I Embroidered Singapore Polytechnic's History in Code with Claude Code
A narrated, embroidered history of Singapore Polytechnic, built for fun in under an hour with Claude Code on Opus 5.5. What it could do, what it couldn't, and how.
I built this for fun with Claude Code, on Opus 5.5.
Having fun is the best way I know to learn what a new model can and cannot do. So I asked Claude Code to tell the history of Singapore Polytechnic as if it were embroidered.
What it is
A 53-second narrated history of Singapore Polytechnic, stitched one thread at a time. It moves from the Dobby Report in 1953, which asked whether a small colony could afford a polytechnic, to Prince Philip opening the Prince Edward Road campus in 1959, the move to Dover Road, and 72 years and counting.
My favourite part of the story: in 1969 SP nearly became a university, then handed its degree courses to what is now NUS.
I showed it at a sharing session with Singapore Polytechnic alumni on 24 September 2026. You can also play it yourself, with sound, and drag the thread to move through time.
What it CAN do
Turn a history into an embroidered, narrated video in under an hour. Every stitch, down to the SP crest, is code. About 9,000 stitches, generated by about 700 lines of code.
What it couldn’t
Its first lion looked like a cartoon cat until I showed it the real crest.
And the shared link froze, because the animation was waiting for audio the browser had blocked :)
Behind the scenes
- Visuals: HTML and JavaScript on a canvas. A small “stitch engine” fills every shape with short, slightly off-angle lines, sewn row by row.
- Animation: GSAP runs everything on one timeline.
- Voiceover: Kokoro, a free open-source voice model on my Mac. Whisper timed every word, so the lion appears exactly when the voice says “lion”.
- Music: written in Python. Plucked notes that turn minor for the twist, lowered whenever the voice speaks.
- Output: one web page with a play button and a stitched scrubber.
I’ve turned the process into a reusable skill, so the next one will be faster.
Part of a series
I’m building small things for fun to learn what each new model can and cannot do. For the same alumni session, I also tried a different tool: Codex rebuilt SP’s first campus in 3D from one photo. And for Mid-Autumn, four AI models designed their own lanterns.
Sources and credit
Facts from SP’s heritage page and NLB Infopedia. Inspired by AA (@measure_plan)‘s “Illustrating a short story with JavaScript”.
An unofficial tribute, not affiliated with Singapore Polytechnic.
Frequently asked
- Can Claude Code make animations?
- Yes. This one is plain HTML and JavaScript drawing on a canvas, with GSAP running the whole animation on one timeline. Claude Code wrote it, including a small stitch engine that fills every shape with short, slightly off-angle lines, so it looks embroidered.
- How long did it take to build?
- Under an hour for the embroidered video. It then needed fixes where it went wrong: the first lion looked like a cartoon cat, and the shared link froze.
- Is this an official Singapore Polytechnic video?
- No. It is an unofficial tribute, not affiliated with Singapore Polytechnic. The facts come from SP's heritage page and NLB Infopedia.