# The Clip Cutter

Give it one long video and get back short vertical clips with big captions, ready for TikTok and Reels, free and on your own computer.

## What you get

**You recorded a long video. Finding the good 30 seconds takes hours.**

The Clip Cutter finds them for you.

Give it one long video, like a talk or a podcast.

- It writes out what was said
- Claude picks the strongest moments
- Each one becomes a vertical clip with big captions

A 9 minute video became a few clips of 30 to 40 seconds. It took about 8 minutes on a normal Mac.

**Free. No keys. No accounts. About 20 minutes to set up.**

## One thing to know

**The face-following feature is broken right now. Choose screen mode.**

The captions are good. The framing works best when the speaker is on screen. Slides can get cut at the sides, and you get black bars.

Setup needs the workarounds below. Follow them in order.

It runs on your own computer. Nothing is uploaded. The first run needs internet for a 90 MB download.

## Who this is for

You record long videos. Coaches, podcasters, trainers, agencies.

This replaces scrubbing through an hour of footage.

## What you need

- Claude Code, git and Node
- Python 3.10 or newer (the Mac's built-in 3.9 is too old)
- ffmpeg and jq (`brew install ffmpeg jq`). ffmpeg is a free video tool.

## Set it up

Open a terminal. That is the app where you type commands.

### Step 1: Get the code and a newer Python

It downloads the project. It makes Python 3.14 the one your terminal uses (check with `python3 --version`).

```
git clone https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-shorts.git
cd claude-shorts
brew install python@3.14
brew link --overwrite python@3.14
hash -r
```

### Step 2: Run the two install scripts

The first builds the tools (a few minutes). The second adds the skill to Claude Code.

```
bash setup.sh
bash install.sh
```

### Step 3: Add the missing piece

Skip this and the skill fails its self-check.

```
cd ~/.claude/skills/shorts/remotion && npm install
```

## Use it

In Claude Code, run `/shorts` on your video. Choose content type `screen`. Choose the `small` transcription model.

You get this:

```
short_01_yt.mp4   1080x1920   37 s
short_02_yt.mp4   1080x1920   34 s
short_03_yt.mp4   1080x1920   39 s
```

## If something goes wrong

**A YouTube link gives a 403.** Add `--extractor-args youtube:player_client=web_safari` to the download. Or download the video yourself.

**"usage: paste" errors at the end.** A Mac quirk. The MP4 files are still made.

**"Remotion dependencies not installed."** You skipped Step 3.

## Credit

Built by AgriciDaniel (https://github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-shorts), MIT license. Free and open source.