ButterCut

Make Claude your Video Editor

buttercut.io

Give Claude Code your video footage. Claude analyzes it, then builds roughcuts and sequences for Final Cut, Premiere, and Resolve.

Behind the scenes Claude uses ButterCut Skills and a little Ruby library to generate timelines for your editor.

Watch the Demo

I Taught Claude Code to Edit Movies

Click to watch "I Taught Claude Code to Edit Movies" on YouTube

Getting Started

ButterCut Install Video

Click to watch the ButterCut install video on YouTube

Clone ButterCut:

git clone https://github.com/barefootford/buttercut.git && cd buttercut

Open Claude Code:

claude

# or skip permission prompts (faster, but riskier):
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions

Tell Claude to install ButterCut:

> Install ButterCut

Claude will check your system and install any missing dependencies (Ruby, Python, FFmpeg, WhisperX).

For manual installation, see docs/installation.md.

Usage

First tell Claude to create a Library. A library organizes your video footage along with the transcripts, contact sheets, and summaries Claude needs to edit it. Then tell Claude you want to create a rough cut or sequence.

Creating a Video Library

You: "I want to build a new library"

Claude: [Guides you through library setup and asks for details]

You:
  - Library name: "wedding"
  - Video location: "/path/to/videos"
  - Language: "English"

Claude: [Automatically processes all videos]
  ✓ Creates library structure
  ✓ Transcribes audio
  ✓ Builds a contact sheet for every clip
  ✓ Writes a short summary of each clip

Result: Full footage analysis ready for rough cut creation

Claude handles the parallel processing, metadata extraction, and analysis. See the full walkthrough for a detailed example of me setting up a library from my wedding footage.

Creating a Roughcut or Sequence

Once your library is analyzed, Claude can create rough cuts through an interactive conversation:

You: "Let's create a new roughcut"

Claude: [Loads cut skill and analyzes footage]
        What should this roughcut focus on?
        - Full story
        - Just the meetup coverage
        - Short teaser sequence

You: "Just the meetup coverage"

Claude: [Asks 3 preference questions]
        - Narrative structure? (chronological, thematic, hook-based)
        - Target duration? (1-2 min, 3-5 min, 6-10 min)
        - Pacing style? (fast & punchy, conversational, cinematic)

You: "Start with presentations (5 sec clips), then interviews,
      then my closing reflection. 3-5 minutes, conversational pacing."

Claude: [Asks which video editor you want to use]
        - Final Cut Pro X
        - Adobe Premiere Pro
        - DaVinci Resolve

You: "Final Cut Pro X"

Claude: [Creates roughcut with editorial decisions]
        ✓ Reviewed contact sheets and transcripts
        ✓ Selected 29 clips (4:32 total)
        ✓ Exported to FCPXML

Result: Ready-to-import timeline at:
        libraries/[library]/roughcuts/[name]_[datetime].fcpxml

Claude makes editorial decisions based on transcript analysis and your preferences, then exports a timeline for your editor.

XML Generation

For direct XML generation without Claude Code, see docs/basic-xml-generation.md.

Thanks

ButterCut was inspired by ambitious open source work from Chris Hocking and Andrew Arrow.

License

ButterCut is open source under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0 with a Commercial Output exception.

  • You can use ButterCut to make videos commercially. Cut a YouTube video for ad revenue, edit a paid client project, deliver a sponsored brand piece — all fine. The videos are yours, and the licensor claims no rights to them.
  • You can't repackage ButterCut as commercial software. Selling, hosting, or bundling the tool itself (or a fork of it) into a commercial product, plugin, or SaaS requires a separate commercial license from TubeSalt LLC.

Personal, hobby, research, and educational use of the software is also free under the underlying license. If you'd like a commercial software license, reach out.

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests welcome, with that said...

Guidelines:

  • Write the body of your pull request or GitHub issue yourself. Don't use an agent (Claude Code, etc) to generate it.
  • Keep pull requests small and limited to a single feature or bugfix at a time. It's a lot easier to write code, I feel like it's just as hard as before to review code.