What is teardown?
teardown is a Claude Code skill for explaining how machines work. Ask for a simulator of a motorcycle engine or a mechanical watch and Claude builds a single offline HTML page with three.js: the machine runs in the middle, panels around it show live numbers from the same model, buttons isolate or cut away each subsystem, and the page tours itself when nobody touches it. The same code renders a frame-by-frame 60 fps MP4 with a procedural soundtrack.
The SKILL.md sets the method: start from a real reference, use real dimensions, drive every part from one input such as crank angle, and review rendered still sheets before calling a machine done. It ships three complete examples: a cross-plane V8, the folding main landing gear of a Cessna 337, and a 20-legged Strandbeest whose joints are solved from Jansen's 11 link lengths.
The runtime, frame capture, sound engine and review rules come from whaleyxbt/claude-motion, which the README credits. Install is npx skills add elvarofficial/teardown, then npm install and Playwright's Chromium; Node 20+, with ffmpeg and Python 3 for video and sound. MIT.
Is teardown worth it?
teardown's real value is in its examples and its rules rather than in automation. The V8 tracks firing order 1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 with a chamber pressure model, the Cessna gear swings through exactly 180 degrees from a 201 mm rack on a 32-tooth pinion, and the Strandbeest's linkage solver is 67 lines. Each is split the same way: pure maths in one file, geometry in another, a console overlay, a scripted film and a live page, so a new machine has a clear template to copy.
The SKILL.md is the part worth reading even without the skill. It insists on building from a photo or cutaway drawing, on real units, on one input driving everything so the video, page and sound never drift, and on Claude reviewing tiled still frames because it cannot watch video. It also records concrete three.js traps hit on Windows and keeps pages under 1 MB so link previews work.
The catch is the gap between demo and output. The robotic bee, scorpion and octopus shown in the README are not in the repository, and an open issue reports results much less detailed than the demos. Other open issues report a hard-coded ffmpeg path in the sound code, capture timing out on macOS because headless Chromium gets no WebGL, a path traversal in sheet.mjs, and unescaped captions from ?config= reaching innerHTML in built pages, which matters if you host them.
It is a two-day project from one author: created on 30 October 2026, two commits, no release, 2,123 stars. Next to claude-motion, its parent toolkit for general motion design, teardown is narrower and better suited to mechanisms, but you inherit claude-motion's runtime without an upstream link to track its fixes.
Where it earns its place
A mechanical engineering lecturer
Show students how a four-stroke engine's valves and pistons move together
Build the bundled V8 example or ask Claude for a single-cylinder version based on it; the page runs offline in class and the glass, section and solid cutaway modes show the cycle.
A technical marketing writer at an industrial equipment maker
Produce a 20-second explainer video of a product mechanism
Have Claude build the machine from the product's CAD drawings, then capture.mjs renders 1920 x 1080 frames to MP4 and run_sfx.py adds sound mastered to -14 LUFS. Expect several review passes.
A developer writing a blog post on linkages
Embed an interactive model readers can drive
Start from the Strandbeest example's linkage solver and stage, swap in new link lengths, and publish the single HTML file. Escape any captions passed by URL until the open injection issue is fixed.
Before you commit
- Setup
- npx skills add elvarofficial/teardown -g -a claude-code, then npm install and npx playwright install chromium in the skill folder; Node 20+, ffmpeg for video, Python 3 for sound. node sims/build.mjs v8-live builds an example page.
- Integrations
- Claude Code skill; three.js, esbuild and Playwright Chromium; ffmpeg for encoding; procedural Python sound with CC0 Freesound samples.
- Data and privacy
- Everything renders locally and pages are fully offline; nothing is sent beyond your Claude Code session. MIT.
- Cost at scale
- Not published; each machine costs Claude Code usage for building and review passes, and rendering needs a GPU-capable browser.
- Limits
- 9 open issues, including script injection via ?config= in built pages and path traversal in sheet.mjs; integrated GPUs can drop to 15 fps per the SKILL.md; Codex and other agents not documented.
What’s good
- Three complete, physically grounded example machines
- Clear per-machine file structure to copy
- One offline HTML page under 1 MB per machine
- Same timeline drives page, video and sound
- Review loop built around still sheets Claude can read
What’s not
- README demos not included; output reported less detailed
- Open security issues in built pages and sheet.mjs
- macOS capture and ffmpeg path problems reported
- Single author, two commits, no release
Best for
Engineers, teachers and technical writers who use Claude Code and want interactive cutaway explainers of real mechanisms, and are willing to iterate past the first draft.
teardown alternatives
teardown: common questions
- Is teardown worth it?
- Three excellent example machines and a sound method for building more, though what Claude produces from a one-line request is likely to fall short of the demos. We rate it 3.5 out of 5.
- How much does teardown cost?
- Free under MIT. Building a machine uses your Claude Code plan or API usage; rendering runs locally.
- What are the downsides of teardown?
- README demos not included; output reported less detailed; open security issues in built pages and sheet.mjs; macOS capture and ffmpeg path problems reported; single author, two commits, no release.
- Who is teardown best for?
- Engineers, teachers and technical writers who use Claude Code and want interactive cutaway explainers of real mechanisms, and are willing to iterate past the first draft.
- How much does teardown cost for a team or in production?
- Not published; each machine costs Claude Code usage for building and review passes, and rendering needs a GPU-capable browser.
- Is teardown safe for company data?
- Everything renders locally and pages are fully offline; nothing is sent beyond your Claude Code session. MIT.
- What are the best teardown alternatives?
- The closest alternatives we have reviewed are Anatomy and motionmaxxing.
Answers checked Nov 5, 2026.