FAQ
Frequently asked questions
About the app, the agents, footage analysis, your files and pricing. If yours isn't here, email us.
The app
- What is BetterEdits?
- A small, fast video editor for the Mac, in the spirit of Instagram's Edits app, built so that Claude Code and other AI agents can drive it. One magnetic timeline with video, audio, text and subtitle tracks, voiceover recording, and export at HD, 2K or 4K.
- Do I need an agent to use it?
- No. BetterEdits is a complete editor on its own: cut, caption, add text and a voiceover, export. The agent is what makes it different. Claude Code comes first, and Codex, Cursor or any agent that speaks MCP drives it the same way.
- Which Macs does it run on?
- macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon. Intel Macs aren't supported.
- Does it work offline?
- The editor does, completely. Editing, placeholders, voiceover, text, captions and export never touch the network. Your agent brings its own connection, and analysing footage sends a small copy of each file to our service once.
- How is it different from CapCut or Edits?
- It's smaller on purpose, and it takes instructions. Your footage stays in folders you own, your video is a document you can open anywhere, and an agent can edit it while you watch. Phone editors keep all of that inside one app.
- What isn't in it?
- Effects, transitions, keyframes, colour tools, speed ramps, multicam, a plugin store, and an account to edit. For a long-form piece use Final Cut. Your footage stays in folders both can read.
Agents
- How does Claude Code edit a video?
- Connect an Agent in the app adds BetterEdits to Claude Code once, as an MCP server. The agent then asks the app for the open video as one document, edits it, and hands it back. The app applies it as one undo step. The agent can also render frames to check its work, write captions from the transcript, and export.
- Does the app have to be open?
- No. The tools talk to the running app, and they launch it in the background when it isn't running.
- What can the agent break?
- Only what you could break from the window yourself, and each change is one undo away. The app checks everything the agent sends. A mistake is refused with the place it happened, and nothing changes.
- Can the agent see my video?
- Not the way you do. It reads the transcript and the other facts BetterEdits found in your footage, and it renders frames and contact sheets to check a cut. Cutting by words works well. Judging a look does not.
- Does it only work with Claude Code?
- Claude Code is what we build for and test with. Connect an Agent has Install buttons for the Claude app and Codex too. Cursor and any other agent that speaks MCP take the same server command from Settings › Agent integration.
- Do I need an API key?
- Not for the app. Claude Code uses your own Claude subscription or key, Codex your OpenAI account, Cursor whatever model you have set. The only credential the app keeps is your BetterEdits sign-in.
- What should I ask it first?
- Something the transcript can answer: cut the pauses, caption it, turn a long recording into short clips. The tutorials give you the exact words.
Analysing footage
- What is analysed footage?
- A file our service has read once. It writes what it found next to the file: every spoken word with its timing, who said it, the pauses, the text on screen, the scenes. BetterEdits reads it for captions. The agent reads it to cut by what was said.
- Do I have to analyse my footage?
- No. Footage that hasn't been analysed plays, cuts and exports as usual. The agent can still cut it by time and look at its frames. It just can't cut it by what was said, and it has no words to make captions from.
- How do I analyse a file?
- You don't. On Pro, BetterEdits analyses every file in your workspace by itself: the files you copy into a video and everything in your libraries, now and later. Adding a library is the one time it asks, with the file count, the total length and the credits. A dot on each file shows where it stands, and one button pauses the whole queue.
- Can an agent spend my credits without asking?
- No. Analysis runs on what is already in your workspace. An agent that wants to add a library, or to pause or resume the queue, can only ask. The app puts the question to you with the agent's name, and nothing happens until you answer.
- Does analysing upload my footage?
- A copy, once per file. For a video it's a small low-resolution proxy with the sound. For audio it's the file itself. The result comes back next to the file and the copy is deleted when the analysis is done. Editing never uploads anything.
- What happens when I run out of credits?
- The queue waits, tells you what it needs, and offers to buy more. Nothing fails and nothing is lost. It carries on by itself once the credits land.
- Is the format open?
- Yes. The file next to your footage is plain JSON that anything can read.
Your files
- Where do my videos live?
- In a workspace you choose, one document in Finder that opens in the app. Inside it, every video is three JSON files and a media folder. Exports go to your Movies folder, or wherever you last exported. Nothing is hidden in a library you can't open.
- Can I read a video without the app?
- Yes. Show Package Contents on the workspace and every video is three JSON files written to be read: one clip per line, keys in order, defaults left out.
- Is my footage copied?
- Files in your media folders are used where they are. A file from anywhere else is copied once into the video's own media folder, so a shoot is never duplicated and a one-off file travels with its video.
- What happens when a file goes missing?
- The video still opens. The clip turns red and plays as a labelled plate. Relink or Choose from Sources points it at another file, and a file put back where it was is picked up on its own.
- Can I keep a workspace in git?
- Yes. Every cut is a readable diff of the timeline file.
- Where is my sign-in kept?
- On your Mac, in the app's own settings. Never in a workspace, and never in a file an agent edits. The dashboard lists every linked Mac and can sign one out.
Pricing
- Is the app free?
- The editor is free: the download, every cut, caption, text and export you make by hand, every update, no sign-in. Pro is the paid plan.
- What does Pro include?
- Agents. Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any MCP agent driving the editor, your footage analysed so they can cut by what was said, and captions written from those words.
- What does it cost?
- $29 a month, or $23 a month billed yearly, after a 7-day free trial. Every month you get 450 credits, enough to analyse about 150 minutes of raw video. Credits never expire. Packs of 100, 300 and 1,000 credits add more, and the plan's credits cost less each than any pack.
- How does the trial start?
- From the app. Click the account badge, choose Start free trial, and finish in your browser. Your card goes on file and nothing is charged for seven days. The agent will also point you there the first time it needs Pro.
- Can I cancel?
- Any time, from the dashboard. The plan runs to the end of the period you paid for, and the credits you have stay yours.
For more detail, read the docs. For the exact words to say to your agent, see the tutorials.
BetterEdits for Mac
Version 0.8.0 · 15 MB · macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon
Free to edit, no account. Agents need Pro, which starts with a 7-day free trial.