Slack GIF Creator Skill

Overview

Slack GIF Creator Skill is one of Anthropic's official Claude Skills, designed to teach Claude how to create animated GIFs optimized specifically for Slack. This skill provides comprehensive knowledge about Slack's requirements, utilities for GIF creation and validation, and creative animation concepts to build polished, professional animations.

The skill emphasizes creating visually appealing GIFs that look polished and creative, not basic or amateurish. It provides a flexible framework for building animations using PIL (Python Imaging Library) primitives while ensuring GIFs meet Slack's technical requirements for dimensions, file size, and quality.

Core Features

1. Slack Optimization Requirements

Clear specifications for Slack-compatible GIFs:

• Emoji GIFs: 128x128 pixels (recommended)
• Message GIFs: 480x480 pixels
• Frame Rate: 10-30 FPS (lower for smaller file size)
• Colors: 48-128 colors (fewer = smaller size)
• Duration: Under 3 seconds for emoji GIFs

2. GIF Builder Utility

Core framework for assembling and optimizing GIFs:

• Frame assembly and management
• Color palette optimization
• Duplicate frame removal
• Automatic emoji-specific optimization
• File size reduction strategies

3. Validation Tools

Verify GIFs meet Slack requirements:

• Detailed validation with comprehensive feedback
• Quick readiness checks
• Dimension, size, and format verification
• Emoji-specific validation

4. Animation Concepts Library

Complete collection of animation patterns:

• Shake/Vibrate: Oscillating position offsets
• Pulse/Heartbeat: Rhythmic size scaling
• Bounce: Gravity-based falling and bouncing
• Spin/Rotate: Center-based rotation
• Fade In/Out: Gradual appearance/disappearance
• Slide: Off-screen to position movement
• Zoom: Scale and crop effects
• Explode/Particle Burst: Radiating particles

5. Drawing Primitives

Professional graphics using PIL ImageDraw:

• Circles and ellipses
• Polygons (stars, triangles, custom shapes)
• Lines with thickness control
• Rectangles and shapes
• Gradients and visual depth
• Layered compositions

6. Easing Functions

Smooth motion instead of linear interpolation:

• Linear, easein, easeout, easeinout
• Bounceout, elasticout, back_out
• Professional motion timing

Use Cases

• Slack Emoji: Create custom animated emoji for teams
• Reaction GIFs: Build expressive reactions for conversations
• Status Indicators: Animated status and progress indicators
• Celebration GIFs: Fun animations for achievements and milestones
• Brand Assets: Company-specific animated elements
• Tutorial GIFs: Simple animated explanations

Technical Implementation

Core Workflow

from core.gif_builder import GIFBuilder
from PIL import Image, ImageDraw

# 1. Create builder
builder = GIFBuilder(width=128, height=128, fps=10)

# 2. Generate frames
for i in range(12):
    frame = Image.new('RGB', (128, 128), (240, 248, 255))
    draw = ImageDraw.Draw(frame)
    # Draw animation using PIL primitives
    builder.add_frame(frame)

# 3. Save with optimization
builder.save('output.gif', num_colors=48, optimize_for_emoji=True)

Available Utilities

• GIFBuilder (core.gif_builder): Frame assembly and optimization
• Validators (core.validators): GIF validation and verification
• Easing Functions (core.easing): Smooth motion interpolation
• Frame Helpers (core.frame_composer): Convenience functions

Design Philosophy

Make Graphics Look Good

The skill teaches creating polished graphics:

• Thick lines: Always width=2 or higher, never thin lines
• Visual depth: Gradients, layers, multiple shapes
• Interesting shapes: Highlights, patterns, combinations
• Color choices: Vibrant, complementary, high contrast
• Complex shapes: Hearts, snowflakes, detailed designs

Flexibility Over Templates

The skill provides:

• Knowledge: Slack requirements and animation concepts
• Utilities: GIFBuilder, validators, easing functions
• Flexibility: Create custom animations using PIL primitives

The skill does NOT provide:

• Rigid animation templates
• Emoji font rendering (unreliable)
• Pre-packaged graphics library

Combine Concepts

Encourage creative combinations:

• Bouncing + rotating
• Pulsing + sliding
• Fading + exploding
• Custom multi-effect animations

Optimization Strategies

When file size reduction is needed:

1. Fewer frames: Lower FPS or shorter duration
2. Fewer colors: Use 48 colors instead of 128
3. Smaller dimensions: 128x128 instead of 480x480
4. Remove duplicates: Automatic duplicate frame removal
5. Emoji mode: Automatic optimization for emoji GIFs

User Image Support

Handle uploaded images appropriately:

• Load images using PIL
• Use directly for "animate this" requests
• Use as inspiration for "make something like this"
• Respect user intent for image usage

Dependencies

• PIL (Pillow): Image manipulation and drawing
• imageio: GIF creation
• numpy: Numerical operations for animations

Summary

Slack GIF Creator Skill enables Claude to create polished, professional animated GIFs optimized for Slack. Through comprehensive utilities, animation concepts, and design guidance, this skill ensures GIFs are visually appealing, technically compliant, and creatively executed using flexible PIL-based workflows.