# Show HN: VibeClip – open-source AI video editor you control by chatting

> Source: <https://github.com/oktaydbk54/vibeclip>
> Published: 2026-06-12 15:30:51+00:00

**Drop in a long video — podcast, interview, talk, stream — and VibeClip cuts it into
vertical, captioned, ready-to-post shorts.** Then you refine every clip by *chatting*:
*“make clip 2 punchier,” “bigger captions,” “add a zoom at 0:05,” “undo.”*

[Quick start](#-quick-start) · [Features](#-what-it-does) · [How it works](#-how-it-works) · [Bring your own key](#-bring-your-own-key-byok) · [Configuration](#-configuration) · [Contributing](#-contributing)

**Left:** the raw clip. **Right:** after one sentence — *“make it mrbeast style and add gameplay underneath”* — captioned, reframed to 9:16, and split-screened. Real pipeline output, not a mockup.

Footage: Andy Dickinson (CC-BY) · gameplay: Orbital - No Copyright Gameplay (CC-BY) · Minecraft © Mojang.

Spin up a private instance in three commands. All you add is **one** LLM key.

```
git clone https://github.com/oktaydbk54/vibeclip.git
cd vibeclip
cp .env.example .env          # add ONE line: OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...
docker compose up -d --build
# → open http://localhost:8765
```

With the defaults (`EMAIL_MODE=console`

, `REQUIRE_EMAIL_VERIFICATION=false`

) sign-up logs
you straight in — no email provider needed. Bring an **OpenAI** or **DeepSeek** key
(DeepSeek is the cheap one), or point `LLM_BASE_URL`

at any OpenAI-compatible server
(Ollama, LM Studio, OpenRouter…). Prefer no Docker? See [local install](#run-without-docker).

🎬 Long → shorts, automatically |
Transcribes on-device, scores the strongest moments (hook / flow / value — not a dumb keyword scan), reframes to 9:16 around the speaker, and burns word-synced captions. |
💬 Edit by chatting |
A tool-calling agent turns plain language into real edits — trims, filler-word removal (“uhh”/“ee”), zooms, styles, music, b-roll, brand overlays. One undo reverts a whole multi-step plan. |
🎨 Styles in one shot |
`hormozi` , `mrbeast` , `podcast_minimal` , `kinetic` — captions, pace, zoom, music and SFX applied together. Drop in your own preset as a JSON file. |
🖥️ A real studio UI |
Web app with a live 9:16 preview, clip cards, a CapCut-style timeline, and the chat copilot right beside it. |
🔑 Your key, your data |
Bring your own LLM key (OpenAI · Gemini · Claude · DeepSeek · any compatible endpoint). Nothing is proxied through us — there is no “us.” |
🏠 Self-host first |
One Docker command. Speech-to-text and every render run locally via faster-whisper + ffmpeg. AGPL-3.0, no SaaS lock-in. |

```
        upload
          │
   ┌──────▼───────┐   faster-whisper (local, no API key)
   │  transcribe  │
   └──────┬───────┘
   ┌──────▼────────────┐   LLM "brain" (your key) — structure + scored moments
   │ analyze structure │
   │  find highlights  │
   └──────┬────────────┘
   ┌──────▼───────┐   per clip, replayed from cached intermediates (~2–4s/edit)
   │  auto edit   │  jumpcut → 9:16 reframe → captions → music+ambience (ducked)
   │              │  → SFX → fades   ·   then your chat commands layer on top
   └──────┬───────┘
        export  →  vertical MP4, publish-ready
```

Only **two** things ever hit the network: your chosen **LLM** (to understand intent and
score moments) and, optionally, **Pexels** (stock b-roll). Speech-to-text and all
rendering stay on your machine.

VibeClip never ships with a key and never proxies your prompts anywhere except the
provider *you* choose. Two ways to supply one:

**Per instance**— set`OPENAI_API_KEY`

(or`DEEPSEEK_API_KEY`

, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint via`LLM_BASE_URL`

) in`.env`

.**Per user**— each account pastes its own key on the in-app** Settings**page, with a live*test-connection*. Keys are**encrypted at rest** and never sent back to the browser.

| Provider | Routed via | Notes |
|---|---|---|
OpenAI |
native | Default, best-supported. |
DeepSeek |
native | The budget pick — a typical short costs a few cents. |
Google Gemini |
OpenAI-compat endpoint | `gemini-2.5-flash` / `pro` . |
Anthropic Claude |
OpenAI-compat endpoint | `claude-haiku` / `sonnet` . |
Anything else |
`LLM_BASE_URL` |
Ollama, LM Studio, OpenRouter, your own proxy… |

Speech-to-text runs locally and needs **no** key.

Everything is driven by `.env`

(see `.env.example`

for the full, commented list). The ones
that matter most:

| Variable | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
`OPENAI_API_KEY` |
— | Your LLM key (preferred). |
`DEEPSEEK_API_KEY` |
— | Cheaper fallback, used if no OpenAI key. |
`LLM_BASE_URL` |
— | Any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (local models, proxies). |
`EMAIL_MODE` |
`console` |
`console` prints OTP to the log; `resend` sends real email. |
`REQUIRE_EMAIL_VERIFICATION` |
`false` |
`true` enforces email confirmation (public instances). |
`HOSTED_STUDIO` |
`true` |
`true` = the landing offers login/signup (use your own instance). `false` = a public marketing site that points everyone to GitHub to self-host (no login). |
`GA_MEASUREMENT_ID` |
— | Empty = no analytics injected (self-host default). |
`SITE_URL` |
`http://localhost:8765` |
Public base URL for blog canonical/OG/sitemap. |
`VIDEO_ENCODER` |
`libx264` |
Use `h264_videotoolbox` on Apple Silicon. |
`VIBECLIP_BIND` |
`127.0.0.1` |
docker-compose publish address (`0.0.0.0` to expose). |
`MAX_UPLOAD_SECONDS` |
`0` |
Longest uploadable video, seconds. `0` = no limit (self-host). |
`MAX_PROJECTS_PER_USER` |
`0` |
Projects per account. `0` = unlimited; cap it on a public instance. |

Requirements: **Python 3.12+**, **ffmpeg**, and the DejaVu fonts (for caption rendering).

```
cp .env.example .env          # add your LLM key
uv sync                       # or: pip install -e .
python -m chat.app            # → http://127.0.0.1:8765
```

First run downloads the Whisper model. Prefer the terminal? `python -m chat.cli <video.mp4>`

.

The repo bundles a small library of royalty-free media (music, ambience, SFX, demo
footage) for the built-in styles. Some tracks are **CC-BY** (Kevin MacLeod) and require
crediting in your video description — see the `CREDITS`

files under `assets/`

. VibeClip
**never** bundles or uses copyrighted/branded game footage.

Issues and PRs welcome — start with [ CONTRIBUTING.md](/oktaydbk54/vibeclip/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md). Security reports:
see

[. Be excellent to each other (](/oktaydbk54/vibeclip/blob/main/SECURITY.md)

`SECURITY.md`

[code of conduct](/oktaydbk54/vibeclip/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)).

**GNU AGPL-3.0** — see [ LICENSE](/oktaydbk54/vibeclip/blob/main/LICENSE). You can self-host and modify VibeClip freely;
if you run a modified version as a network service, you must offer that modified source to
its users. Copyright © 2026 the VibeClip authors.

Built for people who'd rather

**talk** to their editor than fight it.