first, give the tutorial locales: [en-US] (since v0.74.0). See the tutorial file.

Add a product to a repository with several products

A monorepo (a dashboard, an admin panel, mobile apps) keeps a single .ondaclip/ folder. To add another app as a product:

1. Add its block under products: in .ondaclip/config.yaml:

   • name: the name shown in the studio;
   • tutorials and publication: its folders (default <id>/tutorials/ and <id>/publication.yaml);
   • locales: only if it differs from the shared setting;
   • devGuard.appHostPattern: the host of this app only (and its previews);
   • cloud.appUrl: the URL to film;
   • publish.targets: its own destination (your infrastructure only; never another product’s destination);
   • freshness.appPaths: the folders of this app and the packages it uses.

   See several products in one repository.

2. Check the file: validate_config shows what each product gets.

3. Merge it into the branch Ondaclip watches.

4. Add the product: add_product (or Add a product in the studio).

5. Connect GitHub: setup_product step github with product, the id of its block.

6. Where it runs: setup_product step gcp (your infrastructure). Since v0.74.0, if another product in the workspace uses the same Google Cloud project, its setup is reused, so the admin doesn’t have to run another command. Or use step cloud for Ondaclip Cloud.

7. Demo accounts: reuse another product’s accounts in the workspace with update_product {accountsFrom} (since v0.73.0), or go to Settings, Demo accounts in the studio.

8. The app: setup_product step app (URL, sign-in), then the test sign-in.

9. Ready to film: readiness lists what’s left. Once every check passes, film the first tutorial.