fix: improve Threads screenshot quality — sizing, login overlay, dead code

- Platform-aware overlay sizing: 82% width for Threads (was 45% for all)
  so comment screenshots fill more of the output video
- scale_h: -1 → -2 across all overlay items for yuv420p compatibility
- Cookie validation in auth.py: detect stale Threads sessions and
  re-login automatically instead of screenshotting the login modal
- Remove ("button", "Log in") from popup dismissals — clicking Log in
  opens the auth flow, not a dismissal
- Fail-fast guard after popup dismissal: raise RuntimeError if login
  overlay is still visible, preventing bad screenshots
- Remove dead bgcolor/txtcolor assignments in screenshot.py

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>

platforms/threads/auth.py

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from utils import settings
 from utils.console import emit_scraper_event, print_substep
 
 THREADS_LOGIN_URL = "https://www.threads.com/login"
+THREADS_AUTH_CHECK_URL = "https://www.threads.net/"
 THREADS_COOKIE_FILE = "./video_creation/data/cookie-threads.json"
 DEFAULT_USER_AGENT = (
     "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) "
@@ -45,6 +46,22 @@ def _is_logged_in_threads_url(url: str) -> bool:
     )
 
 
+def _has_login_gate(page: Page) -> bool:
+    """Detect Threads login modal overlaying the page."""
+    gate_selectors = [
+        'input[autocomplete="username"]',
+        'input[autocomplete="current-password"]',
+        'div[role="dialog"] button:has-text("Log in")',
+    ]
+    for selector in gate_selectors:
+        try:
+            if page.locator(selector).first.is_visible():
+                return True
+        except Exception:
+            continue
+    return False
+
+
 def login_to_threads(page: Page, _context: BrowserContext) -> None:
     """Log into Threads via Instagram credentials and persist session cookies."""
     username = settings.config["threads"]["creds"].get("username", "").strip()
@@ -131,6 +148,20 @@ def ensure_authenticated_context(browser: Browser, **kwargs) -> BrowserContext:
             context.add_cookies(saved_cookies)
             print_substep("Loaded saved Threads session cookies.")
             emit_scraper_event("login", {"message": "Loaded saved session cookies"})
+
+            # Verify loaded cookies are still valid
+            page = context.new_page()
+            try:
+                page.goto(THREADS_AUTH_CHECK_URL, timeout=0)
+                page.wait_for_load_state("domcontentloaded")
+                page.wait_for_timeout(1500)
+                if _has_login_gate(page):
+                    print_substep("Saved Threads cookies expired. Re-logging in...", style="yellow")
+                    context.clear_cookies()
+                    cookie_path.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+                    login_to_threads(page, context)
+            finally:
+                page.close()
         except (json.JSONDecodeError, IOError):
             print_substep("Saved cookies corrupted. Logging in fresh...")
             page = context.new_page()

platforms/threads/screenshot.py

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import re
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Final
 
-from playwright.sync_api import ViewportSize
+from playwright.sync_api import Page, ViewportSize
 
 from platforms.threads.auth import ensure_authenticated_context
 from utils import settings
@@ -12,6 +12,28 @@ from utils.browser_backend import launch_browser
 from utils.console import print_step, print_substep
 
 
+def _dismiss_popups(page: Page) -> None:
+    """Dismiss common Threads/Instagram overlays that block screenshots."""
+    dismissals = [
+        ("[role='button']", "Not now"),
+        ("button", "Allow all cookies"),
+        ("[aria-label='Close']", None),
+        ("div[role='dialog'] button", "Not Now"),
+    ]
+    for selector, text in dismissals:
+        try:
+            if text:
+                el = page.locator(selector, has_text=text).first
+            else:
+                el = page.locator(selector).first
+            if el.count() and el.is_visible():
+                el.click()
+                page.wait_for_timeout(500)
+                print_substep(f"Dismissed popup: {selector}", style="dim")
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+
+
 def get_screenshots_of_threads_posts(content_object: dict, screenshot_num: int) -> None:
     """
     Downloads screenshots of Threads posts via Playwright.
@@ -29,14 +51,7 @@ def get_screenshots_of_threads_posts(content_object: dict, screenshot_num: int)
     thread_id = re.sub(r"[^\w\s-]", "", content_object["thread_id"])
     Path(f"assets/temp/{thread_id}/png").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
-    # Theme colors
     theme = settings.config["settings"]["theme"]
-    if theme == "dark":
-        bgcolor = (33, 33, 36, 255)
-        txtcolor = (240, 240, 240)
-    else:
-        bgcolor = (255, 255, 255, 255)
-        txtcolor = (0, 0, 0)
 
     # Device scale factor (higher resolution screenshots)
     dsf = (W // 600) + 1
@@ -56,6 +71,14 @@ def get_screenshots_of_threads_posts(content_object: dict, screenshot_num: int)
         page.wait_for_load_state("networkidle")
         page.wait_for_timeout(3000)
 
+        _dismiss_popups(page)
+
+        if page.locator('div[role="dialog"] button:has-text("Log in")').first.is_visible():
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "Threads login overlay is blocking the page — saved cookies are stale. "
+                "Delete video_creation/data/cookie-threads.json and re-run."
+            )
+
         postcontentpath = f"assets/temp/{thread_id}/png/title.png"
         try:
             # Threads.net uses div-based cards, not <article> elements.
@@ -98,6 +121,12 @@ def get_screenshots_of_threads_posts(content_object: dict, screenshot_num: int)
             if num_replies > 0:
                 # Scroll to load all replies inline on the post page
                 print_substep("Loading replies on post page...", style="dim")
+                _dismiss_popups(page)
+                if page.locator('div[role="dialog"] button:has-text("Log in")').first.is_visible():
+                    raise RuntimeError(
+                        "Threads login overlay is blocking the page — saved cookies are stale. "
+                        "Delete video_creation/data/cookie-threads.json and re-run."
+                    )
                 last_count = 0
                 stable_count = 0
                 for _ in range(20):

video_creation/final_video.py

@@ -307,10 +307,9 @@ def make_final_video(
     console.log(f"[bold green] Video Will Be: {length} Seconds Long")
 
     # --- Step 4: Build overlay items ---
-    screenshot_width = int((W * 45) // 100)
-    Path(f"assets/temp/{reddit_id}/png").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-
     platform = settings.config["settings"].get("platform", "reddit")
+    screenshot_width = int(W * (0.82 if platform == "threads" else 0.45))
+    Path(f"assets/temp/{reddit_id}/png").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
     # Use actual screenshot for non-Reddit platforms (Threads etc.), Reddit template for Reddit
     title_img_path = f"assets/temp/{reddit_id}/png/title.png"
@@ -330,7 +329,7 @@ def make_final_video(
         "duration": audio_clips_durations[0],
         "opacity": opacity,
         "scale_w": screenshot_width,
-        "scale_h": -1,
+        "scale_h": -2,
     })
     current_time += audio_clips_durations[0]
 
@@ -344,7 +343,7 @@ def make_final_video(
                     "duration": audio_clips_durations[1] if len(audio_clips_durations) > 1 else 5,
                     "opacity": opacity,
                     "scale_w": screenshot_width,
-                    "scale_h": -1,
+                    "scale_h": -2,
                 })
         elif settings.config["settings"]["storymodemethod"] == 1:
             for i in range(number_of_clips):
@@ -359,7 +358,7 @@ def make_final_video(
                         "duration": audio_clips_durations[dur_idx],
                         "opacity": opacity,
                         "scale_w": screenshot_width,
-                        "scale_h": -1,
+                        "scale_h": -2,
                     })
                 current_time += audio_clips_durations[dur_idx]
     else:
@@ -375,7 +374,7 @@ def make_final_video(
                     "duration": audio_clips_durations[dur_idx],
                     "opacity": opacity,
                     "scale_w": screenshot_width,
-                    "scale_h": -1,
+                    "scale_h": -2,
                 })
             current_time += audio_clips_durations[dur_idx]