Show HN: Edit Video with Claude Code (github.com)

ButterCut is an open-source toolchain (Show HN) that uses Claude Code skills plus a Ruby gem to automate rough-cut video editing: it analyzes footage, transcribes audio, generates “visual transcripts,” and produces editor-ready timelines (FCPXML for Final Cut Pro or xmeml for Premiere). Using a conversational interface, Claude Code orchestrates parallel processing (FFmpeg frame extraction, WhisperX for word-level transcription, and AI visual analysis), asks simple editorial questions (story focus, duration, pacing), and outputs a YAML roughcut that the Ruby gem converts into a timeline XML you can import straight into NLEs. The result is a fast way to turn raw footage into structured edit timelines with AI-made editorial decisions. Technically, ButterCut ties together Ruby 3.3.6 (XML generation), Python 3.12.8 (WhisperX), FFmpeg, and Claude Code skills (library, transcribe-audio, analyze-video, roughcut). Libraries store footage paths, JSON transcripts, visual transcripts and library.yaml state; clips are described as hashes (path, start_at, duration) and timings are rounded to frame boundaries. Installation is managed via mise and standard bundle/pip steps; FCPXML can be validated with xmllint. For editors and ML practitioners this is significant: it demonstrates practical LLM-driven orchestration of multimodal pipelines to automate repetitive editing tasks while preserving frame-accurate exports for professional tools.