baocut

BaoCut

An AI video agent built around an editable video, not a one-shot MP4.

Tell it what you want. It transcribes, subtitles, translates, dubs, cuts and animates. Every result lands in a timeline you can keep editing.

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Download and install

BaoCut is available for macOS and Windows. The links below always download the latest release; version numbers and release notes are on baocut.com and GitHub Releases. Packaged apps include the Runtime and native workers; Node.js and Rust are only needed for development.

On macOS, open the DMG and drag BaoCut into Applications. On Windows, install the Microsoft Visual C++ v14 x64 Redistributable first, then run the installer or extract the ZIP. Windows packages are unsigned; GPU variants need compatible graphics drivers. Checksums and verification details are on each release's GitHub page. The app checks GitHub Releases for updates through its platform-specific update feed.

Agent features require a signed-in agent engine such as Codex CLI or Claude Code. Media analysis, transcription preparation and export also require ffmpeg and ffprobe; these external tools are not bundled.

Local models download from Hugging Face by default. If it is unreachable or slow, set the download source to ModelScope (Download and storage at the bottom of a model page's local models, or Settings › General › Model download source) to download from ModelScope instead (the few model files ModelScope lacks still come from Hugging Face; every file is checked against its built-in checksum), or choose Custom and enter a mirror's base URL.

Why BaoCut

Most AI video tools render once and hand you a file. If the second sentence of the translation is wrong, you start over. BaoCut takes the opposite stance:

• The video is the source of truth. Transcripts, translations, subtitle layers, chapters, voice-overs and motion graphics all live inside one editable video. Files (SRT, MP4, audio, transcripts) are exports of it, never the other way around.
• Local edits stay local. Fix one subtitle line, swap one shot, redo one voice-over sentence. The agent changes exactly that and reports a receipt of what changed. Nothing else is re-rendered.
• Humans and the agent share one editor. You drag a clip, the agent rewrites a caption; both go through the same command gateway, the same transactions, the same undo stack. You can take over at any point.
• Bounded autonomy. The agent works inside an explicit scope, access mode and budget. Destructive actions ask first. Untrusted material (a downloaded page, a transcript) is data, never instructions.
• Honest delivery. The agent reports what it measured, what it actually looked at, and what still needs a human ear. A failed check is reported as a failed check, not hidden behind "done".

What it can do

From existing footage

• Transcribe with local models (Whisper large-v3 / v3-turbo, Qwen3-ASR, MOSS with diarization) or online APIs, with word-level timing. Segments stream into the timeline while the job runs.
• Subtitle in the original language, translated, or bilingual. The agent translates sentence by sentence itself; subtitle styles are remembered per project.
• Dub into another language. Translate, separate vocals from background (HTDemucs), synthesize per sentence with a cloned or preset voice, lay the new track on the timeline.
• Cut a talking-head recording. Remove filler words, long pauses, retakes and false starts on the timeline. The original media is never touched.
• Chapters, summaries, titles, blog posts, shorts. Read the timed transcript and write the derivatives, with every claim traceable to a timestamp.

From a brief

• Make a video from a prompt with 24 built-in scene templates and example prompts: explainers, product launches, trailers, tutorials, data stories, typography motion and more.
• Narration-first production. Plan the script, synthesize the voice in one pass, then cut the picture to the narration.
• Motion graphics as code. The agent writes a self-contained HTML composition (lower thirds, big numbers, callouts, brand stingers), imports it as a code bundle, bakes frames and places it on the timeline. Supports BaoCut's own baocut/1 contract and hyperframes/1.
• Image generation for shots that need a still: local Qwen-Image or online providers.

Delivery

• Export MP4 with burned-in or sidecar subtitles, SRT / WebVTT, transcripts, audio stems, and a portable .baocut bundle that reopens with full edit history on another machine.

Four ways in, one Runtime

Every surface talks to the same local Runtime over the same protocol and edits the same video.

Bring your own agent engine. Claude Code and Codex CLI are validated end to end. GitHub Copilot CLI, Pi and OpenCode are built in, and any Agent Client Protocol agent (Gemini CLI, Cursor Agent, Grok, Kimi Code, or one you add) plugs in through the same driver.

Bring your own models. Capabilities (transcribe, speak, generate image, generate text, separate audio) are decoupled from providers. Run local models on Apple Silicon (MLX, Core ML) or on Windows (whisper.cpp + candle, with CUDA and Vulkan builds), or point a capability at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, ElevenLabs, DeepSeek, Moonshot, Qwen, Zhipu, MiniMax, Volcengine, xAI, Mistral, Groq, OpenRouter, SiliconFlow or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. A usage ledger tracks cost per job. One machine can share its local models with others on the LAN.

Run from source

For normal use, choose a packaged app: it includes the Rust workers and WASM, so you do not need Node.js, Rust or a compiler. Source development has two paths:

Agent conversations additionally need an installed, signed-in agent engine. Media analysis, transcription preparation and export need ffmpeg and ffprobe on PATH. Neither is bundled. Opening the app does not require an agent login.

1. Install the tools for your OS

Install Git and Node.js 22.12+ first. Open a new terminal and check git --version, node --version and npm --version. For lite mode, skip the Rust/compiler steps below and continue at step 2.

macOS

Install the Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install). If you use Homebrew, install CMake and FFmpeg with brew install cmake ffmpeg. Install Rust using the official rustup installer:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
. "$HOME/.cargo/env"
rustup default stable
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown

On Apple Silicon with macOS 14+, the local model worker uses MLX / Core ML and also needs full Xcode with the Metal compiler. Install Xcode, launch it once to finish setup, and select it (adjust the path if installed elsewhere):

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
xcrun --find metal
# If Metal is missing from the selected Xcode:
xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchain

Intel Macs use candle / whisper.cpp instead, requiring CMake and a C++ compiler. Published macOS packages target Apple Silicon; Intel source builds are not covered by the release checks.

Windows x64

Install Visual Studio / Build Tools with Desktop development with C++, the MSVC x64 tools and a Windows SDK (see Rust's MSVC prerequisites). Install CMake with its PATH option enabled, and LLVM for the libclang used by Rust bindings. If bindings cannot locate it, set LIBCLANG_PATH to LLVM's bin directory. Install FFmpeg with both ffmpeg.exe and ffprobe.exe on PATH.

Download and run rustup-init.exe, keeping the default x86_64-pc-windows-msvc host. Reopen an x64 Native Tools Command Prompt or a Developer PowerShell configured for x64 before running the source-build commands; a regular terminal may find Rust but lack cl.exe and the SDK environment.

rustup default stable
rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown
cargo --version
cmake --version
cl /?

The default Windows build uses CPU inference and does not need CUDA or Vulkan SDKs. GPU builds have extra requirements; see the desktop guide.

Linux (source development)

Install Rust with the same rustup commands as macOS. On Debian/Ubuntu, install the native tools with sudo apt install build-essential cmake clang libclang-dev pkg-config ffmpeg. Other distributions use their corresponding packages. Linux source development uses candle / whisper.cpp; Linux installers and native release validation are not provided.

2. Clone, check and run

Run from the repository root. These commands work in macOS/Linux terminals and Windows developer terminals:

git clone https://github.com/jimliu/baocut.git
cd baocut
npm ci
npm run doctor
npm run dev

The npm scripts that run TypeScript source explicitly enable type stripping, so Node.js 22.12–22.17 also work without changing your Node installation. doctor reports missing tools with installation hints and exits nonzero for missing source-build prerequisites. FFmpeg is a warning because it is needed for media workflows, not to compile the app. The check does not install tools or prove all SDKs and Rust dependencies can build. npm run setup checks prerequisites and builds native workers and WASM without opening Electron; npm run dev runs it automatically and stops if either build fails. Rustup-based WASM builds install the target when missing. The first build downloads dependencies and can take considerable time and disk space; later runs reuse Cargo's cache. Cargo is also discovered in CARGO_HOME/bin and next to rustup when absent from PATH.

Without Rust, use this instead of doctor and dev:

npm run dev:lite

After installing the full toolchain, run npm run dev to restore the native features. Development mode starts Electron and Vite, launches the Runtime on demand and stops it on exit. Data goes to .dev/baocut-home in the repo. Electron 44 downloads its binary before dev, dev:lite or start, so first launch needs network access. The development supervisor asks Electron, Vite and the Runtime to exit on Ctrl+C or terminal closure, then force-kills remaining processes after 12 seconds.

Troubleshooting

• Cargo missing / no default toolchain: reopen the terminal after installing Rust and run rustup default stable, then npm run doctor.
• Windows cl.exe, linker or SDK missing: use the x64 developer terminal and check the C++ workload and Windows SDK installation. For libclang errors, check LLVM and LIBCLANG_PATH.
• macOS metal missing: select full Xcode and install its MetalToolchain component; Command Line Tools alone do not provide the MLX build environment.
• WASM target missing: run rustup target add wasm32-unknown-unknown. wasm-opt is optional; without it the build uses Cargo's output.
• Electron download fails: verify access to its download server and retry the launch. npm ci alone does not fetch the Electron 44 binary.
• npm start on a fresh checkout: it previews existing build output. Run npm run setup and npm run build first.

To connect a CLI to the Runtime started by the development desktop, on macOS/Linux:

BAOCUT_HOME=.dev/baocut-home npm run cli -- status

On Windows PowerShell:

$env:BAOCUT_HOME = '.dev/baocut-home'
npm run cli -- status

In Windows Command Prompt, use set "BAOCUT_HOME=.dev/baocut-home" before the CLI command.

Other commands

Status

BaoCut is under active development, with macOS Apple Silicon and Windows x64 packages available above. What is true today:

• Codex CLI and Claude Code are validated end to end, including an external-agent run over CLI and MCP (record). Other engines are built in but not individually tested in BaoCut.
• Local inference is implemented for Apple Silicon (MLX, Core ML) and Windows (whisper.cpp, candle). Mac arm64 packages are Developer ID signed and notarized. Windows CPU, CUDA and Vulkan packages passed native build, installation, update-in-place and ZIP self-checks; they are unsigned, and GPU inference has not been tested on hardware. Windows Credential Manager storage and v2 credential migration are included; live credential migration has not been tested by CI. See the desktop guide.
• Some local model weights (OmniVoice, Qwen-Image) carry non-commercial licenses. The app says so before you pick them.
• Full product scope, release stages and the current position on them: Product design §11.

Learn more

Environment variables

Repository layout

apps/
  desktop/          Electron main process, preload, UI entry
  runtime/          Runtime process entry
  cli/              Command-line client
  web/              Web client, served by the Runtime's web service
  slides-editor/    Slides editor page (built from packages/slides-runtime), served by the Runtime
  portal/           baocut.com website: static pages and a Cloudflare Worker for downloads
packages/
  protocol/         Wire protocol: envelopes, methods, topic events, domain types, validation
  client/           Connect, request, subscribe, reconnect; mirror reduction
  runtime-core/     Assembly, WebSocket gateway, request handling
  harness/          Sessions, tasks, stop barrier, Driver ABI
  agent-drivers/    Agent engine adapters: Codex app-server, Claude Agent SDK, Copilot, Pi, OpenCode, ACP
  runtime-storage/  Runtime home, session and project storage, discovery file
  models/           Capabilities, local model bundles, selection, usage ledger
  providers/        Online providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, ElevenLabs, OpenAI-compatible
  jobs/             Long-running jobs and scheduling
  nodes/            LAN capability sharing (node service and initiator)
  code-runtime/     Code bundle adapters and frame baking
  ui/               React UI (React Spectrum 2 + Zustand)
  slides/           Slide decks: file protocol, deck store, editor routes, editor host shim
  slides-runtime/   Slides editor runtime: document model, HTML compiler, editor UI, presentation, export
crates/
  editor-semantics/ Time semantics: exact rationals, decimal seconds, frame quantization
  video-model/      Video interchange DTOs
  video-engine/     Video engine and storage: transactions, receipts, undo
  timeline/         Timeline and element model
  render-graph/     Frame plans shared by native export and WASM preview
  engine-host/      Engine Host process, talks to the Runtime over stdio
  export-worker/    Final render
  model-worker/     Local inference (ASR, TTS, image, separation)
  speech-doc/       Transcript post-processing, alignment, subtitle splitting
bindings/
  preview-wasm/     WASM entry for the editor preview
skills/             The BaoCut skill (entry) for agents
  baocut/built-in-skills/  Built-in craft skills, indexed in its README
templates/          Built-in creation templates
tools/              Build scripts

Dependency direction and layer responsibilities: architecture §11, §13. Placement and naming: repo conventions.

License

BaoCut is source-available under the BaoCut Community License 1.0. In short:

• Free for personal use, study and research, non-commercial modification and redistribution, and internal use and customization inside a company.
• Free to make and sell content with BaoCut, including ads, paid videos and editing work for clients. No fees, attribution, watermark or source disclosure are required for your output; built-in original template elements are covered too.
• Selling the software or a modified version, rebranding it, offering it as a hosted service or API, or embedding BaoCut code or engines in a commercial software product requires a separate written commercial license. Publishing modified sources does not waive this.
• Independently written plugins and clients that contain no BaoCut code and only use public interfaces are not covered by this license; bundling or hosting BaoCut itself still is.
• Third-party code, assets, fonts and models keep their own licenses; see THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Rights already granted under earlier licenses (such as Apache-2.0) are not withdrawn.