The video editor for Claude, ChatGPT and Claude Code · MCP
Tell Claude the edit. Get the MP4.
Cut Express is a video editing MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT. You send your clips in the chat, Claude decides every cut, caption, color grade and sound, and Cut Express renders the MP4. No timeline to drag, no templates.
What you can make
From a quick trim to a full edit.
Ask for the job in your own words. Claude looks at the footage first, so the same chat handles a two-minute fix and a finished reel.
Long videos into Shorts
Gameplay, streams, podcasts and vlogs. Cut Express finds the moments where something happens and ranks them as highlights, so Claude cuts the plays and lines worth posting.
Gameplay highlightsQuick, simple edits
Trim a clip, drop the pauses, join takes, turn a horizontal video vertical, fix a clip shot sideways or just add music. Small jobs take one sentence.
Remove silences with jump cutsCaptions on any video
Word-by-word captions timed to the speech, on a video you already finished or a new edit, so people follow with the sound off.
AI caption generatorMotion graphics and ads
Animated titles, kinetic text, charts, counters, price tags, checklists and end cards, written for your video and rendered with it. Twenty ready recipes to start from.
Claude video editorRecreate a reel you like
Drop the reel next to your clips. Claude breaks it down shot by shot and rebuilds it with your footage, on the same pace.
How to edit videos with ClaudeYouTube videos in 16:9
Longer edits with b-roll, lower thirds, split screens, picture-in-picture and a progress bar, in 1080p or 2K on Ultra.
Faceless YouTube editing01The problem
You have the footage. Editing is the bottleneck.
A 30-second reel is an afternoon in a timeline. A weekly YouTube video is a weekend. So the clips sit in your camera roll, or the edit goes to someone else and comes back in a week.
- 01Import the clips
- 02Scrub for the good take
- 03Split, trim, nudge
- 04Export to a caption app
- 05Record a voice-over somewhere else
- 06Find music, fix the levels
- 07Render, spot the caption off by a frame
- 08Start over
It's not your fault. The tool is powerful, and every hour of it is yours. One-click editors skip the hours by putting your clips on someone else's template, and your story doesn't fit a template.
02How it works
How editing videos with Claude works
Cut Express connects to Claude through MCP, the standard it already supports. Claude does the thinking: it looks at your clips, reads what's said in them and decides every edit. Cut Express gives it eyes on the footage, the tools, and a render farm.
Send your clips
Connect Cut Express once, then drop videos, photos and music into the upload panel right in the chat. In Claude Code, it uploads local files for you.
Describe the edit
"A 30-second reel, hook first, bold captions, warm look." Claude scans the contact sheets and the transcript, finds the moments, adds a voice-over or sound effects, and writes the timeline.
Get the MP4, then iterate
The video renders while you watch the player in the chat. "Shorter intro, captions yellow, music lower" makes version 2. Every version stays in your account, ready to download.
Not sure what to ask for? Start from one of 35 ready prompts, or read how to write a good prompt.
03What's in the box
A full AI video editor, driven by Claude
No presets deciding for you. Every cut, word and sound is chosen for your footage, and every choice is in a timeline you can ask to change.
Cuts that follow the story
Claude reads contact sheets of every clip and a timestamped transcript. It cuts on the sentence that lands and drops the pauses and false starts, so you get the part you asked for. Speed ramps, reverse, boomerang, freeze frames, punch-in zooms and 21 transitions are there when the edit needs them.
Captions people read
Word-by-word captions timed to the speech: pop, karaoke, boxed, bold, clean or minimal, in any font, color, size and position, so people follow with the sound off. Text boxes for titles, labels and calls to action.
Looks and color
73 cinematic looks (teal and orange, golden hour, noir, film, pastel and more) with an intensity, plus color sliders: temperature, contrast, highlights, shadows, vibrance, vignette, grain. Per scene or for the whole video, so you get a finished grade without opening a color tool.
Recreate any video
Drop a reel you love next to your own clips. Claude breaks it down shot by shot: every cut, its length, the camera movement, the beat it lands on, the text on screen. Then it rebuilds it with your footage, so you get the same pace with your video.
Voice, sound and clean audio
A natural voice-over from any script, with captions that follow it word for word. 83 built-in sound effects cost nothing, and new ones come from a description. Background noise comes out, voices get an EQ, and music ducks under the voice by itself, so you never mix levels.
Motion graphics
Animated titles, kinetic text, charts, counters, lower thirds and end cards, as a full scene or over your footage. Split screens, picture-in-picture, green screen and a progress bar too. Reels, Shorts and TikTok in 9:16, YouTube in 16:9, 1080p on Pro and 2K on Ultra.
The edit is a timeline. Ask for any change.
Every video comes from a small JSON timeline: scenes with their in and out points, texts, captions, sound tracks and color. Claude writes it, Cut Express renders it. "Make the intro tighter" or "now a 16:9 version for YouTube" edits the same timeline and renders the next version, in seconds of your time.
Nothing is locked inside a template. Download the timeline from any version, or ask Claude to start a new video from it.
{
"format": "9:16", "quality": "2k",
"scenes": [
{ "media": "m_a1B2c3D4e5", "in": 12.4, "out": 15.1,
"transition": { "type": "zoomin", "duration": 0.3 } },
{ "media": "m_k3v9q2xw7d", "in": 2, "out": 4.5, "speed": 0.5 }
],
"captions": { "source": "auto", "style": { "preset": "pop" } },
"audio": [
{ "media": "m_voice0001x", "role": "voice" },
{ "media": "m_music0001x", "role": "music", "duck": 0.25 }
],
"grade": { "looks": [{ "key": "golden_hour", "intensity": 0.6 }] }
}
Made with Cut Express
Real renders, and the prompt behind each.
Every example was made by asking Claude in the chat. No timeline, no template: open one to watch it and read exactly what was asked.
Stock footage, music and motion
Narrated tour with a chat overlay
Word-by-word captions
Recreate any video
Motion graphics by chatting
Every version kept
04Works with
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Claude Code
Nothing to install. Cut Express is a remote connector: Claude does the editing on your Claude plan, and Cut Express does the rendering on its own servers.
Claude.ai and Desktop
Add a custom connector and sign in. The upload panel and the video player show right in the chat.
Can Claude edit videos?Claude Code
One command with a key from your account. It uploads local files and folders for you.
Claude Code video editingChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code
A custom connector or one block in your MCP settings. Uploads go through the upload panel on the web or Claude Code.
Can ChatGPT edit videos?Anything with MCP
Other AIs that support remote MCP servers connect the same way.
Video editing MCP servers05What you get
Everything in the edit, on both plans.
- Cuts chosen from your footage:
- Claude reads contact sheets and the transcript, so it keeps the sentence that lands and drops pauses and false starts.
- Word-by-word captions:
- pop, karaoke, boxed, bold, clean or minimal, timed to the speech.
- 73 looks plus color sliders:
- a finished grade without opening a color tool.
- AI voice-over and sound effects:
- music ducks under the voice by itself.
- Recreate any video:
- a reel you like, rebuilt shot by shot with your clips.
- Every version kept:
- "now a 16:9 version for YouTube" renders the next version from the same timeline.
06Pricing
Two plans. 7 days free, then monthly or yearly.
Plans count render minutes: the length of the videos you render each month, re-renders included, failed ones never. Credits pay for the audio AI (voices, sound effects, transcripts). Looks, captions and transitions are included.
Edit by chatting. Ship every week.
- 60 minutes of rendered video a month
- 200 credits a month for voices, sound effects and transcripts
- 1080p in 9:16 and 16:9
- 50 stock videos, music tracks and photos a month
- Captions with word highlight, text overlays, looks and colour
- Videos up to 10 minutes, 25 GB of media
More minutes, more voice, 2K masters.
- 180 minutes of rendered video a month
- 500 credits a month for voices, sound effects and transcripts
- 2K output (1440×2560 and 2560×1440), or 1080p
- 150 stock videos, music tracks and photos a month
- Cut Express Desktop, the Mac app, included
- Everything in Pro
- Videos up to 30 minutes, 100 GB of media
- Three renders at once
No subscription, no render minutes: the three pipelines run on your own Mac and your footage stays on your disk.
- The three pipelines (cut, vector, motion) on your own Mac
- Unlimited renders, no minutes, your files never leave your machine
- Chat in the app with your own Claude Code or Codex, the timeline beside it
- Also connects to Claude Desktop and Claude Code in one click
- 500 credits included once (not monthly) for voices, sound effects and transcripts
- Previews, design boards and the project memory, locally
- Updates in the app, 3 machines per licence
Why $19/mo?
Claude does the thinking. We only render.
The edit is decided by Claude or ChatGPT on the plan you already pay for. Cut Express runs no AI of its own to second-guess you: it shows the footage, runs the tools and renders the MP4, and that costs far less than an editor's hours.
Credits
Voices and sound, paid as you use them.
A voice-over spends 1 credit per 1,000 characters (about a minute of speech), a sound effect 0.1 per second, a transcript 0.1 per minute of audio. Pro gets 200 a month, Ultra 500; unused ones roll over for three months. Members can add packs that never expire: 50 for $4 or 200 for $12.
Cut Express Desktop bought once comes with 500 credits one time, not every month. When they run out, add a pack or use your own voice key. With Ultra, the Mac app is included and spends Ultra's monthly credits instead.
06bDesktop
Or own it. Cut Express Desktop, one payment, or in Ultra.
The same three pipelines, running on your own Mac. No render minutes, no upload: your footage stays on your disk. Edit by chatting inside the app, with the Claude Code or Codex you already have.
Chat inside the app
Open a project and say what you want. The chat runs the Claude Code or Codex already on your Mac, on your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription: no extra AI cost from us. Once it makes the video, the timeline shows beside the chat; click a scene to point at it in your next message.
Voices, sound effects, transcripts
500 credits included once, not every month: a credit is about a minute of voice-over. Buy packs when you need more, or use your own ElevenLabs key, with a voice id for your own cloned voice.
Claude Desktop and Claude Code
Prefer your usual chat? One click connects the app to Claude Desktop or Claude Code through a local connection. Same engine, same files.
Stock
Stock footage and photos from Pixabay with your own free Pixabay key.
- The three pipelines (cut, vector, motion) on your own Mac
- Unlimited renders, no minutes, your files never leave your machine
- Chat in the app with your own Claude Code or Codex, the timeline beside it
- Also connects to Claude Desktop and Claude Code in one click
- 500 credits included once (not monthly) for voices, sound effects and transcripts
- Or your own ElevenLabs key (and your own cloned voice), optional
- Previews, design boards and the project memory, locally
- Updates in the app, 3 machines per licence
Or get it included with Ultra: the Mac app comes with the plan, free trial included, while it's active, and spends Ultra's 500 monthly credits. See Ultra.
Install in five steps
- Download the .dmg from your download page (bought once, or on Ultra), open it and drag Cut Express to Applications.
- Open it and paste your licence key.
- Install one AI, if you don't have it: Claude Code (curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash, then run claude once to log in) or Codex (npm install -g @openai/codex or brew install codex, then run codex once to sign in with ChatGPT).
- In Settings, pick Claude or Codex (and, if you like, its model and effort; each project can change them in its header), choose the included credits or your own ElevenLabs key for voices, and add a free Pixabay key for stock.
- Press New project, describe the video, and drop your files in ~/Movies/Cut Express or point to them by path.
07FAQ
Can Claude edit videos?
Claude can edit videos once a video editing MCP server is connected: it can't render video by itself. With Cut Express it watches your clips through contact sheets and a transcript, writes the edit, and Cut Express renders the MP4.
Can ChatGPT edit videos?
ChatGPT can edit videos by driving Cut Express as a custom MCP connector. Uploads go through the Cut Express upload panel on the web, and ChatGPT writes the edit the same way Claude does.
Does it work in Claude Code?
Cut Express works in Claude Code with one command and a key from your account. Claude Code then uploads local files and folders for you, so you never open an upload page.
Do I need Remotion or FFmpeg?
You don't need Remotion, FFmpeg or any code: Cut Express renders on its own servers. There's nothing to install on your computer.
How is it different from CapCut, Premiere or Descript?
CapCut, Premiere and Descript are editors you operate yourself. With Cut Express you describe the edit and Claude makes every decision, so you give notes instead of dragging clips.
Can it cut a long video or a gameplay into Shorts?
Cut Express cuts long videos into Shorts: it finds the stretches where something happens in a gameplay, stream, podcast or vlog and ranks them as highlights. Claude zooms into the best ones, picks the in and out points, and renders each Short with captions.
Can it do simple edits like trimming or adding captions?
Simple edits take one sentence: trim a clip, remove the silences, join takes, turn a horizontal video vertical or add captions to a finished video. You don't need a full edit to use it.
What is an MCP server?
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is how AI assistants use outside tools. Once Cut Express is connected, Claude calls it by itself when you ask for an edit, the same way it searches the web or reads a file. You never leave the chat, and there is nothing to install.
Who does the editing, Claude or Cut Express?
Claude decides: which moments to keep, where to cut, what the captions say, which look and music fit. Cut Express gives it what it needs to decide well (contact sheets of your clips, transcripts, voices, sound effects) and renders the result. No AI runs on our side to second-guess your instructions.
How do I send my videos?
In Claude.ai and Claude Desktop, ask Claude to open the Cut Express upload panel and drop your files into it. Several files go at once, up to 2 GB each on Pro and 4 GB on Ultra. In Claude Code, Claude uploads files from your computer itself.
Will it work for my kind of video?
Cut Express edits talking heads, gameplay and streams, podcasts, vlogs, screen recordings and product clips, and fills gaps with stock footage. It renders 9:16 for Reels, Shorts and TikTok and 16:9 for YouTube. The fair test is your own footage: the trial runs 7 days, and you pay nothing if you cancel before day 7.
I've tried AI video editors before. What's different?
Most AI editors put your clips on a template and cut them to a beat. Here Claude reads contact sheets and a transcript of your footage, writes the edit for it, and changes it when you give a note in plain words. Every version is kept, so a note that doesn't work costs nothing.
Is it template-based?
Cut Express doesn't use templates or beat-matching: every timeline is written for your footage. Caption styles and looks are starting points Claude can change in any detail.
Which formats and quality?
Cut Express renders 9:16 for Reels, Shorts and TikTok, and 16:9 for YouTube. Pro renders 1080p; Ultra also renders 2K (1440×2560 or 2560×1440). MP4, H.264, ready to post.
What are render minutes?
Render minutes are the length of the videos you render each month. A 45-second reel spends 45 seconds; rendering it again in another format spends another 45. Failed renders never count. Pro has 60 minutes a month and Ultra 180; they reset on the 1st.
How do credits work?
Credits pay for the audio AI: voice-overs, sound effects and transcripts. A voice-over spends 1 credit per 1,000 characters (2 with the Advanced voice), a sound effect 0.1 per second, and a transcript 0.1 per minute of audio, once per file. Pro gets 200 a month and Ultra 500, and unused ones roll over for three months. Packs of 50 for $4 or 200 for $12 never expire.
How long does a render take?
A render usually takes less than the video's own length at 1080p: a 30-second reel is ready in well under a minute. The player in the chat follows it, and the video page shows the progress.
Can I change a video after it renders?
Every video keeps its timeline, so you can change it after it renders. "Make the captions yellow" or "now a 16:9 cut for YouTube" renders the next version without starting over, and every version stays in your account.
Is there a free trial or a yearly plan?
Both plans start with 7 days free, then $19/mo for Pro or $49/mo for Ultra; cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing. Yearly gives 2 months free: $190/yr for Pro or $490/yr for Ultra, with the same minutes and credits every month. Cancel any time from your account.
Is there a desktop app?
Cut Express Desktop runs the same three pipelines on your Mac for one payment of $149: unlimited renders, and your files never leave your disk. You edit by chatting inside the app with the Claude Code or Codex you already have (your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription), or from Claude Desktop and Claude Code. Bought once, it comes with 500 credits one time (not monthly) for voices, sound effects and transcripts, with packs to buy more, or you can use your own voice key. It's also included in Ultra, trial included, for as long as the plan is active; the app then spends Ultra's monthly credits. To install: open the .dmg, drag it to Applications, paste your licence key, install Claude Code or Codex and log in once, then pick it in the app's Settings.
What happens to my files?
Your files are stored privately for your account and used only to render your videos. Remove any file from the Media page or by asking Claude; deleting a video deletes its files.
Who builds Cut Express
Built by people who were tired of editing.
Cut Express is built by nxcturnez, the studio behind Valta, Karou, Klevo, Copix and Nexin. We made it because we were tired of editing video by hand and wanted to work with motion and vector video instead. Now we edit our own reels, demos and YouTube cuts with it.
If something breaks or a render looks wrong, write to support@cut.express. We usually reply within one business day.