ChatGPT and Claude Can Now Edit Your Videos

ChatGPT and Claude can now edit your videos for you. Drop in a raw clip of you talking and get back a captioned, tightened, animated cut ready to post: every silence gone, captions on every word, and the key moments zoomed and titled. In ChatGPT you use Codex with the free Remotion plugin. In Claude you install my free Video Editor plugin and type one command. Either way it runs on your own computer and you never open a timeline.

Pick Your App

Both apps do the same job. They transcribe your clip, cut the silences, caption every word as you say it, animate the moments that matter and render a finished MP4 into a folder on your computer. Use the one you already pay for, or try both.

Your First Edit

Install your plugin first (Step 1, about a minute). Then this is the only thing you paste.

In ChatGPT (Codex)

Drag your video into Codex, type $remotion and accept the plugin, then paste this. Swap the file name and the brackets.

Edit [TALKING_HEAD.MP4] for [INSTAGRAM REELS].

1) Transcribe it with word-level timestamps using local Whisper. If it isn't installed, download whisper.cpp and the medium.en model without asking.

2) Cut every silence longer than 0.6 seconds and every standalone "um" or "uh", leaving 120 ms of room tone on each side of every cut so breaths stay natural. No other audio processing.

3) Captions: 3 to 4 words per page, never a one-word page, bold white sans-serif with a black outline, current word highlighted in [#F5A623], block centered at 70% of the height, max 900 px wide.

4) Pick the 5 strongest moments (a number, a claim, a punchline), at least 10 s apart. On each: an 8% zoom easing in over 0.4 s and back out, centered on the speaker's face, plus a one-line headline under 24 characters that springs in at 22% height for about 2.5 seconds.

5) Output 1080x1920 at 30 fps even if the source isn't, H.264, AAC audio.

Before rendering, show me the transcript with every cut marked and the 5 headlines as a plain table I can edit. After I approve, render to outputs/[NAME]_edited.mp4, tell me the final length, and show me a still at each headline.

In Claude (Code tab)

Put your video in your Video Edits folder and type:

/video-editor:start

Claude takes it from there. It checks your computer and asks before installing anything, asks a few quick questions to build your editing style (say "you pick" to any of them), shows you a storyboard, then edits, checks its own frames and shows you a preview. The final video lands in a folder called exports. Click the file name in the chat to watch it right inside Claude.

You only do this once.

In ChatGPT

• Open Codex. In the ChatGPT desktop app, click the ChatGPT / Codex switcher in the top left and choose Codex. Sign in with your ChatGPT account if it asks.
• Install Remotion. Click Plugins, search Remotion and click Install plugin. Or open the Remotion plugin page at remotion.dev/docs/ai/codex-plugin and click the install link there. There's nothing to configure.

Not sure when to use Codex instead of Chat or Work? My Chat vs Work vs Codex guide explains it in two minutes, and the four plugins I'd install first are worth grabbing while you're there.

In Claude

• Open Plugins. In the Claude desktop app's left sidebar, open Customize, then go to Plugins.
• Add the marketplace. Click Add, then Add marketplace, then Add from a repository.
• Paste this address and confirm:

https://github.com/maverickmaltin/mavgpt-plugins

• Add Video Editor. Find it in the list and add it.

Plugins you add here are saved to your Claude account, so they also show up in the Code tab.

In ChatGPT

• Check your computer once. Remotion brings its own ffmpeg and headless Chrome. Two things it can't bring: Node.js 18 or newer (from nodejs.org) and, on a Mac, the Xcode Command Line Tools, which Whisper needs to build. Open Terminal and run node -v. A version number means you're set. Not sure about Xcode? Tell Codex "check that node and the Xcode command line tools are installed and install what's missing" and approve the prompts.
• Make a project. In Codex, create a new project pointed at an empty folder (Desktop/edits is fine).
• Drop the video in. Drag it into the Codex window, type $remotion, accept the plugin and paste the edit prompt.

In Claude

• Make a folder on your desktop called Video Edits and put your video in it.
• Open the Code tab. In the Claude desktop app, click Code at the top. Choose Local, click Select folder and pick Video Edits.
• Pick the model. Open the model menu next to the send button and choose Opus 5.5. Then open the effort menu (Cmd+Shift+E on a Mac) and pick Max. Max is slower, but it plans a full edit way better. It only lasts for this session, so pick it again next time.
• Type /video-editor:start. On a Mac, if it needs Homebrew (a free installer), it gives you one line to paste into the Terminal app, because that step asks for your Mac password and you should type that yourself.

The Code tab is the version of Claude that can run programs on your computer, which is exactly what editing needs. New to it? My Claude Code setup guide covers the basics.

Nothing renders until you say so, so a bad transcript never becomes a bad video.

In ChatGPT: the approval table

Before it renders, Codex hands you something like this. Real words and times come from your clip. This is the shape.

This is where you fix the transcript (your brand name, a number it heard wrong), swap a headline, or un-cut a pause you wanted. Say "change headline 3 to 'This took me 2 years' and render" and it does exactly that.

In Claude: the storyboard

Claude shows you every section with timestamps, what you say, what gets cut and what goes on screen, plus a page with a still frame per section that you can open. Say "looks good" or point at a section number. Then it renders a quick preview, checks its own frames for mistakes, fixes them and shows you. Change anything in plain words: "Captions bigger." "Zoom when I say insane." "Put back the part about pricing."

In ChatGPT

Same project, same chat. Drop the next clip in and paste the edit prompt with the new file name. The first edit is the slow one. Every edit after that is about ten minutes, mostly render.

In Claude

After the first one, it's just one line. Put a video in the folder and say what you want:

• Your own assets: put your logo, b-roll, screenshots or music in the assets folder and say where you want them.
• Edit it like a video you love: save it into assets and say "learn my style from this one." It copies the pacing and caption style, never the footage.
• AI b-roll with Higgsfield: connect it once in the Claude app (Customize > Connectors, add a custom connector named Higgsfield with https://mcp.higgsfield.ai/mcp), then ask for b-roll. Claude lists every clip and its credits before it makes anything. Needs a paid Higgsfield plan.
• Screen recordings: "Record a 15-second scroll through my website for b-roll." Close anything private first.
• Computer use: on Pro or Max, turn it on in Settings > This computer > System and Claude can grab clips from your Photos app or use an editing app for you.

No Plugin? Use the Master Prompt

In ChatGPT, the edit prompt already does the whole job, and the Remotion plugin is free. In Claude, if you'd rather not install anything, paste this into the Code tab instead (same folder, Opus 5.5, Max). It does the whole job and asks you the questions in the chat.

You're my video editor. Everything happens on my computer in this folder. Talk to me in plain words, ask questions a few at a time with a suggested answer, and wait for my answers.

1. SETUP: Make folders called raw, assets, work and exports. Check whether ffmpeg and a transcription tool are installed. If not, ask me, then install them: on a Mac use Homebrew's ffmpeg-full (plain ffmpeg can't burn in captions), on Windows winget install --id Gyan.FFmpeg -e, and for transcription python3 -m pip install --user faster-whisper. If anything needs my computer password, give me the command to run in Terminal myself.

2. MY STYLE: Ask me where my videos go and what shape (default 9:16), the vibe, how tight the cuts should be, my caption style (size, colors, words at a time, position), titles, zooms, logo, music and anything I always want. Save my answers as a skill at ~/.claude/skills/my-video-style/SKILL.md with real numbers, and use it for every edit.

3. MY VIDEO: The video is [FILE NAME]. Transcribe it with word timestamps. Spell these exactly: [NAMES AND BRANDS]. Cut every silence but keep a little air so no word is clipped, remove ums, and keep only my last take of any repeated line.

4. STORYBOARD FIRST: Before editing, show me a storyboard: every section with timestamps, what I say, what you'll cut, what goes on screen (captions, titles, zooms, logo, b-roll) and any assets you need from me. Make a page with a still frame per section that I can open. Wait for my OK.

5. EDIT: Add captions a few words at a time with the current word highlighted, kept clear of my face and the app buttons. Animate the key moments with short pop-in titles and punch-in zooms on important words. Render a quick low-resolution preview, pull frames every couple of seconds and check them yourself for mistakes, fix them, then show me.

6. CHANGES AND FINAL: Take my changes in plain words until I'm happy. Then export a full-quality MP4 (1080x1920, 30 fps, loud and clear audio) to exports, keep my original untouched, and never post or upload anything. Whenever I say "add that to my style", update my style skill.

Five More Edits

Each one is a follow-up in the same project and chat, not a fresh setup. They're written for Codex. In Claude, ask for the same thing in plain words, and use /video-editor:clips for short cuts.

The 30-second cut

Make a 30-second version with only the best 3 moments, same caption and headline style. Include the sentence before and after each moment so nothing starts mid-thought. Hard cuts between them. Render to outputs/[NAME]_30s.mp4.

The 16:9 version

Make a 1920x1080 version of the full edit. Pillarbox the vertical video at full height with a blurred, darkened copy of itself filling the sides (no crop, no upscale). Captions at 82% height, max 1200 px wide. Headlines at 14%. Render to outputs/[NAME]_16x9.mp4.

Jump-cut zooms

Alternate the framing at every cut between 100% and 106% zoom so the jump cuts read as intentional. Keep everything else the same and re-render.

Progress bar and lower third

Add a thin [#F5A623] progress bar along the bottom edge, and a lower third with [NAME] and [@HANDLE] that slides in at 2 seconds and out at 6. Re-render.

Batch ten clips

Apply this exact edit style to every .mp4 in source/. Same rules, 5 moments each. One combined approval table, then render all to outputs/ and list the final lengths.

How It Works, Briefly

In ChatGPT, Codex writes a small program that describes your edit (which seconds to keep, where the captions go, when to zoom). Remotion renders that program into a video with its own copies of ffmpeg and a headless Chrome, and Whisper transcribes on your computer. In Claude, the plugin's small tools use ffmpeg and a transcriber on your computer, and your answers are saved as your own style skill. Either way your video file stays on your machine.

Why the edit prompt is worded like that

The one-line version works, but Codex comes back with four questions first: which platform, how long a silence, which transcription, what "animate" means. The prompt answers them. 120 ms of room tone is what "keep it natural" actually means. Without a number you get a machine-gun edit. "Never a one-word page" stops orphan captions. "Centered on the speaker's face" matters because a phone-framed head sits high and a center zoom drifts off it.

The first run in ChatGPT

The prompt takes thirty seconds to type. The first edit on a fresh machine is twenty to forty-five minutes, mostly downloads and one render, so don't think it's broken.

Common Mistakes and Quick Fixes

When to start over

If an edit has gone sideways after lots of changes, say "write down everything I've asked for," start a fresh session in the same folder and paste it in (in Claude, with /video-editor:edit). A fresh start with a clear brief beats ten more fixes.

Quick Reference: Editing With ChatGPT or Claude

DO THIS TODAY

Pick your app, install the free plugin, and drop in the last clip you filmed. Paste the edit prompt in Codex or type /video-editor:start in Claude, approve the cuts, and go make coffee during the first run. Every edit after that is one prompt.

Published September 14, 2026 · Checked October 2026