# Cut Video — guide skill for cuts & pacing

> **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.

Claude Code skill that tightens long recordings with forced-aligned cuts, keeping laughs and comedic pauses.

- **Type:** [Guide](https://varg.ai/how-to/guides.md) · [Cuts & pacing](https://varg.ai/how-to/browse/skills/cuts.md)
- **Slug:** `cut-video`
- **Status:** live
- **Publisher:** Louise de Sadeleer (community)
- **License:** MIT
- **Source:** https://github.com/louisedesadeleer/cut-video
- **Works in:** Claude Code
- **Requires:** ffmpeg with libx264, openai-whisper, Montreal Forced Aligner
- **Cost:** Free/open source
- **Adoption:** 114 GitHub stars (GitHub, 2026-10-27)

## What it does

Makes a 1080p proxy, transcribes with Whisper, force-aligns with Montreal Forced Aligner for 10 to 20 ms word boundaries, then plans tone-aware silence and filler cuts and shows you the plan. It re-checks every kept region, renders with ffmpeg trim+concat and re-transcribes the output to catch surviving stutters; an optional browser timeline lets you adjust cuts. Runs locally on Apple Silicon.

## Use when

- tighten a long interview or podcast video
- remove ums without killing the comedy
- get frame-accurate silence cuts

## Install

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

## More cuts & pacing skills

- [SmartCut (capcut-ai-editor)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/capcut-smartcut-mcp.md): MCP that reads CapCut auto-captions to cut silences and duplicate takes right inside your CapCut project.
- [Auto-Editor](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/auto-editor.md): CLI that cuts dead space by loudness or motion and exports MP4 or editor timelines; now also an agent skill.
- [AutoCut](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/autocut.md): Edit video in a text editor: Whisper transcribes, you delete lines in Markdown, AutoCut cuts the video.
- [Videogrep](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/videogrep.md): Search spoken words across videos and auto-build supercuts of every match.
- [PySceneDetect](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/pyscenedetect.md): Find cuts, fades and scene changes in a video, then split it or export scene lists for the edit.
- [video-editing-skill (Bash + FFmpeg)](https://varg.ai/how-to/skills/video-editing-skill-bash.md): Pure Bash skill for OpenClaw, Claude Code and Codex: trim, jump cut, captions, text overlay, speed.