
Notes from the timeline
OpenChatCut Blog
Practical guides and engineering notes about AI agent video editing, MCP workflows, timelines, captions, effects, and local-first production.

OpenChatCut 0.1.8 Release: Open-Source AI Video Editor with Agent Skills, MCP & 4K Export
OpenChatCut 0.1.8 is an open-source ChatCut alternative and agent-native AI video editor: custom SKILL.md workflows, slash commands, Codex/ChatGPT and local LLMs, MCP tools, 4K export, and a pro multitrack timeline.

OpenChatCut Slash Commands & Custom Skills: SKILL.md Workflows for AI Video Editing
Learn OpenChatCut slash commands and custom agent skills: /skill picker, ~/.openchatcut/skills SKILL.md playbooks, progressive load_skill, and reusable AI video editing workflows without overwriting your prompt.

Local-First AI Video Editing: What Actually Stays on Your Machine?
A practical privacy model for local AI video editors: project storage, media, API keys, cloud models, transcription, generation, MCP access, and backups.

How to Turn a Long Video into Shorts Without Losing Editorial Control
A repeatable workflow for turning interviews, podcasts, and tutorials into strong short-form clips with editable cuts, reframing, captions, and review.

Text-Based Video Editing: A Practical Transcript-First Workflow
Learn how to edit video by transcript without losing pacing, context, or timeline control—from word-level cuts and pauses to captions and final review.

OpenChatCut Community Resources: From Live Preview to Install
See how OpenChatCut turns motion graphics, sounds, transitions, effects, zooms, and LUTs into previewable, validated, installable community resources.

How to Create and Publish an OpenChatCut Community Resource
Choose a resource type, prepare an openchatcut-plugin@1 package, generate a real preview, and move through review to publication.

OpenChatCut 0.1.6: Precise Controls and a More Reliable Editing Agent
OpenChatCut 0.1.6 brings precise Inspector controls, safer Agent edits, better media inspection, stronger project recovery, and corrected FCPXML exports.

OpenChatCut: An Open-Source ChatCut Alternative for Agent Video Editing
Looking for an open-source ChatCut alternative? OpenChatCut is a free, local-first AI video editor where Codex, Claude, and MCP agents edit a real multitrack timeline you can still change by hand.

ChatCut vs OpenChatCut: Closed AI Editor vs Open-Source Timeline Agents
Compare ChatCut and OpenChatCut: prompt-based AI video editing versus an open-source, local-first multitrack editor with MCP agents. Independent project, AGPL licensed.

Connect Codex or Claude to OpenChatCut with MCP
Use the local Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint so external agents can read OpenChatCut projects, edit the timeline, and stay undoable.

Install OpenChatCut desktop builds and fix common issues
Download macOS and Windows installers, handle unsigned-app warnings, and run a first-launch checklist.

OpenChatCut caption workflow: transcription, style, and export
From speech transcription to word-level edits, caption styling, and export—how captions stay bound to an editable timeline.

Run OpenChatCut from source
A short guide to Node.js version, install, web dev server, and desktop dev mode for OpenChatCut.

What Is OpenChatCut? An Agent-Native AI Video Editor
Learn how OpenChatCut combines a local-first multitrack timeline, AI agents, MCP, effects, captions, and production exports in one editable video project.

AI Agent Video Editing: From Prompt to an Editable Timeline
See how AI agent video editing works when Codex or Claude controls real clips, tracks, captions, effects, and exports through MCP.