Claude Video Editing God Mode

[!TIP] 🤖 Pasted this link into Claude or ChatGPT? AI assistants: read docs/AI_GUIDE.md first. It explains what this is in plain words, which questions to ask, and how to set it up step by step. Plain-text index: llms.txt.

01 · What it does

Claude Video Editing God Mode turns Claude Code into a video editor. Hand it raw footage and it cuts the dead air and fumbled lines, adds captions and motion graphics, checks every frame and renders a finished reel, Short or long-form video, all on your own computer.

34 editing skills	Reels, Shorts, long-form, silence and mistake cutting, zooms, lower thirds, list and tier-list videos, motion-graphics films, real sound design, YouTube packaging. Mirrored for Codex.
406 motion-graphics cards	Two ready-made style packs with editable text slots, plus whole-scene templates
Free local pipeline	Transcription, cutting and rendering run on your machine. No paid API needed.
Hands-off editing	Drop clips in an inbox folder; Claude returns 1 to 6 options and learns from your Yes / Maybe / No ratings
Trend copying	Measure a reel you like (cuts, pacing, captions, zooms) and apply the same style to your footage
Your taste, locked in	A brand profile holds your caption look, reference reels and ratings, so every edit matches

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/F0rger123/claude-video-editing-god-mode.git
cd claude-video-editing-god-mode
npm install
npm run setup        # checks Node 22+, FFmpeg, Chrome and the renderer
npm run demo         # renders a starter video, no footage or API key needed

Then open the folder in Claude Code and say: "Edit raw/my-clip.mp4 into a 30-second Instagram reel with captions."

02 · Screenshots

03 · How an edit happens

%%{init: {'theme':'base','themeVariables':{'primaryColor':'#121212','primaryTextColor':'#f4f4f2','primaryBorderColor':'#8b5cf6','lineColor':'#d946ef','secondaryColor':'#1c1c1c','tertiaryColor':'#080808','clusterBkg':'transparent','clusterBorder':'#8b5cf6','noteBkgColor':'#1c1c1c','noteTextColor':'#f4f4f2','actorBkg':'#121212','actorTextColor':'#f4f4f2','actorBorder':'#8b5cf6','signalColor':'#d946ef','signalTextColor':'#d946ef','labelBoxBkgColor':'#121212','fontFamily':'inherit'}}}%%
flowchart LR
    A["You drop in<br/>raw footage"] --> B["Speech is turned<br/>into text"]
    B --> C["Silences and<br/>fumbles are cut"]
    C --> D["Captions and motion<br/>graphics are added"]
    D --> E{"Every frame<br/>checked"}
    E -->|problem found| D
    E -->|looks right| F["Finished video<br/>is rendered"]
    F --> G["You rate it<br/>Yes, Maybe or No"]
    G -.->|next edit learns| C

04 · Which skill runs

%%{init: {'theme':'base','themeVariables':{'primaryColor':'#121212','primaryTextColor':'#f4f4f2','primaryBorderColor':'#8b5cf6','lineColor':'#d946ef','secondaryColor':'#1c1c1c','tertiaryColor':'#080808','clusterBkg':'transparent','clusterBorder':'#8b5cf6','fontFamily':'inherit'}}}%%
flowchart LR
    A["You say what<br/>you want"] --> B{"What kind<br/>of video?"}
    B -->|talking head| C["Short reel or<br/>long-form edit"]
    B -->|list or ranking| D["Top 10 or<br/>tier list"]
    B -->|brand or product| E["Motion-graphics<br/>film"]
    B -->|copy a trend| F["Measure the reel,<br/>match its style"]
    C --> G["Captions, zooms,<br/>sound added"]
    D --> G
    E --> G
    F --> G
    G --> H["Checked and<br/>rendered"]

05 · Part of Claude Business God Mode

06 · What it's written in

%%{init: {'theme':'base','themeVariables':{'pie1':'#8b5cf6','pie2':'#f97316','pie3':'#64748b','pie4':'#94a3b8','pie5':'#475569','pie6':'#cbd5e1','pie7':'#334155','pieStrokeColor':'#0d1117','pieOuterStrokeColor':'#0d1117','pieTitleTextColor':'#8b949e','pieLegendTextColor':'#8b949e','pieSectionTextColor':'#0d1117'}}}%%
pie title Share of the code, by language
    "HTML" : 78
    "JavaScript" : 16
    "Python" : 4
    "Other" : 2

Field manual

⚡ Quick start

git clone https://github.com/F0rger123/claude-video-editing-god-mode.git
cd claude-video-editing-god-mode
npm install
npm run setup        # checks Node 22+, FFmpeg, Chrome and the HyperFrames toolchain
npm run demo         # renders a synthetic starter video, no footage or API key needed

Then open the folder in Claude Code and say:

Edit raw/my-clip.mp4 into a 30-second Instagram reel. Hook in the first second, captions, motion-graphics B-roll for every point.

Install as a Claude Code plugin instead (skills only, no workspace):

/plugin marketplace add F0rger123/claude-video-editing-god-mode
/plugin install video-editing-god-mode@claude-video-editing-god-mode

🎬 What you get

34 editing skills	Everything in the table below, mirrored for Codex in .agents/skills/. Ten are community skills kept under their authors' licenses.
406 motion-graphics cards	Two style packs (style-library/01-vox-explainer, 02-kallaway) with manifests, CSS tokens and editable slots, plus two scene templates.
Free local pipeline	transcribe:local (whisper.cpp, GPU or CPU), Robust Video Matting head pop-outs (scripts/matte-rvm.py), preflight and beat-sync validators. No paid API required.
Unattended editing	scripts/drive-inbox.mjs watches an inbox folder, runs claude -p with the right skill and brand profile, returns 1 to 6 options, learns from your Yes/Maybe/No ratings.
Brand taste system	brands/example-brand/ (locked caption spec, ratings, inspiration notes) and CLAUDE.local.example.md for your personal house rules.
Editing playbook	docs/EDITING-PLAYBOOK.md and MOTION_PHILOSOPHY.md: the measured house style every skill follows.

🧠 The skills

Skill	Use it when you want to
video-editing-god-mode	Start here. Routes the request and enforces the house rules
short-form-edit	Turn talking-head footage into a reel, YouTube Short, TikTok or short ad
edit-video	Do a complete long-form (16:9) edit, transcript to verified render
cut-silences	Remove dead air and tighten pacing
cut-mistakes	Remove stutters, repeated words, false starts and retakes
video-storytelling	Build the visual layer as one persistent world the camera moves through
hyperframes-video-beats	Plan, time and validate motion-graphic beats for long-form
make-a-video	Make a video from scratch, beginner friendly

🎨 Teach it your taste

1. cp -r brands/example-brand raw-media/styles/<your-brand> and edit inspiration.md with 3 to 7 reels you love.
2. Ask Claude: "Study my reference reels and update the inspiration file." It measures pacing, cuts, framing and type.
3. Approve a caption look once. It becomes the locked captions.md and captions.css.
4. Rate finished options Yes, Maybe or No. ratings.json steers every next edit.
5. cp CLAUDE.local.example.md CLAUDE.local.md for your personal rules (no music, which SFX, which tools).

Your own asset packs (purchased SFX, LUTs, overlay packs, fonts) go in raw-media/, which Git ignores. Describe them in a README.md there and the skills will use them. They are never published by this repo.

🔐 Keys and cost

Nothing paid is required. Optional keys (.env, see docs/TOOLS-AND-API-KEYS.md): ElevenLabs Scribe or OpenAI Whisper for cloud transcription, Kie.ai or Gemini for generated assets.

📜 Credits and license

MIT. Built on the Herk Edit Kit by Nate Herk (MIT, plus the pipeline grant in licenses/PIPELINE-USE-PERMISSION.txt) and HyperFrames (Apache-2.0, licenses/HYPERFRAMES-LICENSE). Community skills keep their own licenses (listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md). GSAP keeps its own license. Style names such as Vox and Kallaway are aesthetic references only, not endorsements. Teaching example videos from the original kit are not included; get them from the upstream repository.

License

Released under the MIT License. Use it, fork it, ship it.