AutoShort

History facts shorts: sourced scripts, narrated and rendered

History shorts live or die on accuracy. The workflow here puts your review before the render: the assistant lists its sources, you read the script, and the narration is stored word for word.

Who it is for

  • History and folklore fans who want one odd event per video, told in under a minute.
  • Teachers who want a short recap of one event for a class page.
  • Channel owners who want a person (you) to review every claim before it is spoken.

What AutoShort does for this

  • You paste the facts you trust and tell the assistant to use only those. Only the agreed text goes into autoshort_draft_video, which stores it word for word, for free.
  • Pictures are generated per scene. An engraving or painting style from the live list (for example COMIC_BOOK or OIL_PAINTING) keeps them looking like illustrations, not photographs of the event.
  • autoshort_estimate_cost prices the render before you pay, and autoshort_render_draft charges once after your yes.
  • HISTORY_FACTS is one of the niches for series and for videos AutoShort writes from a brief; a ready history template is on the templates page.
  • The content checks do not block naming a historical figure in a factual narration; they refuse impersonation and invented quotes attributed to real people.

Not connected yet? Follow the steps for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI on the MCP page.

Worked example

Worked example

Not run: costs credits

Wojtek, the bear that travelled with Polish soldiers, built only from facts you paste

Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI once AutoShort is connected. It is the library prompt Place, year, one anomaly with the bracketed parts filled in.

Use the AutoShort tools to make one history short about Wojtek, the bear that travelled with Polish soldiers. Use only facts I give you below or facts you are certain of; if you are not certain, leave the line out and tell me.
My facts: Polish soldiers adopted an orphaned bear cub in Iran in 1942 and named him Wojtek (spelled Voytek in English). Shipping rules forbade pets, so he needed an exception to sail to Italy in 1944. Sources disagree on whether he was formally enlisted as a private with a paybook, so say "the story goes". At Monte Cassino in 1944 he is reported to have carried ammunition crates, so say "reportedly". He was demobilised in 1947 to Edinburgh Zoo, where former comrades visited him; he died in 1963.
Write 6 scenes yourself, about 30 seconds. Scene 1 narration: "[Place], [year]. [One-sentence anomaly]." at most 9 words. Scenes 2 to 4: three escalating facts. Last scene: one closing line that reframes the first. No invented quotes. Visuals: realistic or archival-looking scenes, one subject at a time, no real people's faces.
Call autoshort_draft_video with scenes[] (free), show me the draft, then list each fact and which of my lines it comes from.
Call autoshort_estimate_cost. Show me the price first and wait for my yes before any paid step.
After my yes: autoshort_render_draft once, then autoshort_get_video until COMPLETED or FAILED.
Tools it triggers
  • autoshort_draft_video
  • autoshort_estimate_cost
  • autoshort_render_draft
  • autoshort_get_video
Estimated cost
40 credits (about $0.63 on the Starter plan, $0.80 at the $0.02-per-credit list rate). Ask for the price first: autoshort_estimate_cost quotes it for free.
What you get
  • A six-scene draft built only from the facts you pasted, a list that ties each fact to your lines, then a narrated short of about 30 seconds.
  • The pictures are AI-generated illustrations, not photographs of the event. Say so when you post.
Test status
Draft + price quote run on 2026-10-29 (QA account, free tools only): 6-scene draft, 31.4 s estimated, no warnings, estimate_cost 40 credits, balance stayed 0. Render not run: costs credits.

What the output looks like

  • The dancing plague of 1518 (51 s), made in StoryShort, not AutoShort

    YouTube Shorts, channel Scary Stories Lab, 2026-10-27. AI-generated.

    How it was made: Made with StoryShort (storyshort.app), a separate app we also run, using still images and a synthetic voice. It is a different topic from the worked example, and the script and the tool are different too. Labelled AI-generated, altered content: yes.

    Result: It had 19 views on YouTube at the 2026-10-28 read, and 213 views on Facebook. Small samples; our own views are not excluded.

The example is a StoryShort video about a different history topic, not an AutoShort render of the prompt above. We have no public AutoShort history short with measured numbers yet.

What it costs

40 credits (about $0.63 on the Starter plan, $0.80 at the $0.02-per-credit list rate). Ask for the price first: autoshort_estimate_cost quotes it for free.

One short is 40 credits. A history series is 40 credits for each scheduled video.

See what things cost, pricing and the refund policy. Want to see a script first? The free script preview needs no account.

Limits, stated plainly

  • AutoShort does not verify facts. A confident wrong sentence is read as confidently as a right one, so check every claim, and keep hedged wording where sources disagree.
  • Do not ask for portraits of real people or invented quotes; the content checks refuse impersonation and the pictures are generated, not archive photos.
  • Generated pictures are illustrations. They will not match a specific painting, building or costume accurately.
  • Spell foreign names the way they should sound; the voice reads the text as written.
  • A standard short is 8 to 90 seconds in 9:16.

Frequently asked questions

Does AutoShort check that the history is true?

No. It stores and reads the script you approve. The worked example makes the assistant use only the facts you paste and list which of your lines each fact comes from, so you can check them before the render.

Can I name real people in a history short?

Naming a historical figure in a factual narration is fine. What the content checks refuse is impersonating a real person, including invented quotes presented as theirs and deepfake-style likenesses.

How much does one history short cost?

A standard short of up to 90 seconds is 40 credits with the default voice. Drafting the script is free, and autoshort_estimate_cost quotes the exact price before anything is charged. The credits are taken when you approve the render, and refunded automatically if the render fails for good.

Can I use my own archive pictures?

Yes, if you have the right to use them. A scene can carry image_url (a public https link) and that scene shows your picture with a slow zoom instead of a generated image.

How did your own history short perform?

Poorly by any big-channel measure: 19 YouTube views and 213 Facebook views for the 1518 video at the time we read it, with our own views included. We list it only so you can see the real numbers.

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