How to Edit Videos With Claude (Step by Step, 2026)

Can Claude edit videos?

Not by itself. Claude has no timeline, no renderer and no way to open your footage. Ask it to "edit my video" in a plain chat and you'll get a plan, a script or a shot list, which is useful, but it's not an edit.

What Claude can do is use other apps. Connect it to a video editor and it stops advising and starts working: it reads your timeline, places cuts, adds titles and captions, grades colour, and renders frames to check the result. This guide uses Takejam because it was built for exactly that. It runs in the browser, the Free plan is enough to follow along, and every change Claude makes is an ordinary timeline edit you can drag around afterwards.

Most other "edit with Claude" guides we found today take one of two routes. Some connect Claude to a tool that trims, captions and removes filler words from a recording (Opus Clip, Tella). Others have Claude Code write ffmpeg scripts that spit out a finished MP4 (Learn With Hasan). Both work, but the first gives you a narrow set of edits and the second gives you a file with no timeline to fix. The setup below gives you a full editor that Claude and you share.

What you need

• A Claude account. Custom connectors work on every plan, including Free, which allows one custom connector (Anthropic's help page).
• A free Takejam account at app.takejam.com.
• Chrome or Edge on a computer (Windows, Mac or Linux). There's no phone editing.
• Your clips, music and images on your computer. You'll drop them into Takejam yourself. Claude can't upload files, and your media never leaves your machine.

Option 1: add Takejam as a Claude connector

This takes about a minute and works in Claude on the web and in the desktop app.

1. In Claude, open Customize → Connectors.
2. Click + Add, then Add custom connector.
3. Name it Takejam, paste https://api.takejam.com/mcp and click Continue.
4. Claude detects the sign-in settings by itself. Leave them as they are and click Continue, then Add.
5. Click Connect. A Takejam page opens: sign in, pick the workspace Claude may edit, and click Allow. Takejam's page spells out what Claude gets: it can edit projects in that workspace, and it can't see files on your computer, your password or your billing.
6. Open your project at app.takejam.com so you can watch.
7. In any chat, click the + button, choose Connectors, turn on Takejam, and ask for your edit.

Anthropic moves these menus occasionally. If you can't find them, search Claude's settings for "connectors".

Option 2: use Claude Code

If you already live in the terminal, add Takejam with one command and sign in when it asks:

claude mcp add --transport http takejam https://api.takejam.com/mcp

Then open your project in the browser and tell Claude Code what to change. It uses the same eight tools as the chat app, so everything below applies.

Option 3: chat with Claude inside the editor

1. Open or create a project at app.takejam.com.
2. Click the AI tab on the left and choose Claude.
3. Paste an API key from the Claude Console.
4. Pick a model from the list (Takejam suggests the best default) and type your request.

Your key is kept in your browser and goes only to Anthropic. Usage is billed to the key, separately from any Claude subscription.

What should you ask Claude?

Say what you want, how long it should be and how it should feel. Specific requests work far better than "make it good".

Then work in small steps. "Make the title smaller" beats rewriting the whole brief. If a change goes wrong, click Undo AI change in Takejam's top bar, or just ask Claude to undo its last edit.

How does Claude check its own work?

This is the part that makes Claude a good fit. Takejam gives it a tool that renders frames exactly as the export would and returns them as pictures. Claude can ask for up to six specific moments, or a contact sheet of up to 24 frames across the video. So a request like "look at frames at 2, 5 and 9 seconds and fix anything that looks off" makes it render, look, and correct itself before telling you it's done.

For a bigger edit, Claude's usual routine is:

1. Read the timeline (clips, times, text, effects, the music's beat grid).
2. Apply the whole edit as one change, so it's one click to undo.
3. Render a few frames and look at them.
4. Fix what's wrong, then tell you what it changed.

Name your files before you start. "drone-beach.mp4" and "interview-maria.mov" tell Claude far more than "IMG_4031.MOV", and you'll get better cuts for free.

What can't Claude do here?

• Upload or fetch files. Drop your media into Takejam first. Claude can only use what's in the project's bin.
• Generate new footage. It edits what you give it.
• Watch your raw video. It sees a description of the timeline and, when it checks its work, a few small preview frames. That's by design: your files stay on your computer.
• Touch approved scenes. If a reviewer has marked a scene approved in the Review tab, Claude leaves it alone.

Tips for better results

• Give it the brief up front. Who's the video for, where will it be posted, how long should it be. One sentence each.
• Ask for a check. "Look at it and tell me what's off" costs one more message and catches most mistakes.
• Finish by hand. Claude gets you most of the way quickly. Then nudge a cut, move a keyframe or tweak a colour yourself on the same timeline.
• Use review notes. On the Team plan, teammates leave notes on the video, and you can ask Claude to "answer the open review notes and resolve them".

Is it free?

Takejam's Free plan includes the full editor, 1080p export with no watermark and 50 AI edits a day. Creator ($5 a month, or $48 a year) makes AI edits unlimited and adds 4K and HEVC/AV1 export, the brand kit and all templates. Team ($8 per seat a month, minimum two seats) adds live co-editing, roles and client review links. Claude's own plan is billed by Anthropic; the connector itself works on Claude's Free plan.

Questions, answered