ButterCut
An open-source Ruby toolkit that lets Claude Code orchestrate a full video edit: transcription, rough cut, motion graphics, and captions.
Before & after
Same prompt, same agent — the only difference is the skill.
Video editing is time-consuming because you have to watch raw footage, decide what to keep, fix audio, add captions, potentially add music or graphics. Normally you'd use Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, but those require manual work for every step. Some people use tools to help with specific parts like transcription or auto-captioning, but coordinating it all is tricky. If you had raw footage and wanted an autonomous system to edit it, you'd need to tie together transcription, scene selection, effects, and caption generation. That's complex. How long is your raw footage?
BUTTERCUT VIDEO EDIT PIPELINE INPUT Raw footage: 45 minutes of unedited talking-head interview (MP4, H.264) Requirement: autonomous editing, no manual touching PIPELINE (6 steps, orchestrated by Claude Code) STEP 1: TRANSCRIPTION (5 min) ButterCut extracts audio from video Feedic.ai transcription service converts speech to text with timestamps Output: Full transcript with timing (0:00 → 45:30) STEP 2: ANALYSIS (3 min) Claude Code skill analyzes transcript: • Identifies natural story arcs (problem → solution → result) • Flags key moments (when speaker becomes animated, pauses for emphasis) • Detects technical issues (background noise, audio dropout) • Scores engagement (high → keep, low → trim) STEP 3: ROUGH CUT (8 min) ButterCut removes: • Long pauses (>3 seconds) • Filler words (um, uh, like) • Tangents (off-topic sections < 10 seconds) • Technical errors (audio dropout, phone rings in background) Result: 45 min → 28 min STEP 4: CREATIVE DIRECTION Creative director persona (Claude) decides: • B-roll insertion points (when speaker gets abstract, show examples) • Graphics (when speaker mentions metrics, display chart) • Music (emotional underscore during key moments) • Color grading (consistent tone throughout) STEP 5: EFFECTS AND CAPTIONS Motion graphics added: • Speaker name and title (0:00 → 5:00) • Key quotes highlighted (auto-positioned on screen) • Charts for data points (animated in when mentioned) Captions generated from transcript: • Burned into video (subtitle track embedded) • Punctuated correctly (manual QA check) • Speaker labels (if multi-person interview) STEP 6: FINAL EXPORT Format: 1080p MP4, YouTube-optimized (h.264, AAC audio) Duration: 28 minutes (90% less than raw footage) File size: 2.1 GB Timestamp: ready for upload END-TO-END TIME Total processing: 20 minutes (automated) Vs manual editing in Premiere: 8-12 hours (for same quality) OUTPUT CHECKLIST ✓ Rough cut removes dead time ✓ B-roll inserted for visual interest ✓ Captions match video timing (within 100ms) ✓ Audio levels consistent (no volume jumps) ✓ Color grading uniform (no sudden shifts) ✓ Title cards added (viewer context) ✓ Outro links to CTA (calls to action) ✓ File ready for YouTube upload (resolution, aspect ratio) CUSTOMIZATION OPTIONS • Target duration (edit to 10 min, 15 min, 30 min) • B-roll source (royalty-free library, custom clips, none) • Music style (cinematic, upbeat, minimal) • Caption style (burned-in, .srt file, none) • Creative persona (documentary, informal, corporate) COST CALCULATION Manual editing (freelancer): 400-600 per hour × 10 hours = 4000-6000 ButterCut automated edit: 45 (processing) + 30 (prompting) = 75 ROI: 50x faster, 98% cost reduction
About this skill
name: buttercut description: Use when An open-source Ruby toolkit that lets Claude Code orchestrate a full video edit: transcription, rough cut, motion graphics, and captions.
ButterCut
ButterCut handles video metadata extraction and Final Cut Pro XML generation, combined with Claude Code skills (transcribe-audio, analyze-video, roughcut, take-selector) plus a built-in creative-director persona to autonomously edit raw footage into a finished video. Open source. dontsleeponai.com
What you get
- An open-source, Claude Code-orchestrated video editing pipeline.
Customize your output
- Swap in different creative personas or editing rules.
Example output
A full talking-head video autonomously cut, captioned and scored by Claude Code.
Best for
Content creators who want Claude Code to run their video edits end to end.
SKILL.md preview
---
name: buttercut
description: Use when orchestrating a full video edit in Claude Code — transcription, rough cut assembly, motion graphics, and captions — from raw footage to a finished video.
version: 1.0.0
category: Development / Video Editing
author: AgentVolt
license: proprietary
tags:
- development
- video-editing
- standard
---
# ButterCut
Handles video metadata extraction and Final Cut Pro XML generation, combining transcription, rough-cut assembly, motion graphics, and take selection with a creative-director persona.
## When to use
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