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About OpenChatCut

Meet OpenChatCut: a local-first AI video editor with a buildable open-source edition and the paid OpenChatCut Pro desktop product.

Last updated: 2026-10-11

What we are building

OpenChatCut focuses on a concrete problem: let AI participate in editing, not only produce a video you cannot revise.

You describe the pacing, captions, music and output size, and the agent changes a real multitrack timeline. Every step is visible. You can refine it or undo it.

Open source and Pro

  • OpenChatCut open source: free downloads, public source code and self-hosted builds under the public repository's AGPL license. Most tutorials, MCP examples and historical release notes cover this edition.
  • OpenChatCut Pro: a proprietary desktop app under the same brand, built around an agent, transcripts and a timeline, with in-app recording, local models and MCP. Installers for macOS and Windows are on the download page, and the first launch online starts a 7-day trial.

Both editions share this website. Download open source, explore Pro, or read the edition guide. A software license and model service charges are separate: Pro should not be taken to include model credits.

Principles

Local-first

Video media is large and often private. The open-source edition stores projects and media locally by default (~/.openchatcut, with IndexedDB as a browser cache). Cloud models, media search and remote storage send relevant inputs to their providers when used. Pro also keeps projects, media, conversations and keys on your computer; cloud features send what a task needs to the provider you choose.

Open and auditable

The open-source edition publishes its code. You can build it yourself and audit how agents change the timeline and where keys and data live. Its license is in the GitHub repository. Pro licensing is described separately.

Model-agnostic

The open-source edition supports multiple providers and OpenAI-compatible APIs. External agents such as Codex and Claude Code can drive the same project through MCP. Pro uses your own keys from about 20 providers, runs speech recognition and other models locally, and can open a project to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor over MCP.

Edits must stay editable

Generative tools often treat one-shot output as the end state. OpenChatCut turns every agent action into real timeline changes: tracks, captions, transitions, effects, keyframes, and history remain. People and agents share the same editor capabilities.

Who it is for

  • Creators and teams who frequently cut interviews, talking-head videos, podcasts, and product demos
  • People already using agents like Claude or Codex who want them on a real timeline
  • Professionals who care about local data and undoable workflows
  • Developers exploring MCP or agent-native editing

Community and source

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