Setup guide

From download to your first edit.

Plug and play: you do four things, Claude installs everything else. About 20 minutes once, mostly downloads. After that, every edit is: drop in clips, say one sentence, get your video.

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Before you start: what Claude will do on your computer

Rawcut styles work by letting Claude Code (Anthropic's AI coding tool) run commands on your computer for you. That's what makes it plug-and-play. Please read this once:

  • Claude installs free tools for you: uv and Python 3.11, ffmpeg (the video engine), the WhisperX transcriber and a speech-recognition model, plus Headliner's sound set and a small helper that uses macOS's built-in person detection (setup clears macOS's "downloaded from the internet" flag on that one file so it can run). Everything goes into your own user folder (~/.local/bin, ~/.cache/video-editor, ~/.cache/huggingface): about 6–8 GB. On a Mac it never needs your password and changes no system settings.On Windows, Claude uses winget (Windows' own installer) for ffmpeg and uv; Windows may ask you to accept those packages' terms.
  • Claude reads and writes files in your Rawcut folder: your clips, transcripts, edit plans and finished videos. It doesn't need anything else, and its playbook tells it not to touch anything else.
  • Claude Code asks before it runs commands. You'll see permission prompts: read them and click Allow (or "don't ask again" for ones you're comfortable with). Press Esc to stop Claude anytime. macOS may also ask whether the Claude app can access your Desktop folder: click OK.
  • It uses your internet connection for the one-time downloads and a one-time license check with Gumroad.
  • It works your computer hard for a few minutes while transcribing and rendering. Warm laptop, busy fan: normal.
  • Your videos stay on your computer. Transcribing and rendering happen locally. To make editing decisions, Claude reads the transcripts and some still frames, which are sent to Anthropic as part of your normal Claude Code conversation, under your Claude account and Anthropic's terms.
  • It uses your Claude plan. Setup and each edit are Claude Code conversations that count toward your plan's usage.
  • AI makes mistakes. Watch every video before you post it. You're responsible for what you publish (music rights, client privacy, your brokerage's advertising rules).
  • The editing engine is compiled and tied to your license. The playbook Claude follows is readable; the engine programs aren't, so the style can't be copied. Your license is quietly re-checked about once a week (offline is fine for up to 30 days), and finished videos carry a short license tag in their file info.
  • Rawcut is independent. It isn't made by or affiliated with Anthropic, Apple or Gumroad.
Work laptop with IT rules? Check with your IT person first. You can remove everything later: see Remove everything.
1

Install the Claude app

This is the one thing Claude can't do for you. You need a Claude Pro or Max plan (Claude Code is included).

  • Download the Claude desktop app from claude.ai/download, install it, sign in, and open the Code tab.
  • Windows only: Claude Code also needs Git for Windows. In PowerShell: winget install --id Git.Git -e

Your computer: a Mac with Apple silicon (M1 or newer)Windows 10 or 11 (Day in the Life only; less tested than Mac), 8 GB of memory or more, about 15 GB free disk space.

Headliner needs a Mac: it uses Apple's on-device person cutout to put the headline text behind you.

2

Unzip it to your Desktop

Double-click the zip from your receipt email. It creates one folder, Rawcut Day in the LifeRawcut Headliner, with everything inside. Move it to your Desktop and don't rearrange what's inside.

Don't upload the zip (or your videos) to a normal Claude chat. It only works in the Claude app's Code tab, with this folder opened there.
3

Open that folder in Claude Code

In the Claude app's Code tab, choose the Rawcut Day in the LifeRawcut Headliner folder on your Desktop.

The one rule that matters: always start Claude Code inside this folder. That's how it finds the style.
4

Say the sentence. Claude does the rest.

Set up the day in the life style. Set up the headliner style.
  1. Claude explains what it's about to install and asks if that's OK. Say yes.
  2. Paste your license key when asked (Gumroad purchase page or receipt email; it looks like XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX).
  3. Click Allow when Claude Code asks to run commands.
  4. Wait about 15–25 minutes, mostly downloads. Claude tells you each step ([1/7] Checking this computer … [7/7] Preparing this folder). You can use your computer meanwhile; on 8 GB of memory, quitting your browser helps.

When Claude says setup complete, you're done for good on this computer.

5

Film your day

  • Shoot vertical on your phone, POV is perfect. Talk to the camera like you're texting a friend.
  • Say the plan out loud in the morning ("big day, client meeting, then a showing...").
  • Grab 3–5 seconds of b-roll at each stop: doors, drives, coffee, signs.
  • Keep the real reactions. The funny moments make the video.
  • Avoid music playing in the background. Copyrighted songs get videos muted.
5

Film your take

  • Sit down facing a plain wall (the headline text goes on it), phone upright on a tripod at chest height.
  • iPhone on its default HDR settings. 4K at 60 fps if you can. Good light on your face.
  • Say each line as its own sentence with a beat of silence between. Flub a line? Pause and say it again: the editor keeps the clean take.
  • One take of 30–60 seconds of real content is plenty. A short script helps.
6

Edit

  1. Drag the day's clips into Rawcut Day in the Life/raw/ in Finder, or just tell Claude where they are and it copies them in.
  2. Drag your take into Rawcut Headliner/raw/ in Finder, or just tell Claude where it is and it copies it in.
  3. Don't attach videos in the chat. They don't go through the chat: they go in the raw folder.
  4. Start Claude Code in the folder and say:
Edit the day in the life video. Edit the headliner video.

Claude transcribes, watches the footage, picks the hook, and shows you a cut list.Claude transcribes, finds your clean takes, plans the graphics, and shows you a cut list. Reply "approved" (or ask for changes), and it renders the video, checks it, and tells you when it's done.

Your video is in the Finished videos folder, in a folder named with the date. Post the file that ends in "for phone": on a Mac, right-click it › Share › AirDrop to your iPhone. It's already sized for Reels, TikTok and Shorts.

In a hurry? Say "skip approval" and Claude renders straight away, then shows the cut list with the finished video. Say "skip approval from now on" to make that your default, and "ask me again" to undo it.

7

Make it yours

Watch the edit and give notes in plain English: "captions a bit smaller", "cut the part about parking", "end on the sign". Then say:

Remember these for every future edit.

Claude writes them into the style's playbook, so the next video starts closer to how you like it.

×

Remove everything

Delete the Rawcut Day in the LifeRawcut Headliner folder. To also remove the tools setup installed, ask Claude "remove the Rawcut tools", or run these in Terminal (they only touch what setup installed):

rm -rf ~/.cache/video-editor ~/.cache/huggingface/hub/models--Systran--faster-whisper-large-v3
rm -f ~/.local/bin/uv ~/.local/bin/uvx ~/.local/bin/ffmpeg ~/.local/bin/ffprobe

If you use uv or ffmpeg for other things, skip the second line.

Troubleshooting

If something's off.

Claude doesn't recognize the style

Claude Code was started outside the Rawcut Day in the LifeRawcut Headliner folder, or the folder was rebuilt by hand and lost its hidden .claude folder. Unzip the download again, use that folder as-is, and start Claude Code inside it.

Where's my video?

Open the Finished videos folder inside your Rawcut folder. Each edit has its own folder named with the date. The file ending in "for phone" is the one to post. Or just ask Claude: "show me my video".

Transcription is crawling

Your computer is short on memory. Quit your browser and other big apps while it runs. On 8 GB machines that's the difference between minutes and hours.

Setup stopped

Claude tells you why in plain words. Most often it's a dropped internet connection: say "run setup again". It skips the steps that already finished.

Claude keeps asking permission

That's Claude Code keeping you in control. Choose "Yes, and don't ask again" for commands you're comfortable with.

Claude can't write files in the folder

Windows Controlled Folder Access is blocking it. Allow the folder in Windows Security › Ransomware protection, or move the folder somewhere outside Desktop/Documents.

The yellow captions look orange or green

Phones record in different color formats (HDR vs. standard). Tell Claude "the yellow looks off". It measures the rendered color and recalibrates for your footage.

The headline text is in front of me, not behind

The person-cutout helper didn't run. Tell Claude "the text should be behind me". It rebuilds the helper or uses the bundled one, then re-renders.

The video is too long or too short

Just say so ("aim for 60 seconds"). Claude trims the cut list and re-renders only what changed.