ChatGPT / Codex

Scrimba Explain is an OpenAI plugin called @Explain Video Generator. ChatGPT and Codex share the same plugin catalog, so you install it once and it works in both.

Install the @Explain Video Generator pluginAdds Explain to both ChatGPT and Codex from OpenAI's plugin catalog.→

docs.scrimba.com

You can also find it from the Plugins tab in ChatGPT or the Codex app: search for it, install it, then start a new chat. In the Codex CLI, run /plugins to browse and install.

Using it

Type @ to invoke the plugin, and say what you want explained:

›@Explain Video Generator Turn this PDF into a video for our employees›@Explain Video Generator Create a video tutorial of this pull request to help my colleague understand it›@Explain Video Generator Turn my physics study notes into a video

You can also just describe what you want, and the model will use the plugin on its own.

It writes the full lesson (the slides, the narration script, the diagrams) and replies with a link. Open the link and the explainer builds in front of you: slides appear, narration starts playing, and the lesson is watchable from the first slide onward.

This works especially well at the end of a conversation where the model has already worked something out with you: instead of a long chat transcript, you get a lesson you can rewatch and share.

Pictures from the chat

A picture in the conversation can go on a slide: a screenshot or photo you uploaded, or an image ChatGPT generated earlier in the chat. Ask for it:

›@Explain Video Generator Make a video walking through my dashboard, and show the screenshot

Pictures uploaded from the ChatGPT mobile app can't be fetched, so the explainer is built without them. See Your own pictures.

Frames

An explainer from the plugin is square unless you ask otherwise, so it works on a phone and on a desktop alike. Ask for a vertical video and it's built in a tall, portrait frame instead. See Vertical explainers.

Better explainers

The model you're chatting with writes the lesson and the narration. A smarter model makes a better explainer, and so does asking it to take its time and think first.

Where plugins work

Plugins work in ChatGPT on web, desktop, and mobile, in Codex in the ChatGPT desktop app, and in the Codex CLI's plugin browser. The IDE extension doesn't support plugins; use the MCP server there.

What happens to the explainer

An explainer made through the plugin is unlisted: anyone with the link can watch it, but it isn't listed or searchable anywhere. To keep it long-term, sign in to Scrimba when you open it and claim it. See Privacy, claiming and sharing.