# Video-use: Edit videos with coding agents

> Source: <https://github.com/browser-use/video-use>
> Published: 2026-07-21 03:56:57+00:00

Introducing **video-use** — edit videos with Claude Code. 100% open source.

Drop raw footage in a folder, chat with Claude Code, get `final.mp4`

back. Works for any content — talking heads, montages, tutorials, travel, interviews — without presets or menus.

Try video-use in [Browser Use Cloud](https://cloud.browser-use.com/v4?utm_campaign=video-use-use-in-cloud&utm_source=github).

**Cuts out filler words**(`umm`

,`uh`

, false starts) and dead space between takes**Auto color grades** every segment (warm cinematic, neutral punch, or any custom ffmpeg chain)**30ms audio fades** at every cut so you never hear a pop**Burns subtitles** in your style — 2-word UPPERCASE chunks by default, fully customizable**Generates animation overlays** via[HyperFrames](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes),[Remotion](https://www.remotion.dev/),[Manim](https://www.manim.community/), or PIL — spawned in parallel sub-agents, one per animation**Self-evaluates the rendered output** at every cut boundary before showing you anything**Persists session memory** in`project.md`

so next week's session picks up where you left off

Paste into Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, Openclaw, or any agent with shell access:

```
Set up https://github.com/browser-use/video-use for me.

Read install.md first to install this repo, wire up ffmpeg, register the skill with whichever agent you're running under, and set up the ElevenLabs API key — ask me to paste it when you need it. Then read SKILL.md for daily usage, and always read helpers/ because that's where the editing scripts live. After install, don't transcribe anything on your own — just tell me it's ready and wait for me to drop footage into a folder.
```

The agent handles the clone, dependencies, skill registration, and prompts you once for your ElevenLabs API key (grab one at [elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys](https://elevenlabs.io/app/settings/api-keys)).

Then point your agent at a folder of raw takes:

```
cd /path/to/your/videos
claude    # or codex, hermes, etc.
```

For always-on editing from your own VPS or Telegram, run the agent through [Browser Use Box](https://browser-use.com/bux). [Watch the 15-second demo](https://www.tiktok.com/@browser_use/video/7639824093721758989).

And in the session:

edit these into a launch video

It inventories the sources, proposes a strategy, waits for your OK, then produces `edit/final.mp4`

next to your sources. All outputs live in `<videos_dir>/edit/`

— the skill directory stays clean.

If you'd rather do it by hand:

```
# 1. Clone and symlink into your agent's skills directory
git clone https://github.com/browser-use/video-use ~/Developer/video-use
ln -sfn ~/Developer/video-use ~/.claude/skills/video-use        # Claude Code
# ln -sfn ~/Developer/video-use ~/.codex/skills/video-use       # Codex

# 2. Install deps
cd ~/Developer/video-use
uv sync                         # or: pip install -e .
brew install ffmpeg             # required
brew install yt-dlp             # optional, for downloading online sources

# 3. Add your ElevenLabs API key
cp .env.example .env
$EDITOR .env                    # ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=...
```

The LLM never watches the video. It **reads** it — through two layers that together give it everything it needs to cut with word-boundary precision.

**Layer 1 — Audio transcript (always loaded).** One ElevenLabs Scribe call per source gives word-level timestamps, speaker diarization, and audio events (`(laughter)`

, `(applause)`

, `(sigh)`

). All takes pack into a single ~12KB `takes_packed.md`

— the LLM's primary reading view.

```
## C0103  (duration: 43.0s, 8 phrases)
  [002.52-005.36] S0 Ninety percent of what a web agent does is completely wasted.
  [006.08-006.74] S0 We fixed this.
```

**Layer 2 — Visual composite (on demand).** `timeline_view`

produces a filmstrip + waveform + word labels PNG for any time range. Called only at decision points — ambiguous pauses, retake comparisons, cut-point sanity checks.

Naive approach: 30,000 frames × 1,500 tokens =

45M tokens of noise. Video Use:12KB text + a handful of PNGs.

Same idea as browser-use giving an LLM a structured DOM instead of a screenshot — but for video.

```
Transcribe ──> Pack ──> LLM Reasons ──> EDL ──> Render ──> Self-Eval
                                                              │
                                                              └─ issue? fix + re-render (max 3)
```

The self-eval loop runs `timeline_view`

on the *rendered output* at every cut boundary — catches visual jumps, audio pops, hidden subtitles. You see the preview only after it passes.

**Text + on-demand visuals.** No frame-dumping. The transcript is the surface.**Audio is primary, visuals follow.** Cuts come from speech boundaries and silence gaps.**Ask → confirm → execute → self-eval → persist.** Never touch the cut without strategy approval.**Zero assumptions about content type.** Look, ask, then edit.**12 hard rules, artistic freedom elsewhere.** Production-correctness is non-negotiable. Taste isn't.

See [ SKILL.md](/browser-use/video-use/blob/main/SKILL.md) for the full production rules and editing craft.