bcscene

Run scripted multi-persona activity in a Basecamp demo account.

You describe what you want in plain English (in Claude Desktop's Code tab) or write a YAML scene file, and bcscene executes the activity by invoking the official basecamp CLI as a different authenticated profile per persona. The result: realistic-looking activity across multiple users in seconds.

What it's for

Producing demo content. Specifically:

• Recording videos that show realistic Basecamp activity without manually logging in as multiple people.
• Capturing screenshots that need cross-persona context (a chat with three replies, a project with mixed contributors, etc.).
• Keeping a demo Basecamp account looking lived-in over time.

Getting started

New to this? Read GUIDE.md — a step-by-step walkthrough written for non-technical users. Covers everything from installing prerequisites to running your first scene through Claude Desktop. About 45 minutes start to finish, mostly waiting on OAuth flows.

Already comfortable with the command line? See SETUP.md for the condensed reference.

How it works

bcscene is a thin runner on top of the basecamp CLI's native multi-profile support. Each persona maps to a basecamp profile — a separately authenticated identity — and bcscene runs each scene step using the right profile.

There is no credential juggling. The basecamp CLI handles tokens; you authorize each persona once via OAuth and bcscene just invokes the CLI.

The recommended day-to-day workflow uses Claude Desktop's Code tab (which runs Claude Code). You launch a Claude Code session in the bcscene folder and describe scenes in plain English. The repo includes a CLAUDE.md file that primes Claude Code with everything it needs to know — what the personas are, what actions are available, when to ask for clarification, when to dry-run.

You can also write scene files by hand in YAML and run them with bin/bcscene <scene-file>. Both workflows work; pick what suits you.

Using bcscene with a different Basecamp account

bcscene's default setup is tailored to 37signals' Enormicom demo account. If you want to use it against a different account, the easiest path is to fork the repo so you can customize it without affecting upstream.

1. Fork on GitHub. Visit github.com/younotcooking/bcscene and click the "Fork" button in the top right. GitHub creates a copy under your username (e.g., yourname/bcscene).

2. Clone your fork (not the original):

   gh repo clone yourname/bcscene
   cd bcscene
   

3. Use the blank persona template:

   cp personas.blank.yaml personas.yaml
   

   Then edit personas.yaml to fill in your Basecamp account ID, a project ID for testing, and your personas. (If you'd rather start from the full Enormicom roster as a reference, use personas.example.yaml instead.)

4. Follow GUIDE.md from Phase 2 onward — Phase 1 (installing prerequisites) is the same, and Phase 3 (authorizing personas) just authorizes whoever you listed instead of the Enormicom cast.

Your fork is independent. Edit scenes, personas, docs however you want — none of it affects upstream. If upstream gets new features later and you want them, you can git pull from upstream into your fork.

Available scene actions

A scene step uses one of these actions:

• chat-post — post to a project chat (args: message, project)
• todo-create — create a todo (args: title, project, list, optionally description, assignee, due)
• todo-complete — complete a todo (args: todo_id)
• comment — comment on a target (args: target_id, message)
• message-post — post a message board entry (args: title, body, project)

To add new actions, edit lib/executor.py's ACTION_HANDLERS dict.

Limitations

• One scene at a time (no parallel execution — the CLI uses a per-machine profile store, so two scenes running at once could collide).
• No undo. Posts and todos created by a scene stay in Basecamp.
• Personas must be real Basecamp users. There's no way to fake activity from a user you don't have a real OAuth token for.

Repo layout

bcscene/
├── bin/
│   ├── bcscene                    # scene runner
│   └── bcscene-setup-personas     # one-time profile creation
├── lib/
│   ├── cli_wrapper.py             # subprocess calls to basecamp CLI
│   ├── executor.py                # runs a scene
│   └── loader.py                  # parses YAML
├── scenes/
│   └── morning-standup.yaml       # example scene
├── docs/
│   └── MEMORY.md                  # known gotchas with the basecamp CLI
├── personas.example.yaml          # template roster (Enormicom)
├── personas.blank.yaml            # template roster (for forks)
├── personas.yaml                  # your real roster (gitignored)
├── GUIDE.md                       # step-by-step walkthrough
├── SETUP.md                       # condensed setup reference
└── CLAUDE.md                      # context for Claude Code