Astrofox

What is it?

Astrofox is a motion graphics program that lets turn audio into amazing videos.

Quick links

• Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbvuniqNPPw
• Website: https://astrofox.io
• Discord chat: https://discord.gg/wJ6pyMZ
• Reddit forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/astrofox/
• Bug tracker: https://github.com/astrofox-io/astrofox/issues

Running Astrofox

Get the source

git clone https://github.com/astrofox-io/astrofox.git

Install dependencies

pnpm install

Build the application

pnpm build

Start the application

pnpm start

Running for development

Run:

pnpm dev

Astrofox is a client-side Next.js app. Projects are opened and saved as local files (.json; legacy .afx gzip projects can still be opened). There is no backend or auth service required for development.

Web (Vercel)

Commits deploy through Vercel using the standard build:

pnpm build

Do not change this script for desktop packaging.

Desktop (Electron, offline)

Development (Next dev server + Electron shell):

pnpm dev:desktop

Production package (static export + electron-builder):

pnpm install-ffmpeg   # optional; bundles ffmpeg for desktop export
pnpm build:desktop    # or dist:win / dist:mac / dist:linux

Desktop uses BUILD_TARGET=desktop for a static export into out/, then packages electron/ + out/. The web Vercel path is unchanged.

Video export

• Web: browser MediaRecorder (WebM/MP4 when supported)
• Desktop: offline frame render → bundled ffmpeg → MP4 (H.264/AAC). Run pnpm install-ffmpeg before packaging so the binary is included under bin/.

Publishing

Two independent paths from the same codebase:

Path	Trigger	Output
Web	Every commit	Vercel deploy (pnpm build)
Desktop	Push a v* tag	GitHub Actions builds Windows/macOS/Linux installers and uploads them to a draft GitHub Release (.github/workflows/desktop-release.yml)

To cut a desktop release:

git tag v2.0.0
git push origin v2.0.0

Then review and publish the draft release on GitHub. The workflow can also be run manually (workflow_dispatch), which uploads installers as CI artifacts without creating a release. Local equivalent: pnpm release:desktop (requires GH_TOKEN).

Code signing is currently disabled in CI (CSC_IDENTITY_AUTO_DISCOVERY=false); add signing cert secrets (CSC_LINK/CSC_KEY_PASSWORD) and remove that env var to enable it.

License

MIT