# Build brief — a focused alternative to Teleprompter.com

> **Verdict:** Yes, for personal use · **Buildability:** 68/100 · **Category:** Audio Video
> **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/teleprompter-com
> Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Teleprompter.com. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting.

## Context

**Teleprompter.com** — Scrolling script overlay for talking-head video, with speed control, mirroring and recording. It currently costs $19.99/mo.

A teleprompter is text that moves down the screen at an adjustable speed, and every browser can already do that. The genuinely useful extras, mirror flip for beam-splitter rigs, large-type layout, keyboard speed control, camera preview behind the words, are all standard web APIs and fit in one session. Even voice-tracked scrolling, the feature people assume is magic, is a Web Speech API loop that matches recognized words against your script. What you cannot casually rebuild is the polished phone app you actually hold at arm's length while filming, plus remote control between two devices. If you record at a desk with a webcam, the DIY version is not a compromise, it is the same thing.

This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Teleprompter.com that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest.

## What you are building

A local web app that stores scripts, scrolls them at a controllable speed over an optional live camera preview, mirrors on demand, and can record the take to a file.

- Transcribe supplied recordings, cut them on a timeline, and export finished files.
- A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states.

## Requirements

### Functional

- A modern Chromium browser for camera access and speech recognition.
- Webcam and mic permissions granted to localhost.
- Optional: a second device on the same network if you want to prompt from a phone.

### Non-functional

- Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support.
- Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle.
- Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down.
- Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it.

## Implementation brief

Build a local teleprompter web app. Stack: Vite + React + TypeScript, no backend, no accounts, no telemetry, no external API calls.

Data: scripts are stored in localStorage as {id, title, body, updatedAt}. Ship with one sample script. No cloud, no sync, no login.

Layout: two views in a single page app.
1) Library: list scripts, create, rename, delete, edit body in a plain textarea with autosave on blur.
2) Prompt view: fullscreen scrolling display of the selected script.

Prompt view requirements:
- Very large default type, adjustable font size, line height and text width.
- Continuous smooth scroll driven by requestAnimationFrame, speed in pixels per second, not a CSS animation.
- Controls: space toggles play/pause, arrow up/down changes speed, arrow left/right jumps 3 seconds of scroll, R resets to top, M toggles horizontal mirror, F toggles fullscreen, Esc exits.
- A fixed reading line marker with adjustable vertical position.
- Mirror mode applies transform: scaleX(-1) to the text layer only, controls stay readable.
- Optional camera layer: getUserMedia video preview rendered behind the text at adjustable opacity. If permission is denied, fall back to a solid background and say so once, quietly.
- Optional recording: MediaRecorder on the camera+mic stream, save to a downloadable .webm. Do not attempt to composite the text into the recording.
- Optional voice tracking behind a toggle labelled experimental: use the browser SpeechRecognition API, fuzzy match recognized words against upcoming script tokens, and nudge scroll position toward the matched word. If SpeechRecognition is unavailable, hide the toggle.

Persist user settings (speed, font size, mirror, opacity, marker position) in localStorage.

Out of scope: multi device remote control, accounts, script sharing, burned-in captions, mobile native app.

Styling: plain CSS, dark background, high contrast, no UI framework. Controls auto-hide after 3 seconds of mouse idle during playback.

Deliver a README with npm install, npm run dev, the full keyboard shortcut list, and a note that camera and mic access require localhost or HTTPS. No .env needed since there are no secrets.

## Delivery standard

- Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code.
- Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data.
- Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations.
- Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states.
- Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data.
- Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details.
- Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey.
- Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations.

## Acceptance criteria

- [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example.
- [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable.
- [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state.
- [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control.
- [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures.
- [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified.

## Non-goals

Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them:

- A real iOS/Android app that behaves well when the screen is your only prompter.
- Remote control from a second device without you building the socket plumbing.
- Cloud sync of scripts across phone, laptop and someone else's machine.
- Reliable voice tracking in noisy rooms; browser speech recognition drifts.
- Export niceties: burned-in captions, project organization, team script sharing.

## What you still own after launch

- Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates.
- Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change.
- Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss.

## Risk

**Manageable.** A personal version is realistic if you test the critical journey and keep reliable backups.

Editorial confidence in this assessment: medium. No reviewed project implementation is linked yet.

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Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/teleprompter-com