OpenChatCut

OpenChatCut

简体中文 · English

Open-source ChatCut alternative · agent-native · local-first AI video editor

Let Codex, Claude Code, and the built-in agent read, edit, and export real video projects that remain fully editable. Website: openchatcut.com

OpenChatCut Pro · Desktop edition: install it and start cutting

Introduction · Product Tour · Quick Start · Agent / MCP · Community · Sponsors · Changelog · Star Growth · Contributing

_{From a single instruction to a real timeline: agents, media, previews, motion graphics, transitions, effects, and multitrack audio all work together in one project.}

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Sponsors

OfoxAI: Text, image, and video AI in one platform

OfoxAI is a unified API platform for text, image, and video AI, with video models from the Seedance, MiniMax (Hailuo), and Wan families. Choose models for AI applications, agents, creative ideation, image generation, and video assets through one platform. Explore OfoxAI models and APIs →

If OpenChatCut helps you, you can support its continued development on Ko-fi or Afdian.

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What is OpenChatCut?

OpenChatCut is an open-source ChatCut alternative: a video editor that brings conversational agents and professional timeline editing into the same workspace. It is independent open source (AGPL), not affiliated with the commercial ChatCut product.

OpenChatCut = local video projects + multitrack timeline + AI agents + MCP + production-ready exports.

It does not merely generate a video that can no longer be changed. Every edit is written to real tracks, clips, transitions, captions, effects, and media inside the project. You can continue editing manually, undo or redo changes, save versions, or hand the project to another agent.

OpenChatCut is built for creators and developers who want AI to participate in the actual editing workflow without giving up professional control, rather than starting over from an empty chat box or an immutable generated result.

• Website: https://openchatcut.com

• Open-source ChatCut alternative guide: https://openchatcut.com/blog/open-source-chatcut-alternative

• ChatCut vs OpenChatCut: https://openchatcut.com/blog/chatcut-vs-openchatcut

• 🤖 Agent-native: the built-in agent and external MCP agents share the same editing tools.

• 🎞️ Real timeline: multiple video and audio tracks, transitions, effects, LUTs, zooms, and keyframes.

• 📝 Transcript-driven editing: word-level transcription, text-based cuts, pause handling, speakers, and linked captions.

• ✨ Generation and media: images, video, speech, music, sound effects, and online media search.

• 🧩 Motion Graphics and WebGL: editable motion templates, custom shaders, visual effects, and transitions.

• 👁️ Visual geometry: in-browser person segmentation and face-safe zones — captions avoid the speaker automatically, reframe follows the subject, and overlay graphics land in empty space.

• 📦 Production-ready exports: MP4, audio, captions, FCPXML, and complete project data.

• 🖥️ Local-first: projects and media stay on your machine by default, while API keys remain server-side.

Community

Join the OpenChatCut community to discuss workflows, share feedback, and follow development:

• Join Discord
• Scan the QR code below with WeChat.

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Product Tour

The following screenshots show real OpenChatCut projects and editor states, not static mockups.

Local project management — Create, import, duplicate, export, and continue editing multiple real projects.	Complete agent-driven editing — Generate music, invoke tools, and write transitions, captions, and multitrack media directly to the timeline.
Motion Graphics and agents — Browse motion templates or let an agent generate and assemble editable MG clips.	WebGL visual effects — Apply pixelation, duotone, fisheye, kaleidoscope, softening, light leaks, and more directly to clips.
Camera movement and zoom — Push, pull, slow zoom, fast zoom, and eased camera effects work directly with the timeline.	LUTs and color styles — Compare camera transforms and film looks in real time against a consistent reference frame.

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Why OpenChatCut?

Traditional editors excel at precise control. One-shot AI video generators excel at producing results quickly. OpenChatCut connects both approaches through one continuously editable project:

Capability	Traditional timeline editor	One-shot AI video generation	OpenChatCut
Track- and clip-level precision	✅	❌	✅
Modify a project with natural language	❌	✅	✅
Inspectable and undoable changes	✅	Usually unavailable	✅
Linked transcript and visuals	Partial	❌	✅
Direct control from Codex / Claude Code	❌	❌	✅ MCP
Built-in and external agent collaboration	❌	❌	✅ Shared tools
Local projects and BYOK	Product-dependent	Usually cloud-based	✅

The core editing loop:

Describe the goal → Agent reads the project → Produces verifiable edits → Writes to the timeline
                  → Preview / adjust / undo → Captions and mixing → Export

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Core Capabilities

Area	Implemented capabilities
Timeline	Multitrack editing, move, trim, split, ripple edits, snapping, keyframes, markers, undo, and redo
Visuals	WebGL effects, LUTs, chroma key, zoom, transitions, and custom shaders
Audio	Multiple audio tracks, sound effects, background music, voice-over recording, loudness, auto-ducking, and vocal isolation
Transcript	Transcription jobs, word-level editing, pause compression, search, speakers, and clip views
Captions	Automatic captions, named styles, translation, timeline overlays, and SRT export
Motion Graphics	Built-in templates, a secure sandbox, custom templates, and video rendering
AI generation	Image, video, speech, music, and sound-effect jobs with progress tracking
Media	Uploads, folders, online image/video/audio search, and Firecrawl visual-media fallback
Export	MP4, audio, captions, FCPXML, project import/export, export history, hardware-aware H.264 acceleration, and resource-aware export queueing
Publishing	Agent-driven publishing of finished renders to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Threads, Pinterest, and Bluesky via Upload-Post, with a preview and explicit confirmation first
Agent	Built-in conversational agent, skills, proposal-based edits, and external Streamable HTTP MCP

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Community Resources

The OpenChatCut resource library is a shared catalog for reusable MG animations, sound effects, transitions, visual effects, zooms, and LUTs.

Discover and install

• Hover visual cards to watch the complete result, or play audio resources before downloading.
• Copy a resource's install URL into OpenChatCut's Extension Center, or download its original package.
• Browse the website catalog inside the editor and manage installed extensions locally.

Contribute a resource

1. Open Contribute a resource and choose its category.
2. Upload the resource and the category-specific preview inputs; the site renders the published preview.
3. Add the creator and license information, then submit it for review and publication.

Installable visual resources use the editor's openchatcut-plugin@1 format and runtime validation. Official OpenChatCut resources use the MIT license; community contributors select a license during submission, and each published card identifies its creator and license.

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Use Cases

• Talking-head and interview editing: transcribe audio or video, remove mistakes, pauses, and repetition through text, then generate captions automatically.
• Fast multiformat assembly: import video, images, and audio, then let an agent create the rough cut, transitions, soundtrack, and pacing.
• Short-form and social content: reframe the canvas and generate titles, captions, voice-over, music, and visual packaging.
• Motion Graphics: use built-in templates or ask an agent to create editable motion-graphics clips.
• Developer automation: use MCP to let Codex, Claude Code, or another compatible client inspect and modify a real project.

Workflow

1. Create a project and import local media.
2. Edit manually on the timeline or describe the result you want.
3. The agent reads project context and invokes editing tools.
4. Review the proposal and preview the result, then apply, adjust, or undo it.
5. Finish captions, audio, effects, and color.
6. Export video, audio, captions, FCPXML, or the complete project.

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Quick Start

Desktop installers

Download the latest macOS, Windows, and Linux builds from GitHub Releases. The release currently includes DMG installers for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, an x64 Windows installer, and an x64 Linux AppImage.

These are early builds. The macOS packages are not yet signed or notarized, so the operating system may require manual approval on first launch.

Run from source

Requires Node.js 24.x and npm. The supported Node.js range is enforced by package.json, and .nvmrc selects the matching major version for Node version managers.

On Linux x64, npm install also downloads ONNX Runtime's optional CUDA provider (several hundred MB from NuGet). For a CPU-only install, run ONNXRUNTIME_NODE_INSTALL=skip npm install instead.

git clone https://github.com/0xsline/OpenChatCut.git
cd OpenChatCut
npm install
cp .env.example .env.local
npm run dev

Open:

http://localhost:5199

The editor needs a browser secure context: open OpenChatCut at http://localhost or http://127.0.0.1 on the machine running it, or serve it over HTTPS. Over plain HTTP from another device (a LAN IP or reverse proxy), browsers disable Web Crypto, WebCodecs, and the clipboard, so the project list still loads but the editor shows this requirement instead of opening.

Only add the model or media-service credentials you actually use to .env.local. Features without configured third-party credentials report the missing key explicitly; local timeline editing, built-in media, and other configured capabilities continue to work.

Development launches are isolated per Git checkout/worktree by default. npm run dev and npm run desktop:dev keep that checkout's projects, imported media, generation jobs, credentials, settings, and local authorization state under its own profile in ~/.openchatcut/dev-profiles/. Use npm run dev:shared only when you intentionally need the legacy shared development store.

Built-in Agent authentication

• API keys: open Settings → Agent model, choose a provider, and save its API key and model. Keys remain server-side.
• ChatGPT subscription: install the official Codex CLI 0.146.0 or newer, then open Settings → Agent model → OpenAI · Codex. Sign in through the browser or device-code flow, load the account's models, choose a model-specific reasoning effort (or keep its default), and select Codex from the chat model picker. OpenChatCut uses a dedicated Codex profile; the official CLI owns credential storage, token renewal, and logout, while OAuth tokens are never exposed to the browser.
• Claude subscription: OpenChatCut does not collect Claude OAuth credentials. Use Claude Code through the local MCP connection below. The built-in Agent can use Anthropic through an API key.

The built-in Agent always runs the model loop on the local server. Chat, drafts, and proposals survive page refreshes and local service restarts. Timeline changes still go through the active editor's validated, undoable commands.

Agent local-path access (advanced)

Desktop agents can browse any local directory allowed by the operating system by default, including mounted media drives. browse_local_media lists folders and supported media, searches by filename or relative path and media type, and returns paginated results without importing. The agent can then use import_assets for up to 100 selected paths, import_asset for one path, or import_folder for a whole folder. Imports reuse media probing and reference registration, preserve source files, and skip duplicate content, including duplicates within one batch. Document files such as TXT, Markdown, DOCX, and PDF should be attached to chat instead. In the desktop app these tools are enabled by default; in a browser session they also work, but only for directories listed in AGENT_IMPORT_ROOTS and while the editor is served from the same machine that runs OpenChatCut.

To restrict local access, set a comma-separated value such as AGENT_IMPORT_ROOTS=/Volumes/Media,D:\Projects in .env.local; leave it empty for default unrestricted directory access in the desktop app (a browser session requires the allowlist and refuses these tools while it is empty). Explicit restrictions apply to both browsing and import. Source checkouts read the repository file at startup. Packaged desktop builds read it from Electron's user-data directory: ~/Library/Application Support/OpenChatCut/ on macOS, %APPDATA%\OpenChatCut\ on Windows, and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/OpenChatCut/ (normally ~/.config/OpenChatCut/) on Linux. Restart after editing the file.

Local H.264 exports automatically prefer VideoToolbox on macOS and NVENC on compatible Windows systems, then fall back to software encoding. Tune render concurrency and the heavy-export limit with OPENCHATCUT_RENDER_CONCURRENCY and OPENCHATCUT_MAX_ACTIVE_EXPORTS, disable hardware encoding with OPENCHATCUT_DISABLE_HARDWARE_ENCODING, or override FFmpeg-side encoder selection with OPENCHATCUT_H264_ENCODER; see .env.example.

On Apple Silicon, more render workers can slow down video-heavy exports even when VideoToolbox encoding is active. See macOS render tuning for an M4 Max benchmark and a way to test your own workload. These measurements do not establish a default for other Macs or Windows.

Desktop development

npm run desktop:dev

The desktop app uses an Electron shell with the same embedded services. The web development build and desktop build share project, agent, generation, and export logic.

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Project Status

OpenChatCut is under active development. The editor, project format, and agent tools will continue to evolve. Prebuilt macOS, Windows, and Linux installers are published on GitHub Releases; running from source remains the most transparent option for development and troubleshooting.

The core timeline, local projects, built-in media, and manual editing do not depend on cloud services. Connected features such as AI models, online media, generation, and transcription are enabled only after you configure the corresponding services.

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Using OpenChatCut with Codex / Claude Code

Install the single OpenChatCut Agent Skill:

npx skills add 0xsline/OpenChatCut

Then tell the agent Set up OpenChatCut. The installed router registers the local MCP connection and loads the editor's 26 specialized skills on demand, so the agent's skill list stays compact.

Custom skills live in a user-visible directory with the same layout as ~/.codex/skills / ~/.claude/skills:

~/.openchatcut/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md     (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.openchatcut\skills\...)

Ask the agent to manage_skill create (or use the bundled skill-creator workflow) and it writes the SKILL.md there — editable and shareable by hand. Dropping a SKILL.md into that directory makes it available to the agent, and selecting a workflow from the chat's / command or the creative-mode picker activates it for the next message.

OpenChatCut exposes a Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint:

http://localhost:5199/api/external-mcp/mcp

The repository's root .mcp.json already contains the local connection. Before using timeline tools, run OpenChatCut and open the target project. Project listing, creation, and navigation tools do not require the editor to remain open.

Codex app/CLI and Claude Code use the same session workflow:

1. Call begin_edit_session and keep the returned editSessionId. Set approvalMode to manual (the default) or auto.
2. Pass that id to every project read/edit tool. Changes are applied only to an isolated draft.
3. Call review_edit_session when the draft is ready.
4. In manual mode, review, preview, select, and approve or reject the proposal inside the open OpenChatCut project. In auto mode, review_edit_session applies the complete draft immediately. The client can poll get_edit_session for applied, rejected, or discarded status.

Approval in Codex or Claude controls whether the client may call a tool. OpenChatCut project approval is required only for manual sessions; auto sessions explicitly bypass that review. Either mode commits the applied operations atomically as one undo step. If an auto session becomes stale, it returns an error instead of falling back to manual approval; discard it and start a new session. Only draft-safe project read/edit tools are exposed in these sessions. Generation, export, project deletion, and other immediate side-effect tools stay unavailable because a rejected proposal could not roll them back.

Codex

Add the following to your Codex configuration:

[mcp_servers.openchatcut]
url = "http://localhost:5199/api/external-mcp/mcp"

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http openchatcut \
  http://localhost:5199/api/external-mcp/mcp

You can then describe an editing task directly to the agent:

Start an OpenChatCut edit session. Read the draft, add a scratch sound effect
at 8 seconds on the second audio track, and add a glitch transition between
the adjacent video clips. Submit the draft for review and wait for the user to
approve it in OpenChatCut before reporting that the edit was applied.

External agents invoke the same internal editing tools and EditorCore commands as the editor itself. There are no separate project formats that can drift apart, and the live timeline is not changed while an external draft is being prepared.

Qoder

Qoder is one-click too: the guide's Connect button writes the endpoint and bearer token into Qoder's own settings file, keeping any unrelated settings and MCP servers already there.

~/.qoder/settings.json        (international build)
~/.qoder-cn/settings.json     (China build — written as well when installed)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openchatcut": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:5199/api/external-mcp/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" }
    }
  }
}

Restart Qoder afterwards to load the server.

Qwen Work (千问办公)

千问办公 keeps custom MCP servers inside its own connector store rather than a config file, so OpenChatCut cannot write this one for you. In the guide, use Copy config on the 千问办公 card, then in 千问办公 open 连接器 → 自定义 MCP → 添加, paste the JSON, and save:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openchatcut": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "http://localhost:5199/api/external-mcp/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" }
    }
  }
}

Protecting MCP access

When exposing the MCP endpoint yourself, configure:

OPENCHATCUT_MCP_TOKEN=your-token
OPENCHATCUT_EDITOR_URL=https://your-editor.example.com

Clients must send Authorization: Bearer <token>. The current bridge is designed for a single user on one machine, not as a multi-tenant service.

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Architecture

_{One shared set of agent tools and EditorCore commands connects the built-in agent, external MCP clients, the real timeline, local data, and production exports.}

Layer	Technology
Frontend	React 19, TypeScript 6, Vite 8
Editing core	Immutable timeline state, command layer, and proposal-based application
Agent	Vercel AI SDK 7 (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Kimi, Qwen, GLM, DeepSeek, MiniMax, Xiaomi MiMo, Mistral, xAI Grok by API key or SuperGrok/X Premium+ subscription sign-in, OpenRouter, OrcaRouter, OFox, Requesty, Cheaper Inference, Runcrate, and compatible APIs), Agent Skills, MCP SDK
Preview and visuals	Remotion Player, WebGL / GLSL
Server	Dual-host Vite / Electron plugins and a server-side keystore
Persistence	Shared local project store under ~/.openchatcut, IndexedDB cache, configurable local media directory, optional Cloudflare R2
Desktop	Electron 43
Export	Remotion, FFmpeg, FCPXML, SRT

Directory Overview

Directory	Responsibility
src/editor/	Timeline state and commands, independent of UI and LLMs
src/agent/	Agent assembly, tools, skills, progress, and settings
src/library/	Library UI for Motion Graphics, sound effects, transitions, effects, LUTs, and more
src/transcript/	Transcription, word-level editing, and transcript UI
src/captions/	Caption models, styles, controls, and preview layer
src/gl/	WebGL effects, transitions, and shader runtime
src/generate/	Clients for image, video, speech, music, and sound-effect generation
src/persist/	Project, chat, version, and media persistence
server/plugins/	Generation, transcription, media, export, and storage services
desktop/	Electron main process and embedded services
remotion/	Headless rendering and export pipeline

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Data and Privacy

• Projects, chat history, and version data are stored in the shared local store under ~/.openchatcut; IndexedDB provides a browser-side cache and legacy-data migration.
• User media is stored in a local media directory that you can back up or migrate.
• Whether AI requests leave your machine depends on the model, generation, or media services you configure.
• Unconfigured cloud features do not affect the local timeline or editing of existing media.
• When exposing MCP externally, configure a Bearer Token and restrict network access to the editor endpoint.

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Security Model

• API keys are only available to server-side configuration; vendor credentials must never be exposed to the browser through VITE_.
• LLM output, plugin packages, template code, and user input are validated at trust boundaries.
• Motion Graphics and shader code run in a restricted sandbox, with dedicated checks blocking malicious templates.
• Agents modify projects only through EditorCore commands, making edits traceable and undoable.
• MCP binds locally by default; public endpoints support Bearer Token authentication.
• Local media directories and R2 credentials are managed by the server and never written into project JSON.

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Fal.ai image and video generation

Fal.ai is an optional generation provider with an explicit image/video model catalog. Configure it under Settings → AI Generation → Image or Video → Fal.ai. See Fal setup, supported models, and extension guide for supported modes, server-only credentials, and checks that do not spend generation credits.

Development and Verification

# Type checking and production build
npm run build

# Core regression checks
npm test

# Static analysis
npm run lint

After changing the agent, timeline, preview, or export paths, run at least:

npx tsc -b --force
npm test
npm run build

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Technical Foundations

OpenChatCut is built with the following core projects and specifications:

Project / specification	Role in OpenChatCut
ChatCut-Inc/agent-plugin	Agent Skills foundation. OpenChatCut adapts the plugin's skill structure and workflows for its local editor, storage, MCP, and tool architecture. See the Agent Skills attribution notice.
Remotion	Core foundation for React-based video preview, composition, and server-side rendering.
Model Context Protocol	Protocol foundation that enables Codex, Claude Code, and other external agents to access projects and timeline tools.
Vercel AI SDK	Provider-neutral model streaming and tool calling for the built-in Agent.
tt-a1i/archify	Tool used to define, validate, and generate the README's runtime architecture diagram.

JianYing / CapCut draft export is powered by capcut-cli.

This list covers the project's major technical foundations. It does not replace the licenses bundled with individual dependencies, fonts, or binaries. See package-lock.json for JavaScript dependency versions and assets/fonts/LICENSES.md for font licenses.

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Changelog

See the bilingual CHANGELOG.md for notable changes, or browse all published packages on GitHub Releases.

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Star Growth

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License

OpenChatCut is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later. Third-party components and assets remain subject to their respective licenses.

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Web research in the built-in agent

web_search and basic web_browser page reading use Firecrawl, which needs a FIRECRAWL_API_KEY. To use Parallel Search MCP instead, which needs no account or API key, set WEB_SEARCH_PROVIDER=parallel in .env.local and restart. Parallel search returns source URLs, titles and relevant excerpts; its page reading returns markdown excerpts rather than full-page HTML or screenshots. Queries and requested URLs are sent to the selected provider. Anonymous access has service quotas; provider errors are returned without switching providers.

Leaving WEB_SEARCH_PROVIDER empty or setting firecrawl keeps Firecrawl, and disabled turns basic search and page reading off. A tool call can pick provider: "firecrawl", and "parallel" only once Parallel is enabled. Search locale and time filters, screenshots, browser actions, structured extraction, full-page formats, mapping, crawling and batch scraping always need Firecrawl and its key.

Related search and page-reading calls reuse an opaque conversation ID. Clearing the chat starts a new ID; the project ID and chat text are never used as that ID.

Contributing

1. Create a branch from main.
2. Add an executable check for non-trivial logic.
3. Run npm test, npm run lint, and npm run build before committing.
4. Open a Pull Request and include screenshots or acceptance evidence for UI or video-behavior changes.

Use GitHub Issues for bug reports and feature requests.