How I get Claude to edit my videos.

Six steps from a raw take to a finished video, with my kit: the files and commands I use.

Seven steps from a raw take to a finished reel, with my kit: the files and commands I use.

Start Download the kitGet the kit on your computer
  • Under two hours, start to finish
  • The Claude desktop app, on Mac or Windows
  • A free kit: 34 of my taste rules, 8 of my techniques and the commands
From one of my edits. Claude built it from my library: each label lands as its part is named.
The first seven seconds of one of my reels. Claude edited all of it.

Why it matters

The kit is one folder: my taste rules, a style template and my library, plus the commands that use them. Claude Code is Claude that can run software on your computer. You install the app and open the kit. Claude installs everything else.

Do this

  1. 1

    Download the Claude app

    From claude.ai/download, for Mac or Windows. Install it and sign in. You need a paid plan, and Pro is enough.

  2. 2

    Download my kit

    Unzip it (on Windows, right-click it and choose Extract All; on a Mac, double-click it), then move the ai-editing-kit folder somewhere easy to find, like Documents.

    ai-editing-kit.zipSend it to my computer
  3. 3

    Open the Code tab

    In the Claude app, click the code button at the top left.

    The top left of the Claude app: the menu, sidebar and arrow buttons, then a chat button and a code button side by side.
  4. 4

    Choose the kit folder

    Under the message box, leave This computer as it is. Click Choose folder and pick ai-editing-kit.

    The Claude app's message box, reading Describe a task or ask a question. Under it: This computer, Choose folder, and on the right Opus 5.5 Extra and Auto.
    The left of the Claude app's message box. Under it: This computer, then Choose folder.
  5. 5

    Type /setup

    Type it in the message box and press Enter. The kit's commands come up in the list as you type.

    /setup

    The command list in the Claude app with setup at the top, and beside it the command's description: installs and checks everything this editing kit needs.

    Claude checks your computer, makes a checklist and works through it: Node.js, FFmpeg, Python, HyperFrames (which turns Claude's edits into video) and the speech-to-text model. It tells you what each one is before it installs it, and finishes by rendering a 2-second test video.

    Claude in the app, mid-setup: Good news, Node.js, FFmpeg and Python are already on your computer. Below, a checklist with the first two steps ticked: check what's installed, install missing programs, install the kit's own tools, download the speech-to-text model, test render.

    On Windows, it may ask you to quit and reopen the app halfway through. Do that, open the kit folder again and type /setup once more. On a Mac, if something needs your password, it gives you one line to paste into the Terminal app. It also adds HyperFrames' guides to Claude, which every project on your computer can use, and with an NVIDIA graphics card, a speed-up that makes transcribing several times faster.

You'll have

The kit open in Claude, with everything installed and tested. Claude ends with a short report of what it did and your next step.

Why it matters

This is the slowest part of editing by hand. Claude does it from the transcript, with the rules a good editor follows.

The ums and repeats are how Claude finds your mistakes. Speech-to-text normally tidies them away, so the kit tells it not to.

What Claude cuts

0:02

Everyone says taste is what makes Claude's edits good, but nobody shows you how to actually give it taste, so here's how in three.

retake
0:17

Everyone says taste is what makes Claude's edits good, but nobody shows you exactly how to do it, so here's how in three steps. I don't like that.

retake
0:35

Everyone says taste is what makes Claude edit good, but no one is…

false start
0:42

Everyone says taste is what makes Claude's edits good, but nobody shows you exactly how to give it yours, so here's exactly how to do that.

retake
0:52

Everyone says taste is what makes Claude's edits good, but nobody shows you how to give it yours, so here's exactly how to give it in two… what.

false start
1:02

Everyone says taste is what makes Claude's edits good, but nobody shows you exactly how to give it yours, so here's how in three steps.

kept

The real transcript of one of my raw takes: six tries at a reel's opening line. The kit kept the last complete one.

Do this

  1. 1

    Film yourself

    Talk to camera. When you fluff a line, pause and say the whole line again. Claude keeps your last take.

  2. 1

    Film yourself, upright

    On your phone, in 4K or 1080p at 30 fps. When you fluff a line, pause and say the whole line again: Claude keeps your last take. On an iPhone, turn off HDR video (Settings, Camera, Record Video). The kit converts it if you forget, but colours hold up better without it.

  3. 2

    Say your hook two ways

    Record your opening line two different ways. The kit makes two cuts, so you can post a second version with a new hook if the first one misses.

  4. Drag the video into videos

    The folder inside the kit. Any file name is fine. Got screenshots or a screen recording of what you talk about? Put them in too: Claude uses real material before it draws anything.

  5. Type /cut

    Claude transcribes every word, then shows you each cut and the words it removes before it renders anything.

    /cut

  6. Watch cut.mp4

    Click its name in the chat to watch it in the app. If a cut is wrong, say so in plain words: put back "that's the whole point" at 0:12.

You'll have

cut.mp4, a clean cut of your video, and its transcript.

cut.mp4, a clean cut of your reel, and cut-hook-b.mp4 with your other hook.

That's a clean video. It isn't a good-looking one yet.The rest of the steps are the difference.

Why it matters

Most people ask Claude to make it look good, from scratch, every video. With nothing to work from, it falls back on its defaults, so every edit looks like a template.

With a style file, Claude never picks a font or a colour. The style already has, so every video looks like yours.

What goes in it

  • TypeWhich fonts, which weights, for what.
  • ColourOne accent, a danger colour, exact hex values.
  • BackgroundsWhat sits behind a full-screen graphic.
  • CaptionsSize, position, shadow, the accent word.
  • The safe zoneCaptions clear of the app's buttons and caption.
  • Numbers and titlesHow big, and what sits with them.
  • NeverEverything that would break the look.

Do this

  1. 1

    Find three videos whose look you love

    Find three reels whose look you love

    Copy their links. Or save the videos into the kit's references folder.

  2. 2

    Type /style with the links

    Claude downloads them, pulls frames from each, measures the colours, writes your style file and downloads the fonts.

    /style [link 1] [link 2] [link 3]

  3. 3

    Make it yours

    Read it and change anything that isn't you. Brand fonts and colours you already have win over the references: just tell Claude.

You'll have

style.md and its fonts in your kit. Every graphic from now on takes its look from them.

Why it matters

"Make it snappier" means nothing to Claude. "Entrances take 0.3 to 0.6 seconds and slow down as they land" does.

Rules only get followed when they're specific: seconds, sizes, named fonts. Adjectives get ignored.

From a note to a rule

"It needs to be styled somehow: drop shadow, gradient overlay, something."

A caption over footage is never plain white text: heavy type, a deep gradient from the bottom of the frame, a soft drop shadow, one accent word.

"Too playful." "Toyish."

No springy or bouncing entrances. Things come in on an eased drop or slide with no overshoot.

"Graphics held too long, and static."

Nothing on a graphic sits still for more than about 3 seconds. Build something new on it, or cut back to me.

"The captions are hidden behind the like button."

On vertical videos, captions sit just below the chin, and nothing goes in the right 15% or the bottom 20% of the frame.

Three of my notes, and the rules they became. My file is now over 300 rules long.

Do this

  1. 1

    Start from my rules

    34 of them, for cutting, captions, graphics and motion. They're already in your kit, as CLAUDE.md.

  2. 2

    Watch every edit back

    Tell Claude what feels off, in your own words, and let it fix it.

  3. 3

    Make the fix permanent

    Claude turns your note into one specific rule, checks it doesn't clash with the others, and shows you where it went.

    /learn

You'll have

A CLAUDE.md that gets better with every edit you make.

Why it matters

This is the part almost nobody does. Each technique is decoded frame by frame from a video that's edited brilliantly: what it's for, which kind of line calls for it, and every step timed.

Claude picks from the library. It never makes one up. Mine has 145.

A real example

"…everything around one and a half million API keys, emails and private messages."

No. 4Speech-locked counter

For
A spoken number or percentage.
When
The count starts as the number is said and lands on the word that finishes the phrase.
Steps
The start value appears in one frame, with no fade. The count rushes through the middle and lands at about +1 s, with no pop.
From my video "Your vibecoded app is leaking data". Claude built the count with the counter from my library, timed to my voice. It's in your starter library.

"I've got over 145 techniques in there now, and I've written up eight of them for you to start with."

No. 4Speech-locked counter

For
A spoken number or percentage.
When
The count starts as the number is said and lands on the word that finishes the phrase.
Steps
The start value appears in one frame, with no fade. The count rushes through the middle and lands at about +1 s, with no pop.
From my reel about the library. Claude built the count from the counter in my library, timed to my voice. It's in your starter library.

Do this

  1. 1

    Start from my techniques

    Eight from my library, in plain words with their real timings. They're already in your kit, as library.md.

  2. 2

    Find a moment you love

    A zoom, a transition, a number that counts up. Copy the video's link and note where the moment starts and ends.

  3. 3

    Type /decode

    Claude pulls every frame of that moment, works out what triggers it and how long each move takes, and saves it to your library.

    /decode [link] from [0:42] to [0:47]

  4. 4

    Keep adding

    Every time you see a moment you love in someone else's video, decode it.

You'll have

library.md, growing one technique at a time.

Why it matters

On a reel, the first two seconds decide whether anyone sees the rest. The hooks that work land one idea three ways at once: the line you say, the words on screen and the picture. If one of them is about something else, or arrives late, you lose people.

The same video with a new hook is the cheapest test there is. One creator in my niche reposted the same voiceover with a new opening picture and got six times the likes.

Two of mine

Me talking to camera. Above my head: I didn't edit a single second of this video, with single second big in an italic, and Claude's logo landing under it.
Said
"I didn't edit a single second of this video. Claude did."
On screen
The line as one block, "single second" carrying the weight, and Claude's logo landing on "Claude".
Picture
The video itself. The edit is the proof.
Me talking to camera, with a wall of other creators' reels behind me. Above my head: Claude can steal from any creator, with steal huge in an italic.
Said
"Claude can steal the editing from any creator that you know."
On screen
"Claude can steal from any creator", with "steal" carrying the weight. Words dropped to make the shape.
Picture
A wall of the creators' reels behind me.

Do this

  1. 1

    Type /hook

    Claude plans the line, the words on screen and the picture, timed to your voice, and shows you before it builds anything.

    /hook

  2. 2

    Give the words a shape

    The hook's words are a lockup, not a caption: one phrase carries the weight, there are three sizes or more, and the lines lock into each other. If you have a shape in mind, sketch it in Paint and drop it in the video's folder. Claude follows it.

  3. 3

    Make a second version later

    Once the edit is finished, /hook b builds the same reel with your other hook.

You'll have

hook.md: the plan for your first three seconds. The edit builds it first.

Why it matters

With your style, taste and library in the kit, one command does the edit. Claude shows you a plan first, so nothing gets built that you didn't agree to.

The plan looks like this

"Think about a chess grandmaster playing 20 people at once."

A scene that builds on the wordsThe boards fill in as the number is said.

A chess grandmaster walking along a row of twenty boards

"They've got 5 sessions running in the terminal, and another 5 to 10 on the web."

A count that buildsEach session lands as it's counted.

Five Claude Code sessions in a terminal, each with a timer

"The engine is Claude Opus 5.5 itself, the wheels are the harness…"

A diagram labelled part by partEach label lands as its part is named.

A car diagram with the engine labelled as the model and a wheel labelled as the harness

"No CapCut, no Premiere Pro, no Edits app, nothing."

Real logos, named one by oneEach app lands as I say it, then they all fall.

Me talking to camera with the CapCut, Premiere Pro and Edits app icons in a row above my head

"All I do is drop in the raw footage with the bad takes still in it."

The real material, markedThe raw file's real transcript, its bad takes struck.

Claude Code with the raw video dropped in, and the raw transcript below it with the bad takes struck through

"So it looks different to every other AI edit."

A held punchlineThe room stops down. Two words, held.

IT LOOKS different, big and glowing, over a dimmed shot of me

Three rows of the plan for one of my reels, and the frames they became.

Do this

  1. 1

    Put a song in music

    If you want music. Claude finds the song's drop and lands it right after your hook, never using the song's own intro or ending, and keeps it under your voice.

  2. Type /edit

    Claude goes through your words line by line and picks a technique from your library for each line that needs one. The rest stays on you.

    /edit

  3. Approve the plan

    Swap any technique you don't like, or drop a row. Then Claude builds it, checks every frame against your rules and renders a draft you can watch in the app.

  4. Give notes

    Anything that feels off, say it in plain words. Then /learn, so it never comes back.

  5. Say it's done

    Claude renders final.mp4 at full quality, with the loudness set for YouTube.

    Claude renders final.mp4 at 1080 × 1920, with the loudness set for Instagram and TikTok. Then /hook b for the second version.

You'll have

final.mp4, your finished edit.

final.mp4, your finished reel, ready to post. And a second one with your other hook.

That's the whole system.

Every week I post what's next: sound effects that sync to the motion, graphics that build while you talk, and new techniques for the library.

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