How to Edit Videos with Claude (Step-by-Step, Even 50 at Once)

To edit videos with Claude, connect Claude to a video editor, then tell it what you want in plain words. Claude can't change a video file by itself. With an editor connected (BatchEdits, through Claude's connector directory), you upload your clips in the chat, describe the look once ("crop to 9:16, cut silences, add captions"), and Claude edits every video and sends back download links. It works with any Claude model, including Fable 5.2, and you can edit up to 50 videos at once.

I build BatchEdits, so I'm biased. Below I'll show the three ways people edit video with Claude, what each one is good at, and the exact prompts I use.

Can Claude edit videos?

Not on its own. Claude reads and writes text, code and images. A video file needs an editor.

So "editing with Claude" means Claude drives a tool for you. There are three ways to set that up:

Most people want the first one. It's the one I'll walk through first.

How to edit videos with Claude (step by step)

1. Pick your model

Open Claude on the web, desktop or phone. Choose the model in the model picker. Any recent model works. I've been using Fable 5.2.

2. Connect a video editor

1. Go to claude.ai/directory/batchedits.
2. Click Connect.
3. Sign in to BatchEdits.

That's it. Nothing to install. New accounts get 3 free videos, no card needed.

If you connected a while ago and don't see new features, disconnect and reconnect. Claude keeps the tool list from the day you connected.

3. Upload your videos in the chat

Type:

I want to upload videos to BatchEdits.

An uploader opens inside the chat. Drop in your clips: phone videos, screen recordings, a long podcast. Big files are fine. They upload in pieces.

You can also give Claude a link to a video (a Google Drive, Dropbox or direct video link).

4. Describe the edit once

Make a style: crop to 9:16, remove silences, add bold captions with the
keyword highlighted, and zoom in on the key sentences.

Claude turns this into a style: one set of edits for every video. You can ask for changes in plain words ("make the captions smaller", "put them higher").

Popular caption looks have names you can just ask for, like "Hormozi-style captions" or "TikTok captions". Captions work in 99+ languages.

5. Edit the batch

Edit all of them with that style.

Claude checks with you before spending credits (1 per video). Every video gets edited in parallel. When they're done, Claude posts the download links in the chat.

6. Check, fix, post

Open a couple of videos. Auto captions are good, but they can miss a name or a brand. Fix the word in the BatchEdits editor and download again.

The style is saved. Next week it's one sentence: "edit my new videos with my Shorts style."

What you can ask Claude to do

Here are prompts that work with the connector:

• Captions: "Add captions in Spanish, white text, yellow highlight."
• Silences: "Cut the pauses but don't cut words in half."
• Vertical crop: "Crop everything to 9:16 for TikTok and Reels."
• Zooms: "Zoom in when I say something important."
• Clips from long videos: "Turn this podcast into 5 short clips of the best moments."
• Hooks: "Add a hook at the start of each video."
• B-roll: "Add B-roll that matches what I'm talking about."
• Copy a look: "Make my videos look like this one" (send a link).

How to edit multiple videos at once with Claude

This is where Claude plus a batch editor is different from editing one video at a time.

Most tools edit one video per chat. With BatchEdits, the style applies to the whole batch:

1. Upload up to 50 videos at once in the chat uploader.
2. Describe the style once.
3. Say "edit all of them."

Every video comes back with the same captions, crop and cuts. A week of Shorts is one chat.

Editing videos with Claude Code

If you live in a terminal, Claude Code can run the same editor through a command line:

npx batchedits login
npx batchedits run ~/videos/raw --style "Shorts" --out ~/videos/edited --yes

run uploads the folder, edits every video with your style, waits, and downloads the results. The login is stored on your machine, so the API key never ends up in Claude's context.

You can also have Claude Code write ffmpeg commands for trims and merges. That's fine for one-off cuts. It gets slow for captions and styled edits across many videos, because you end up rebuilding an editor in shell scripts.

Claude as a planner (no editor connected)

Without an editor, Claude can still help:

• Paste a transcript and ask for the best 30-second moments with timestamps.
• Ask it to write hooks, titles and captions for each clip.
• Ask for a cut list ("remove 0:42–0:51, 2:10–2:30").

You then make the cuts yourself in your editor. It's useful, but it's planning, not editing.

Does it work in ChatGPT too?

Yes. BatchEdits is also a ChatGPT app. The prompts are the same, the uploader opens in the chat the same way, and the download links show up when the videos are done.

Limits to know

• Claude needs the connector. Without it, Claude can only plan.
• Check captions on names and brands. Auto captions are close, not perfect.
• Free videos are watermarked, up to 10 minutes each. Paid plans remove the watermark.
• Credits: 1 per video, 1 per AI clip. Claude asks before it spends them.