How to Edit Videos with Claude Code: 3 Prompts Step by Step

This guide shows how to use Claude Code for AI video editing. The workflow is simple: prepare a local project folder, let Claude check and install the required tools, teach it the editing style you like, then ask it to edit your newest video using that style. It is designed for creators who want to automate repeatable edits, captions, and Reels from footage they have already recorded.

This is a video editing with Claude Code workflow, not a text-to-video generator. Claude coordinates the process while local tools do the media work: FFmpeg handles cutting and audio, whisper-ctranslate2 creates the transcript, and HyperFrames builds and renders the visual composition. The article follows the three prompts and sequence in the supplied PDF, with the Claude interface step corrected using your screenshots.

What this AI video editing workflow does

Claude Code is the coordinator, not a standalone video timeline editor in this particular setup. It reads project files, plans the edit, and runs the tools you approve. FFmpeg processes the media, whisper-ctranslate2 transcribes speech, and HyperFrames builds animated captions and renders the MP4. This makes the workflow useful for talking-head videos, tutorials, and short-form Reels made from existing footage.

If you are searching for an AI video editor, note the intent difference: this tutorial edits footage you already have. It does not generate a new video from a text prompt.

Before you start

This workflow uses Claude Desktop with Claude Code and a local project folder. Anthropic’s current getting-started guide says to open the Code tab, start a session, and choose the project folder. You do not need to upload every source file manually when Claude Code is working in that local folder.

Step 1 — Open Claude Code (not the Coder suggestions)

Open Claude Desktop and use the Code icon/tab in the top bar. In the interface shown in your screenshot, the small Coder chip below the message box opens a list of prompt ideas (UI/UX mockups, debugging, technical diagrams, and similar starters). That menu is not the Claude Code workspace.

Step 2 — Create the project folder

Create a folder named AI Video Editor. Inside it, create the subfolders shown in the PDF: Raw Footage, References, and Exports. We also recommend adding a Music folder because Prompt 03 expects music to come from your own files.

After creating the folder, connect Claude to it using the local-folder workflow. From this point forward, the three prompts will operate inside that same project space.

Step 3 — Prompt 01: Install the AI video editing tools

Prompt 01 is the setup prompt. It tells Claude to inspect your machine, install what is missing, and test the tools before moving on. The tools listed in the prompt include Node.js, FFmpeg, uv, HyperFrames, whisper-ctranslate2, and yt-dlp.

You are setting up this folder as my video-editing studio. Explain each step to me in simple Moroccan Darija, and ask before installing anything.

1. Check my OS and what is already installed (node, ffmpeg, uv, hyperframes, whisper-ctranslate2, yt-dlp). Skip what is already there.
2. Install what is missing:
  - Windows (PowerShell):
     winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
     winget install Gyan.FFmpeg
     powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"
  - macOS: brew install node ffmpeg uv (if there is no Homebrew, use the official installers from nodejs.org, ffmpeg and astral.sh/uv)
  Then, on any OS:
     npm install -g hyperframes
     hyperframes browser ensure
     uv tool install whisper-ctranslate2 --python 3.12
     uv tool install yt-dlp
     npx -y skills@latest add heygen-com/hyperframes --all -g -a claude-code -y
     npx -y skills@latest add remotion-dev/skills --all -g -a claude-code -y
  Remotion is not installed globally: it is created inside a project only when a video needs it. Just check that npm can reach it with: npm view remotion version
  If a command is not found right after installing, open a new terminal (PATH) and try again.
3. Test that everything really works:
  - node -v, ffmpeg -version, yt-dlp --version, whisper-ctranslate2 --help
  - make a 3-second test video with HyperFrames (npx hyperframes init _test --example blank --resolution portrait --non-interactive --skip-transcribe, then render it to Exports/test.mp4) and check that the file plays.
4. Create the folders Raw Footage, References and Exports if they are missing.
5. Finish with a short table: tool | version | test OK or not. If something failed, fix it before you stop.
6. Tell me to close this chat and open a new one, so the new skills load.

Step 4 — Prompt 02: Teach Claude your editing style

Prompt 02 teaches Claude the editing style you like. You give it 3 to 5 example video links. Claude then studies the hook, pacing, caption placement, highlighted words, music energy, and motion between cuts. Finally, it writes a file named STYLE.md that defines the rules for your future edits.

Learn my editing taste from these videos (3 to 5 links):
1. <link>
2. <link>
3. <link>
4. <link>
5. <link>

1. Download them with yt-dlp into References/. If a link fails, tell me and I will put the file there myself.
2. For each video, measure it with ffmpeg: duration, number of cuts and average shot length (scene detection), and the loudness. Make a contact sheet of its shots and look at it yourself. Transcribe the first 10 seconds with whisper-ctranslate2 to see the hook and the caption rhythm.
3. Note for each one: the hook in the first 2 seconds, the pacing, the caption style (font, size, position, how many words at a time, highlighted words), the colours, the motion between shots, the music energy.
4. Write STYLE.md in this folder: clear, numbered rules my edits must follow (with numbers: shot length, caption size and position, colours as hex codes…), plus what makes these videos work.
5. The key rule: take inspiration from them, not a copy. Never reuse their words, footage, music, logos or characters. My face, my voice and my brand stay mine.
6. Show me STYLE.md in 10 lines of Darija and ask me what to change.

• 1
  Replace the placeholders with your own video links.
  Do not send the prompt with <link> still unchanged.
• 2
  Let Claude analyze the videos.
  It measures technical rhythm and also studies the visual style.
• 3
  Review STYLE.md.
  Claude should summarize it in Darija. Read it and ask for changes until it matches your taste.

Step 5 — Prompt 03: Edit your video

Now place your real source video inside Raw Footage. If you have background music or sound effects that you are allowed to use, place them in Music. Then send Prompt 03. Claude will transcribe the speech, let you correct the transcript, remove dead air, add captions in the style of STYLE.md, preview four still frames, and finally render the draft and the final export.

Edit the newest video in Raw Footage/ following STYLE.md. Talk to me in Darija.

1. Transcribe it with whisper-ctranslate2 with word timestamps (my language: Moroccan Darija, use --language ar). Show me the transcript and let me correct the words before you make captions: the captions use my corrected text, not the raw transcription.
2. Cut the dead air: find the silences with ffmpeg (silencedetect) and remove the pauses and false starts, keep all my real sentences.
3. Build the edit as a HyperFrames composition (use the hyperframes skill): 9:16, 1080x1920, word-by-word captions in the style of STYLE.md with the key words highlighted, light motion graphics where they help understand.
4. Music: use the file I put in a Music/ folder, low under my voice. If there is none, ask me (never download music from the internet). Add a few soft sound effects on the visual moments.
5. Before rendering, show me 4 still frames (hook, middle, a caption close-up, end) and a short list of what you cut. Wait for my OK.
6. Render a draft, then the final into Exports/. Check a few frames of the final yourself before telling me it is done.
7. If I ask for a change in plain words ("kbbr l hook", "captions l fou9", "music ghir chwiya"), apply it, show me again, and re-render only what changed.

Full workflow summary

• 1
  Set up the environment.
  Open Claude Desktop and work from the correct local-folder style workflow.
• 2
  Create the folder structure.
  Build AI Video Editor with the required subfolders.
• 3
  Paste Prompt 01.
  Install and test the tools, then start a fresh chat.
• 4
  Paste Prompt 02.
  Give Claude 3 to 5 example links so it can generate STYLE.md.
• 5
  Add your video and optional music.
  Use Raw Footage and Music.
• 6
  Paste Prompt 03.
  Review the transcript, approve the preview frames, and let Claude render the final export.

Frequently asked questions

Official documentation and tools

Use these official pages to confirm the current installation steps and tool requirements. Commands and supported versions can change, so check the latest documentation before installing.

• Download Claude Desktop and open the Code workspace.
• Anthropic: Your first day in Claude Code.
• HyperFrames official repository for skills, preview, and rendering.
• FFmpeg official documentation.
• whisper-ctranslate2 documentation.
• yt-dlp official repository.