OpenChatCut

SkillMedia

Connect an MCP-capable coding agent to OpenChatCut and edit local video projects. Use when the user asks to install, connect, or set up OpenChatCut; inspect or edit an OpenChatCut project; work with its timeline, transcript, captions, media, generation, motion graphics, audio, color, or export tools; or recover from an OpenChatCut MCP error.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the OpenChatCut skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by 0xsline/openchatcut in skills/openchatcut/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

OpenChatCut is a local-first, agent-native video editor. This skill is the single external entry point; specialized editing guidance remains inside the running editor and is loaded on demand with load_skill.

Route the task

  • Install, connect, or diagnose the MCP server: read references/getting-started.md.
  • Inspect or modify a project: read references/editing-workflow.md.
  • Recover from a failed tool call, stale session, or missing editor: read references/known-errors.md.

Essentials

  1. Start OpenChatCut before connecting. The default MCP endpoint is http://localhost:5199/api/external-mcp/mcp.
  2. Call openchatcut_status, then list_projects. Select a project only when the user names it or the current context identifies it.
  3. Call load_skill before specialized work. It is read-only and requires neither begin_edit_session nor editSessionId; available names and support files come from the live MCP tool description. With progressive exposure enabled, this call reveals the skill's referenced tools and emits tools/list_changed; refresh the list before continuing.
  4. Before project reads or edits, call begin_edit_session. Keep its editSessionId and pass it to every draft-safe editor tool.
  5. Use approvalMode: "manual" unless the user explicitly asks for unattended application. In manual mode, the user approves the complete proposal in OpenChatCut. In auto mode, review_edit_session applies the complete draft.
  6. Finish with review_edit_session. Report success only after get_edit_session returns applied.

Skill version

2026-08-10.1

The OpenChatCut MCP server announces its required skill baseline. If the server baseline is newer, run:

npx skills update openchatcut

Fallback command:

npx skills add 0xsline/OpenChatCut --skill openchatcut

Signals

GitHub stars
2k
Forks
265
Last commit
Sep 2026

What people say

Users praise OpenChatCut for giving agents control of a real, editable multi-track timeline instead of a flat rendered video, with proposed edits you can review, undo, or export (e.g., FCPXML). The only recurring complaint is early-stage roughness — one post flags unsigned macOS builds and a broken Gemini backend, though no complaint appears in more than one post.

Praised for
edits land on an editable timeline you can undo or adjust ma
connects to Claude Code/Codex via MCP
open-source and local-first
Complaints
early-stage issues: unsigned macOS builds, Gemini backend er

Summarized from 6 public posts. Opinions are theirs, not ahel's.

Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
openchatcut
Source
github.com/0xsline/openchatcut