Create and edit video with AI
on a real timeline
ArtDaddy is a local-first AI video editor. Describe the cut and watch it happen on a multi-track timeline you can still grab, trim and undo. Drive it with Claude, Codex, Copilot or Cursor over MCP — or the agent built in. Nothing is uploaded to be edited.
Version 0.12.1 · free while we build
Real sessions. Every cut on screen was made by the agent.
Claude can edit your videos now
The whole toolset is exposed as a local MCP server. Point Claude, Codex, Copilot or Cursor at the project open in front of you and it can import footage, read the transcript, build the timeline, grade, caption and export — while you watch it happen. No agent of your own? One is built in.
Claude
Codex
Copilot
Cursor
Any MCP client
You bring the taste. ArtDaddy does the edit.
Say what you want changed, in your own words. No timeline surgery, no dragging clips around, nothing to learn first.
Not a template filler
Everything an editor expects, driven by whichever hand is faster — yours or the agent's.
Your footage never leaves
Media is referenced where it already lives, so importing is instant and a project never duplicates your library. Transcription runs on your machine.
Multi-track and keyframed
Trim, split, ripple, transitions, keyframed motion, colour grading, captions burned from a real transcript, and an ffmpeg export that matches the preview.
New shots on the same timeline
Video, images, music and voiceover generate straight into the project, already trimmed to the gap you asked them to fill. No round trip through five tabs.
Cut, graded, scored and exported in the app
Say goodbye to dragging clips around by hand. Every one of these was briefed in words and cut by the agent.
Everything worth knowing before you install
Which platforms does ArtDaddy run on?
Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit, and macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon (M1 and up). Both builds are full desktop apps with the same editor and the same agent — the Windows build is not a cut-down version. There is no Intel Mac build yet, and no Linux build yet.
Does my footage get uploaded anywhere?
No. Your media is referenced where it already sits on disk, editing and export run locally through a bundled ffmpeg, and transcription runs on your machine with Whisper. The only things that leave are the requests you explicitly make of an AI model — a prompt to generate a shot, or a question you ask the agent. Your footage is not training data, and projects are not stored in a cloud.
Can I use it without any AI at all?
Yes. It is a complete non-linear editor on its own: multi-track timeline, trimming, splitting, ripple delete, transitions, keyframed motion and scale, colour grading, captions and an ffmpeg export. Ignore the agent entirely and it is still an editor.
Which AI models can I use?
Video: Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1 Lite. Images: Nano Banana, Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, GPT-Image 1.5, GPT-Image 2 and MAI Image 2.5. Music: Lyria, including full songs with sung vocals. Plus voiceover generation, and on-device Whisper transcription for captions and search. Generated media lands on the timeline ready to trim.
Which agents can drive it?
Anything that speaks MCP — Claude Desktop and Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot and VS Code, and Cursor. ArtDaddy runs a local MCP server, so the agent edits the project already open in front of you rather than a copy. There is also an agent built into the app if you would rather not wire anything up.
Can I change what the agent did?
Yes, and this is the point of it. Every agent action is an ordinary edit on the
timeline — grab the clip, drag the handle, change the value. You share one undo
history with the agent, so Ctrl+Z works across both of you, and the
agent can carry on from whatever you just changed.
What can it actually make?
Short films and trailers, podcast and long-form clips with burned-in captions, social cuts in vertical, square or widescreen, ads and product videos. It works equally on footage you shot, footage you downloaded, and shots generated inside the app — usually a mix of all three, as everything on this page is.
Anything to know on first launch?
On macOS the build is not notarised yet: right-click the app and choose
Open, then confirm. Double-clicking it will claim the app is damaged.
You only do that once. Windows updates itself from inside the app; on macOS, check
back here for now.
What does it cost?
The editor is free while we are building it. Generation and agent calls run on our keys and are metered, so heavy AI use will eventually need credits — editing, exporting and the MCP server are not what you would be paying for.
Works with any agent over MCP
Free while we build. Windows and macOS.