Developer releases ChibiRigKit, an open-source tool to animate 2D characters from one image

A developer has released ChibiRigKit, a free open-source tool published on GitHub under the MIT License that converts a single character illustration into an animated 2D rig. The tool uses AI — specifically Codex CLI — during the creation pipeline to separate character parts, generate expression variants, and prepare animation assets, but the finished character runs entirely on standard browser technology without any ongoing AI dependency. Animations supported include blinking, eye and head movement, hair and clothing motion, and background replacement, with WebM export available. To address the challenge of realistic head rotation without full 3D modelling, ChibiRigKit interpolates between nine directional face configurations, each manually editable in the browser. The project is designed so that AI acts as a creation aid rather than a runtime requirement, allowing already-generated characters to continue working even if the underlying AI service changes or becomes unavailable.