diff --git a/recap/cli.mjs b/recap/cli.mjs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recap/cli.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// recap/cli.mjs — `ac-24` CLI for the aesthetic 24 recap pipeline.
+//
+// The minimum-viable scaffold mirrors `papers/cli.mjs`: a single
+// versioned entrypoint that owns the surface area used by the oven's
+// recap-builder.mjs and (later) by anyone running the pipeline locally.
+// For now it's a thin wrapper around the existing `bin/*` scripts +
+// `pipeline.fish` — every step's caching lives inside its own script
+// (tts.mjs, transcribe.mjs, align.mjs, jeffrey-photos.mjs, etc.) and
+// will keep getting tightened. See feedback memory:
+// `feedback_recap_ac24_cli.md` for the full vision.
+//
+// Subcommands:
+//   ac24 build <audience>  — run the full pipeline for an audience
+//   ac24 version           — print CLI + pipeline version
+//   ac24 cache             — show per-episode cache state (stub)
+//
+// Usage from the repo:
+//   node recap/cli.mjs build jeffrey-73h-2026-05-02
+//
+// On the oven, recap-builder.mjs can switch from `fish pipeline.fish`
+// to `node cli.mjs build <audience>` — same behavior, versioned shell.
+
+import { readFileSync, existsSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import { dirname } from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const ROOT = HERE; // recap/
+
+const PKG = (() => {
+  try { return JSON.parse(readFileSync(`${ROOT}/package.json`, "utf8")); }
+  catch { return { name: "ac-24", version: "0.0.0" }; }
+})();
+
+const argv = process.argv.slice(2);
+const cmd = argv[0];
+
+// ── help ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+function usage() {
+  console.log(`ac-24 ${PKG.version}  — aesthetic 24 recap pipeline\n`);
+  console.log(`Subcommands:`);
+  console.log(`  build <audience>     run the full pipeline for an audience`);
+  console.log(`  build <audience> --skip-tts    reuse existing recap.mp3 (now redundant — tts.mjs auto-skips on hash match)`);
+  console.log(`  cache <audience>     show per-step cache state for an audience`);
+  console.log(`  version              print version`);
+  console.log(`  help                 show this`);
+}
+
+// ── build ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+async function build(audience, extraArgs) {
+  if (!audience) { console.error("✗ build requires an audience name"); process.exit(2); }
+  if (!/^[\w.-]+$/.test(audience)) { console.error(`✗ invalid audience name: ${audience}`); process.exit(2); }
+  const audiencePath = `${ROOT}/audience/${audience}.mjs`;
+  if (!existsSync(audiencePath)) { console.error(`✗ audience config not found: ${audiencePath}`); process.exit(2); }
+
+  // pipeline.fish carries the source of truth for ordering today; this
+  // is a pass-through. When the cache layer lands here, this function
+  // will iterate the steps directly with hashed skip/run decisions.
+  return await new Promise((resolveProm) => {
+    const proc = spawn("fish", ["./pipeline.fish", audience, ...extraArgs], {
+      cwd: ROOT,
+      stdio: "inherit",
+      env: process.env,
+    });
+    proc.on("close", (code) => {
+      process.exitCode = code;
+      resolveProm();
+    });
+    proc.on("error", (err) => {
+      console.error(`✗ failed to spawn pipeline.fish: ${err.message}`);
+      process.exitCode = 1;
+      resolveProm();
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+// ── cache (read-only inspector) ───────────────────────────────────────
+function cacheStatus(audience) {
+  const out = `${ROOT}/out`;
+  const fmt = (p) => {
+    if (!existsSync(p)) return "MISSING";
+    const stat = statSync(p);
+    return `${(stat.size / 1024).toFixed(0)} KB · ${stat.mtime.toISOString()}`;
+  };
+  const items = [
+    [`tts (recap.mp3)`,         `${out}/recap.mp3`,       `${out}/recap.mp3.hash`],
+    [`transcribe (words.json)`, `${out}/words.json`,      `${out}/words.json.hash`],
+    [`align (segments.json)`,   `${out}/segments.json`,   `${out}/segments.json.hash`],
+    [`subs.json`,               `${out}/subs.json`,       null],
+    [`subtitle-track.txt`,      `${out}/subtitle-track.txt`, null],
+    [`waltz.mp3`,               `${out}/waltz.mp3`,       null],
+    [`recap.mp4`,               `${out}/recap.mp4`,       null],
+  ];
+  console.log(`ac-24 cache · ${audience || "(no audience filter)"}`);
+  for (const [label, file, hashFile] of items) {
+    const hash = hashFile && existsSync(hashFile)
+      ? readFileSync(hashFile, "utf8").trim().slice(0, 16)
+      : null;
+    console.log(`  ${label.padEnd(26)} ${fmt(file)}${hash ? ` · hash ${hash}` : ""}`);
+  }
+  console.log(``);
+  console.log(`  jeffrey-photos: ${(() => {
+    try { return require("node:fs").readdirSync(`${out}/jeffrey-photos`).length + " files"; }
+    catch { return "MISSING"; }
+  })()}`);
+}
+
+// ── dispatch ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+const positional = argv.filter((a) => !a.startsWith("--"));
+const flags = argv.filter((a) => a.startsWith("--"));
+
+switch (cmd) {
+  case "build":
+    await build(positional[1], flags);
+    break;
+  case "cache":
+    cacheStatus(positional[1] || "");
+    break;
+  case "version":
+    console.log(`ac-24 ${PKG.version}`);
+    break;
+  case "help":
+  case "--help":
+  case "-h":
+  case undefined:
+    usage();
+    break;
+  default:
+    console.error(`✗ unknown subcommand: ${cmd}`);
+    usage();
+    process.exit(2);
+}
diff --git a/recap/package.json b/recap/package.json
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recap/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "name": "ac-24",
+  "version": "0.1.0",
+  "description": "aesthetic 24 — daily recap video pipeline",
+  "type": "module",
+  "private": true,
+  "bin": {
+    "ac-24": "./cli.mjs"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "build": "node cli.mjs build",
+    "cache": "node cli.mjs cache",
+    "version-check": "node cli.mjs version"
+  }
+}