FAQ
Questions people ask.
About the app, about Claude Code, about analysing footage, about your files, and about money. Anything missing, write to us.
The app
- What is BetterEdits?
- A small, fast video editor for the Mac, in the spirit of Instagram's Edits, built so that Claude Code can drive it. One magnetic timeline, video, audio, text and subtitle tracks, voiceover, and export at HD, 2K or 4K.
- Do I need Claude Code to use it?
- No. It is a complete editor on its own: cut, caption, voiceover, text, export. Claude Code is what makes it different from the others, and any agent that reads a CLAUDE.md-style guide works the same way.
- Which Macs does it run on?
- macOS 15 or later on Apple silicon. Intel Macs are not supported; the preview and export lean on the media engine of the M-series chips.
- Does it work offline?
- The editor does, entirely: editing, placeholders, voiceover, text, subtitles and export never touch the network. Claude Code brings its own connection, and analysing footage sends the file to the analysis service once.
- How is it different from CapCut or Edits?
- It is smaller on purpose, and it takes instructions. Your footage stays in folders you own, your video is a folder you can open anywhere, and Claude Code can edit it while you watch. The phone editors hide all of that inside one app.
- What is not in it?
- Effects, transitions, keyframes, colour tools, speed ramps, multicam, a plugin store, an account. For the long-form piece use Final Cut; your footage stays in folders both can read.
- What does beta mean?
- The app cuts, captions and exports real videos today, and we are still finding the rough edges. Builds come often and the app offers each one by itself. If something breaks, write to us and it gets fixed in the next build.
- Will my Mac open it?
- The beta is signed by us but not yet notarized by Apple, so the first launch goes through right-click and Open, or Privacy & Security in System Settings.
Claude Code
- How does Claude Code edit a video?
- Every workspace carries a guide the app wrote for the agent and a CLAUDE.md that imports it. Open Claude Code in the workspace folder and it can read the project, write the cut, run the app's commands, look at frames, and export. Every change lands in the app as one undo step.
- Does the app have to be open?
- The files can be edited without it. The commands talk to the running app and launch it in the background when it is not running.
- What can Claude break?
- The same things you can from the window, and each change is one undo away. The reader is strict: a mistake in a file is refused with the place it happened, and the app keeps your version until it is fixed.
- Can Claude see my video?
- Not the way you do. It reads the transcript of analysed footage to know what was said and when, and it draws itself 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. Any agent that reads a CLAUDE.md-style guide and can run a command line works the same way.
- Do I need an Anthropic API key?
- Not for the app. Claude Code uses your own Claude subscription or key, as it does for anything else. The only key the app keeps is the analysis key.
- What should I ask it first?
- Something with a transcript behind it: cut the pauses, caption it, turn a long recording into short clips. The tutorials give the exact words.
Analysing footage
- What is analysed footage?
- A file that has been read once by the analysis service, which writes what it found next to it: every spoken word with its timing, speakers, on-screen text, scenes, silences. BetterEdits reads it for captions; Claude reads it to cut by what was said.
- Do I have to analyse my footage?
- No. Footage that has not been analysed plays, cuts and exports as usual. Claude can still cut it by time and look at its frames; it just cannot cut it by what was said, and Generate Subtitles has no words to work with.
- How do I analyse a file?
- You do not. When Claude needs the words in a file it runs the analysis itself. Analysis is part of Pro: sign in from the app's account badge, start the trial, and Claude does the rest.
- Where is my sign-in kept?
- On your Mac, in the app's own settings, never in a workspace and never in a file Claude edits. The dashboard lists every linked Mac and can sign one out.
- What does it cost?
- Pro is $19 a month after a 7-day free trial, and grants $22 of analysis credit every month, about 110 minutes of video. Credits never expire. Packs from $10 when you need more.
- Is the format open?
- Yes. The file next to the footage is a plain JSON document in the analyzemedia format, readable by anything. Files written under the format's earlier name, .smartmedia, are still read.
- Does analysing upload my footage?
- Yes, once per file, to the analysis service, and the result comes back next to the file. Editing never uploads anything.
- Where do I sign up?
- From the app: the account badge, Sign in, approve it in the browser. Or at https://dashboard.betteredits.app/sign-up and link the Mac afterwards.
Your files
- Where do my videos live?
- In a workspace folder you choose. Every video is three JSON files and a media folder next to them; exports are ordinary MP4 files. Nothing is hidden in a library you cannot open.
- Can I edit a video without the app?
- Yes. A video is three JSON files written for reading: one clip per line, keys in order, defaults left out. Change them in any editor and the app picks the change up within a second, as one undo step.
- 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, plays as a labelled plate, and Relink or Choose from Sources points it at another file. A file put back where it was is picked up on its own.
- Can I put a workspace in git?
- Yes. Every cut is a readable diff of timeline.json.
Money
- Is the app free?
- The editor is, forever: the download, every hand-made cut, caption, text and export, every update, no sign-in. Pro is the paid plan.
- What do I pay for, then?
- Pro: agent integration. Claude Code and any other agent driving the editor through its command line and MCP server, with your footage analysed so they can cut by what was said, and automatic captions from those words.
- Can I cancel?
- Any time, on the dashboard. The plan runs to the end of the period you paid for, and the credits you have stay yours.
The manual has the details: Docs. The tutorials have the words to say: Tutorials.
BetterEdits for Mac
Version 2.0.0 · macOS 15 or later, Apple silicon
Free. No account, nothing to sign in to.