How to Use Claude Opus 5.5 High in Claude Code to Edit Videos

Claude Code edits video by running command-line tools, mainly FFmpeg, on your files. It never works inside a visual timeline.

Claude cannot watch video files directly. It works from data about the video:

• Timestamped transcripts
• Still frames saved as images
• Silence and loudness readings
• File details from ffprobe
• Your own notes and timecodes

From that data it can plan cuts, write the commands, run them, and check the output.

Treat Claude Code as an assistant editor that reads the transcript and never tires of repetitive cuts.

Claude plan

Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, or a Console account. Claude Code is not on the free plan.

Claude Code

Version v2.1.280 or later to run Opus 5.5.

FFmpeg

The engine that cuts, joins, encodes, captions, and processes audio.

A transcription tool

For example OpenAI’s open-source Whisper or whisper.cpp, both of which run locally.

Your footage

Along with a separate backup of every original file.

Launch Claude Code in your project folder with:

claude --model opus --effort high

Or switch mid-session with /model opus and /effort high.

High effort pays off on multi-step edits like transcript-based cutting, where Claude must reason across timestamps, files, and commands. Drop to medium for simple conversions.

Before you edit anything:

• Back up every original outside Claude’s working folder
• Store originals in a raw folder
• Tell Claude never to change or delete that folder
• Save every output as a new file
• Label versions clearly, such as edit_v1, edit_v2

Put the rule “Never modify, move, or delete anything in raw/” in CLAUDE.md.

Ask Claude to set up a simple folder structure:

raw/

Original footage, never touched

proxies/

Lightweight copies for fast work

transcripts/

Text and timestamp files

frames/

Stills for visual checks

cuts/

Cut lists and edit notes

exports/

Finished videos

A clean structure makes every later step easier to automate.

Prompt:

Run ffprobe on every file in raw/. Report duration, resolution, frame rate, codec, audio channels, and anything likely to break joins, such as mixed frame rates or variable frame rate.

Mismatched clips often cause broken joins and audio drift. Catch them first.

For long or high-resolution footage, have Claude make lower-resolution proxy copies.

Run transcription, frame checks, and test cuts on the proxies. Apply the final cut list to the originals at export.

You experiment quickly and still export at full quality.

Have Claude transcribe each clip with word-level or segment-level timestamps.

A good transcript helps you:

• Edit by reading, not scrubbing
• Spot filler words and false starts
• Catch repeated takes
• Generate captions
• Pull strong quotes for short clips

Fix names, brands, and technical terms in the transcript before it feeds your captions.

Prompt:

Read the transcript. Mark what to remove: filler words, false starts, repeated takes (keep the best or last complete take), and long pauses. Remove nothing that changes the meaning. Present the cuts as a table with start time, end time, transcript text, and reason.

Review the cut table before anything renders. Your editorial judgment matters most here.

Have Claude find silences with FFmpeg’s silencedetect filter and suggest cuts.

• Set a silence threshold that suits your recording
• Leave a little padding so no words get clipped
• Keep pauses that land a point
• Test on a short section before the full file

Tight cuts feel energetic. Cuts with no room to breathe feel robotic.

Have Claude build the edit from the approved cut list.

Note: stream copy is fast but only cuts cleanly on keyframes, so cuts can land a few frames off. Re-encoding gives frame-accurate cuts.

Prompt:

Apply the approved cut list to the original files using frame-accurate cuts. Keep the audio in sync. Export edit_v1.mp4 to exports/ and overwrite nothing.

Have Claude grab a frame just before and just after each cut, then review those images for:

• Jarring jump cuts
• Black or frozen frames
• Mid-blink or awkward expressions
• Visual mismatches between takes
• Clipped text or graphics

Then watch the full edit yourself at normal speed.

Have Claude build an SRT caption file from the corrected transcript, timed to the final edit.

Sidecar captions

Upload the SRT file on its own. Viewers can switch captions on or off.

Burned-in captions

Render captions into the picture. Best for social feeds that autoplay on mute.

Keep lines short, readable on a phone, and clear of platform buttons.

With FFmpeg, Claude can help you:

• Even out loudness with the loudnorm filter
• Reduce steady background noise
• Cut low rumble with a high-pass filter
• Duck music under speech
• Match levels across clips
• Fade audio in and out

Around −14 LUFS is a common loudness target for online video. Confirm your platform’s guidance.

Bad audio drives viewers away faster than imperfect visuals.

For basic fixes, FFmpeg can apply:

• Brightness and contrast tweaks
• Saturation tweaks
• A color lookup table (LUT)
• Cropping and scaling
• Sharpening

For serious color grading, switch to a dedicated editor such as DaVinci Resolve or Premiere Pro.

Have Claude crop a 16:9 edit to 9:16 for Shorts, Reels, or TikTok.

• Keep the speaker’s face in frame
• Move captions into a safe area
• Check frames at the start, middle, and end
• Shift the crop wherever the subject moves

Automatic center crops often cut people off. Check frames every time.

Choose an approach:

Simple text

Use FFmpeg’s drawtext filter for titles and lower thirds.

Animated graphics

Build overlays in Remotion or HyperFrames, then composite them onto the edit.

Save your brand colors and fonts as rules in CLAUDE.md so every graphic matches.

Prompt:

Using the transcript, find the five strongest standalone moments between 20 and 60 seconds long. Each must make sense without context and open with a strong first line. List the start and end times, the opening line, and why each one works.

Approve the list, then have Claude cut, reframe, and caption each clip.

Some edits need hands-on finishing. Have Claude export your cut list as an EDL, which DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro can both import.

Let Claude handle the repetitive cutting. Do the final creative polish yourself in your editor.

In the Claude apps, the Adobe for Creativity connector links Claude to Creative Cloud apps, including Photoshop and Premiere.

Reach for Claude Code to automate file-based work, and the connector when your project lives inside Adobe apps.

If you cut the same kind of video every week, have Claude turn the workflow into a script or a Claude Code skill that:

• Transcribes new footage
• Proposes cuts for you to approve
• Applies your audio settings
• Adds branded captions
• Exports every format you need

Keep the approval step. Automation prepares edits. It does not publish them.

Before you publish, confirm that:

• Audio stays in sync to the last frame
• No words get clipped at cuts
• Captions match the spoken words
• Names and numbers are accurate
• Loudness stays consistent
• Resolution and frame rate are right
• The file plays on a phone

Protect

Back up originals and edit only copies.

Inspect

Check each file’s format first.

Transcribe

Turn speech into text you can edit.

Decide

Sign off on a written cut list.

Cut

Apply frame-accurate edits.

Check

Review frames, then watch the edit.

Finish

Add captions, audio fixes, and graphics.

Export

Render every format you need.

Copy and paste it, then fill in the brackets:

Act as my assistant video editor for this project. Never modify, move, or delete files in raw/. Write every output to a new file. 1. Inspect each clip with ffprobe and flag any format problems. 2. Transcribe each clip with timestamps. 3. Propose a cut list as a table that removes filler words, false starts, repeated takes, and long pauses without changing the meaning. Wait for my approval. 4. Apply the approved cuts with frame-accurate edits and keep the audio in sync. 5. Extract frames around each cut and check for jump cuts, black frames, and awkward moments. 6. Normalize loudness, add [burned-in / sidecar] captions in our brand style, and export a [aspect ratio] H.264 MP4 to exports/. Report every change you made and anything you were unsure about.

• File inspection
• Transcription
• Proposed cut lists
• Repetitive cutting
• Frame checks
• Caption files
• Audio normalization
• Format exports

• Story and pacing
• Cut approvals
• Creative polish
• Caption accuracy
• Rights to footage and music
• Final viewing
• Publishing

• Do not let Claude touch your only copy of the footage
• Do not render before you review the cut list
• Do not trust automatic crops until you check frames
• Do not publish captions you have not proofread
• Do not use stream copy when cuts must be frame-accurate
• Do not skip watching the final file