ytb-books: Book Content Automation with Neo4j GraphRAG and LaTeX Math Rendering

Creating educational YouTube content from books is time-consuming. You need to extract key concepts, structure them into engaging episodes, render mathematical formulas correctly, generate appropriate visuals, and produce professional audio and video. The ytb-books skill pack automates this entire pipeline using cutting-edge technologies like Neo4j GraphRAG and MathJax-based LaTeX rendering.

What ytb-books Does

The ytb-books skill pack transforms book content into ready-to-publish YouTube videos through a complete end-to-end automation pipeline:

• Neo4j GraphRAG Integration: Stores book content in a Neo4j graph database with Document → Episode → Scene relationships, enabling intelligent retrieval of relevant content chunks for episode generation
• AI-Powered Content Planning: Uses AI to generate episode scenarios and scene breakdowns from your book content
• LaTeX Math Rendering: Converts complex mathematical expressions into high-quality PNG images for video overlays, with support for custom colors and sizing
• Multi-Style Visual Generation: Supports 5 different visual styles (math_character, dark_academia, watercolor, minimalist, retro_comic) for consistent branding
• End-to-End Video Production: Automates image generation, TTS voice synthesis, FFmpeg video composition, and YouTube upload

Technical Architecture

The ytb-books system is built on a robust TypeScript architecture with clear separation of concerns:

Core Services:

• BooksVideoService.ts — Main orchestrator that coordinates the entire pipeline
• ContentPlannerService.ts — AI-powered service for generating episode scenarios and scene breakdowns
• GhibliImageService.ts — Image generation service using NanoBanana API
• MathFormulaService.ts — LaTeX to PNG rendering with MathJax v4 and sharp for rasterization
• Neo4jService.ts — Complete Neo4j CRUD operations for managing book documents, episodes, scenes, and content chunks

Key Technical Features:

• Uses Neo4j's graph capabilities for intelligent content retrieval (GraphRAG pattern)
• MathJax v4 with TeX-only configuration for stable LaTeX rendering (avoiding AllPackages which causes crashes)
• Custom fill color handling for math formula images to ensure visibility on dark backgrounds
• Strategy Pattern for easy addition of new visual styles
• Complete TypeScript type safety throughout the codebase

Getting Started

Installing ytb-books is simple with Claude Code's plugin system:

/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/clickaround/marketplace
/plugin install ytb-books@clickaround

The system requires several dependencies to be configured:

• Neo4j database instance (bolt://YOUR_NEO4J_HOST:7687)
• NanoBanana API for image generation
• FFmpeg for video composition
• Gemini TTS REST API for voice synthesis

All configuration is centralized in the BOOKS_PROJECT_CONFIG object, making it easy to customize for your specific book content and preferences.

Real-World Applications

ytb-books is particularly valuable for:

• Educational content creators who want to turn textbooks into YouTube series
• Academic researchers sharing complex mathematical concepts
• Technical documentation teams creating video tutorials
• Language learning platforms generating content from language textbooks
• Self-publishing authors looking to expand their reach with video content

The system handles the most challenging aspects of educational video creation: maintaining mathematical accuracy while ensuring visual appeal, structuring complex content into digestible episodes, and automating the technical production process.