--- name: techsmith-reference-architecture description: >- Design a controlled architecture for Snagit capture and Camtasia recording/export workers with local scratch, durable manifests, validation, and artifact promotion. Use when moving beyond one-off scripts. Trigger with "TechSmith architecture", "Snagit automation design", or "Camtasia worker topology". argument-hint: "[system-context] [diagram-or-design-path]" allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, WebFetch, Write, Edit version: 1.6.0 author: Jeremy Longshore license: MIT tags: - desktop-automation - techsmith - architecture model: inherit effort: medium compatibility: Designed for Claude Code; TechSmith product execution requires an approved Windows or macOS desktop as documented --- # TechSmith Desktop Media Automation Architecture ## Overview This skill separates orchestration from licensed desktop execution. A control plane stores only job intent and redacted state; approved Windows or macOS workers perform version-pinned product operations on local storage; validators promote immutable outputs to archive or publishing systems after the application closes. ## Prerequisites - Workload classes, data classifications, service objectives, and expected volume - Endpoint and entitlement inventory with product/version/platform capabilities - Storage, network, identity, logging, retention, and incident constraints - Approval owners for capture scope, deployment, activation, and publication ## Tool Discipline Use `Read`, `Glob`, and `Grep` to inspect local scripts, manifests, logs, and tests. Use `WebFetch` only for current primary TechSmith documentation. Use `Write` or `Edit` only after confirming the target repository file and approval boundary. ## Current Contract - Snagit COM jobs run only on licensed Windows workers with an interactive desktop. - Camtasia active projects and media remain local and non-synced; promoted outputs are immutable artifacts. - Job manifests carry product version, operation, input hashes, output policy, deadline, and idempotency key. - Workers expose redacted state transitions, not remote arbitrary-shell access or license secrets. ## Licensing and Authentication TechSmith desktop activation is not API authentication. Resolve individual sign-in versus business-key or approved offline activation before execution. Redact all keys, account identifiers, activation artifacts, and sensitive endpoint details. ## Instructions 1. Discover existing scripts, workers, endpoints, storage paths, product versions, licenses, and downstream consumers. 2. Define job classes and state transitions from accepted through staged, running, validating, promoted, failed, or quarantined. 3. Partition workers by platform, product/version, interactive capability, and data classification. 4. Design local scratch, durable manifests, checksums, output validation, post-close archival, and retention cleanup. 5. Add admission control, per-session capture locks, bounded export workers, health probes, and dead-letter handling. 6. Document trust boundaries, failure modes, rollback, recovery-time objectives, and migration from current scripts. ## Approval Boundaries Do not centralize raw license keys, captures, or project media in the control plane. Do not treat desktop workers as generic remote execution hosts. ## Output Return current and target topology, job/state model, trust boundaries, worker capability matrix, data flow, failure handling, migration stages, and unresolved decisions. ## Error Handling | Condition | Response | |---|---| | Worker capability unknown | Probe version and supported interfaces before assigning a job class. | | Active data crosses to sync storage | Stage locally and promote only after product closure and validation. | | Control plane needs product secrets | Redesign so activation stays endpoint-managed. | | No idempotency boundary | Add durable job and output identities before enabling retries. | ## Examples The example below shows the minimum redacted evidence expected from a successful invocation of this operator workflow. ```text control-plane -> signed job manifest -> licensed local worker -> validator -> immutable artifact store ``` ## Resources - [Skill-specific official documentation](references/official-docs.md) - [Deployment overview](https://support.techsmith.com/hc/en-us/articles/43771074923021-Deploying-TechSmith-Products) - [Camtasia file model](https://support.techsmith.com/hc/en-us/articles/203730028-Working-with-Camtasia-Editor-TSCPROJ-and-TREC-Files) --- Source attribution: jeremylongshore Original project: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/ab85a061f7bcc039dac13ee193de7a4cd4388571/plugins/saas-packs/techsmith-pack/skills/techsmith-reference-architecture/SKILL.md License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2025 Jeremy Longshore Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Mega AI Hub resource metadata Creator / publisher: jeremylongshore Original project: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/ab85a061f7bcc039dac13ee193de7a4cd4388571/plugins/saas-packs/techsmith-pack/skills/techsmith-reference-architecture/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Content & Media, Development & Engineering Roles: Backend Developer, Technical Writer, Video Producer Specialties: API, Backend Tools: Techsmith Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: daa20352df29967ce1d204e88e81d622b55393f1883f0edb68213b7463fb37b1