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mcp

Edit with an AI assistant.

bettercut comes with an MCP server, so Claude — or any assistant that speaks the Model Context Protocol — can edit with you. Ask it to cut the pauses out of an interview, title every speaker, make a vertical copy for Shorts, or duck the music under the voice, and watch it happen in the window. Every change it makes is on your undo history, like your own.

An assistant restyling a title, adding a lower third and making a vertical copy, live in the bettercut window

1

Install bettercut

The server, bettercut-mcp, comes with the app on Windows and Mac; on Linux the AppImage is the server too.

download 0.5.0

2

Connect your assistant

In bettercut, Windows → AI Assistant shows the exact command for your install, ready to copy — for Claude Code, Claude Desktop and other apps. The Claude Code commands are below.

3

Ask it to attach

With bettercut open, say "attach to the bettercut app". From then on its edits land in your window as it makes them. It can see what you have selected, so "make this clip warmer" means the one you clicked.

It connects only on your computer, with a key the app makes each time it starts. Without attaching, it edits project files on its own.

claude code

# Windows
claude mcp add bettercut -- "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\bettercut\bettercut-mcp.exe"
# Mac
claude mcp add bettercut -- /Applications/bettercut.app/Contents/MacOS/bettercut-mcp
# Linux
claude mcp add bettercut -- ~/Applications/bettercut-x86_64.AppImage --mcp

55 tools

Each is one of the editor's own commands — the same one a click runs — so whatever the assistant does, Ctrl+Z undoes. It can look at any frame of the edit (preview_frame) to check its own work.

Working with you

  • attach_to_app
  • detach_from_app
  • get_selection
  • select_clips
  • set_playhead

Projects

  • new_project
  • open_project
  • save_project
  • describe_project
  • list_templates
  • apply_template
  • copy_as_shape
  • switch_sequence
  • preview_frame
  • undo
  • redo
  • export

Cutting

  • import_media
  • add_to_timeline
  • split_clip
  • delete_clip
  • move_clip
  • trim_clip
  • remove_silences
  • split_at_scenes
  • mark_beats
  • add_marker
  • freeze_frame
  • set_speed
  • reverse_clip

Look

  • set_transform
  • picture_in_picture
  • adjust_colour
  • apply_filter
  • set_effect
  • set_opacity
  • set_movement
  • animate
  • add_transition
  • set_fades
  • add_colour

Words and graphics

  • add_title
  • style_title
  • animate_title
  • add_lower_third
  • add_shape
  • add_sticker
  • add_timer
  • add_captions
  • import_captions

Sound

  • set_volume
  • normalise_volume
  • duck_under_voice
  • enhance_voice
  • mute_clip

The full reference is in the README, and the server is in the same open-source repository as the editor.