# Clipify — effect skill for editing & clips

> **For AI agents:** find the right skill in one call — `curl -s "https://varg.ai/how-to/api/search?q=<what the person wants>"` returns the matching how-to page and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://varg.ai/how-to/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add `.md` to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the how-to page.

Long videos into social clips: find funny lines or impact beats, cut, reframe to 9:16, burn word-by-word captions.

- **Type:** [Effect](https://varg.ai/how-to/effects.md) · [Editing & clips](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/editing.md)
- **Slug:** `clipify`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** Louise de Sadeleer (community)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/louisedesadeleer/clipify
- **Works in:** Claude Code
- **Requires:** ffmpeg with libx264, OpenAI Whisper (openai-whisper), Python 3 with NumPy
- **Cost:** Free — local
- **Adoption:** 176 installs, 611 GitHub stars (GitHub + skills.sh, 2026-10-26)

## What it does

Finds compelling moments in a video, either funny dialogue (from a Whisper transcript) or repeated impact actions such as axe chops, hits, throws or drumbeats (from audio transient detection), checks that each candidate is in frame, and cuts them as standalone clips. It can reformat 16:9 to 9:16 with a pan between faces or a split screen, time-warp pans for tighter reveals, and burn opus-style word-by-word captions from a fresh transcript of each trimmed clip. Everything runs locally with ffmpeg, Whisper and Python.

## Use when

- Make Shorts or Reels from a long video
- Cut an action montage on every hit or chop
- Reframe 16:9 footage to vertical with captions

## Not for

- Generating new footage
- Multi-camera edits

## Install

- Claude Code: `git clone https://github.com/louisedesadeleer/clipify.git ~/.claude/skills/clipify`

**Models it drives:** whisper

## Example output

https://s3.varg.ai/how-to/previews/76ea06e94e22/clipify.mp4 — From the creator's demo post: a 9:16 clip that /clipify cut from her long video (funny moment, face-tracked reframe, burned word-by-word captions) plays beside her webcam. Cut 112-120 s of 148 s. (credit: Louise de Sadeleer (clipify), https://x.com/LouiseDSadeleer/status/2051652715617378655)

## How-to tutorials that use it

- [How to cut a podcast into short video clips with AI](https://varg.ai/how-to/cut-a-podcast-into-short-video-clips.md): Find the best moments in a long video, cut them, reframe to 9:16 and burn captions.
- [How to edit your own video footage with AI](https://varg.ai/how-to/edit-your-own-video-footage.md): Cut silences and flubs, reframe 16:9 to 9:16, add captions and b-roll to footage you shot.

## More editing & clips skills

- [Short-form FFmpeg cookbook: copyable commands for Reels](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/short-form-ffmpeg-cookbook.md): Footage into a 9:16 MP4 with FFmpeg: crop to vertical, burn captions, trim and join, music under the voice.
- [Splice AI clips into a video with FFmpeg](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/varg-ffmpeg-mixing.md): Splice generated clips into an original video with ffmpeg without A/V drift: absolute trims, one audio track.
- [Chengfeng Videocut](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/chengfeng-videocut.md): Chinese talking-head editing: word-level transcript, five-pass flub sweep, human review in a Studio, subtitles, export.
- [Claude Code Video Toolkit](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/claude-code-video-toolkit.md): Open-source video workspace for Claude Code: script, voice, music, visuals and Remotion render on your own GPU account.
- [Herk Edit Kit](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/herk-edit-kit.md): Nate Herk's kit to edit talking-head videos, reels and Shorts: silence and flub cuts, storytelling, motion graphics.
- [VectCut](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/vectcut.md): Drives the VectCut editing API: talking-head cuts, remixes, e-commerce ads, subtitles, effects, cloud render

## Run the generation on varg

varg is one API key for the models these skills drive — Seedance 2.5, Kling 4, Veo 3.1, Wan 3, Nano Banana 2.1, GPT Image 2.5, ElevenLabs v4 and 200+ more — billed in credits, with a cost estimate before anything runs.

- Claude Code: `claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg` (skill + hosted MCP)
- Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai -a <agent> -y`
- Grok and any agent that reads SKILL.md: `npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai`, or point it at the skill's SKILL.md
- Claude.ai, ChatGPT, any MCP client: connect `https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp`
- API key: https://varg.ai/dashboard/api · Model specs: https://varg.ai/models/llms.txt