✅ Before you start
You need these sorted first. Claude can install most of them for you in Step 3, but it helps to know what's going on.
| What | Why you need it |
|---|---|
| Claude Desktop app (Code tab) | This is where Claude Code runs on your computer. Free to download, needs a paid Claude plan. |
| FFmpeg | The engine that actually cuts, joins and renders your video. |
| Python + Node.js | The editing skills run on these. Claude installs them if missing. |
| yt-dlp | Downloads a TikTok or Reel so Claude can study the editing style. |
| ElevenLabs API key | The main editing skill uses ElevenLabs to transcribe your footage word by word. Get one at elevenlabs.io. |
| Git for Windows (Windows only) | Claude Code needs it on Windows. Mac users can skip this. |
🛠 Step 1: Open Claude Code
- Download the Claude Desktop app from claude.com/download and sign in
- Click the Code tab at the top
- Set the environment to Local
📁 Step 2: Create your project folder
Make a new folder on your computer called AI Video Editor. Inside it, make three more folders:
AI Video Editor/
├── raw/ ← drop your raw footage here
├── references/ ← downloaded reference videos go here
└── exports/ ← finished edits land hereThen in Claude Code, open the AI Video Editor folder as your project.
🔗 Step 3: Install the skills and tools
These are the GitHub repos that give Claude its editing powers. You don't need to install them yourself. Just copy the prompt below and paste it into Claude Code.
| Repo | What it does |
|---|---|
| browser-use/video-use | The main editor. Cuts filler words and dead space, colour grades, adds subtitles, then checks its own work before showing you. |
| heygen-com/hyperframes | Motion graphics. Animated text, pop-ups and on-screen graphics built from code. |
| remotion-dev/skills | Optional. Another motion graphics engine. Video-use can use either. Remotion has its own licence for companies, so check remotion.dev before using it commercially. |
| yt-dlp | Downloads reference videos from TikTok and Instagram. |
| FFmpeg | Does the actual cutting and rendering. |
Prompt 1: The setup prompt
You are my expert short-form video editor. Your job is to edit my raw talking-head footage into scroll-stopping vertical videos (9:16, 1080x1920) for TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Here are all the tools you need to do your job. Install and set up each one for me:
1. https://github.com/browser-use/video-use
Read install.md first. Wire up FFmpeg, register the skill with Claude Code, and ask me to paste my ElevenLabs API key when you need it. Then read SKILL.md and the helpers/ folder so you know how the editing scripts work.
2. https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes
Install the skills with: npx skills add heygen-com/hyperframes
3. https://github.com/remotion-dev/skills
Install with: npx skills add remotion-dev/skills
4. yt-dlp, so you can download reference videos from TikTok and Instagram.
5. FFmpeg, if it isn't already installed.
If anything is missing (Python, Node.js, Git), install it for my operating system and tell me if I need to restart Claude Code.
When you're done, give me a short checklist of what's installed and working. Don't edit or transcribe anything yet. Wait for me to give you a style to learn.Prompt 2: Check everything works
Run a quick health check. Confirm FFmpeg, yt-dlp, Python and Node.js are installed, the video-use and hyperframes skills are registered, and my ElevenLabs key is saved. Fix anything that isn't working and tell me in plain English what you fixed.🎨 Step 4: Train it on an editing style
This is the part that makes it actually look good. You're going to get Claude to study a video, break down exactly how it's edited, and save that as a skill. A skill is a set of instructions Claude saves and follows every time.
How Claude "watches" a video: it downloads it, pulls out frames, transcribes the audio and measures the cuts. It's reading the video, not watching it like a person. So the more detail you give it, the better the result.
Option A: Copy another creator's style
Find a TikTok or Reel with an edit you love. Copy the link.
Prompt 3: Learn a style from a reference video
I want you to learn the editing style from this video: [PASTE TIKTOK OR INSTAGRAM LINK]
1. Download it into the references/ folder using yt-dlp.
2. Break the edit down in detail:
- Pacing: average shot length and how often it cuts
- Jump cuts: how tight they are and whether pauses are removed
- Zooms and punch-ins: when they happen and how far
- Captions: font style, size, colour, position, words per line, animation, and which words get highlighted
- Motion graphics, emojis, pop-ups or B-roll and when they appear
- Colour grade and overall look
- Sound effects, music and audio levels
- Hook: what happens in the first 3 seconds
3. Show me your breakdown and ask me anything you're unsure about.
Once I approve it, turn it into a reusable skill saved at .claude/skills/my-editing-style/SKILL.md so you follow this style every time you edit for me.Option B: Copy your own style
If you already have videos you like, use those instead. Give it 3 to 5 links if you can. One video is a guess. Five is a pattern.
Prompt 4: Learn my style
These are my own videos. Learn my editing style from them:
[LINK 1]
[LINK 2]
[LINK 3]
Download each one into references/ with yt-dlp. Then find what's consistent across all of them: pacing, jump cuts, zooms, caption style, graphics, colour, sound effects and how I hook in the first 3 seconds. Ignore anything that only happens once.
Show me your breakdown first. Once I approve it, save it as a skill at .claude/skills/my-editing-style/SKILL.md and call it "My Editing Style".🎥 Step 5: Shoot and add your raw footage
- Film your video vertically (9:16). Don't worry about stuffing up. Retakes and pauses get cut out.
- Drop the raw files into the raw/ folder
- Copy the folder location
- Mac: right-click the folder, hold Option, click Copy as Pathname
- Windows: right-click the folder, click Copy as path
✂️ Step 6: Edit with Opus 5.5
In Claude Code, type /model and pick Opus 5.5. It's the best at the creative calls and long multi-step edits.
Prompt 5: The edit prompt
Edit the raw footage in this folder: [PASTE FOLDER LOCATION]
Use my "My Editing Style" skill for every creative decision, and use video-use to do the edit.
- Format: vertical 9:16, 1080x1920
- Cut every filler word (um, uh, like), false start, repeated take and dead pause. Keep the best take of each line.
- Make the first 3 seconds the strongest hook in the footage.
- Add captions, zooms, graphics and sound effects exactly how the skill says.
- Target length: [e.g. 45 to 60 seconds]
Before you start cutting, show me your plan: which takes you're keeping, the hook, and where the graphics go. Wait for my OK.
When you render, check the final video at every cut for jumps, audio pops or captions covering my face. Save it to exports/ and tell me the file name.💬 Step 7: Make changes by just talking
There's no timeline. Watch the export, then tell Claude what to change in plain English. Here are some to steal:
The first 2 seconds are slow. Cut straight to the line where I say "[LINE]".Captions are too big and they're covering my face. Make them 20% smaller and move them lower.Add a punch-in zoom every time I say a number or a key point.At [TIMESTAMP], add a pop-up graphic that says "[TEXT]".The pacing feels rushed around [TIMESTAMP]. Leave a little more breathing room there.Make the colour warmer and a bit brighter. Keep skin tones natural.Export a version without captions so I can add them natively in TikTok.Prompt 6: Make it smarter every time
Run this at the end of every edit. It saves your feedback into the skill, so the next edit needs fewer changes.
Update my "My Editing Style" skill with every change I asked for in this session, so you do it this way by default next time. Show me what you added.🧯 Troubleshooting
"Claude can't find my files"
You're probably in a cloud session. Make sure you're in the Desktop app, Code tab, with the environment set to Local. Then paste the full folder path again.
"FFmpeg not found" or a skill isn't showing up
Restart Claude Code in your AI Video Editor folder, then run Prompt 2 again.
The edit doesn't look like the reference
Give it more references (3 to 5 videos), then tell it exactly what's off. For example: "The captions in the reference pop in one word at a time. Yours show the whole line." Then run Prompt 6 so it remembers.
It's using a lot of usage
Video editing is a long job. Plan your changes and send them in one message instead of one at a time. Transcription also uses ElevenLabs credits, so check your balance there.
Prompt 7: Fix anything
Something went wrong. Read the last error, explain what caused it in plain English, fix it, and try again. If you need me to do something on my end, tell me exactly what.⚡ Quick recap
- Open Claude Desktop → Code tab → Local
- Create the AI Video Editor folder
- Paste Prompt 1 to install everything
- Train your style with Prompt 3 or 4
- Drop raw footage in raw/
- Switch to Opus 5.5 and paste Prompt 5
- Talk through your changes, then run Prompt 6
