Help

Quick answers for getting started and fixing common problems. Can't find yours? Email cutcrow.support@gmail.com. If something's broken, include your diagnostics (Settings → About → Copy diagnostics, from version 0.1.3): it tells us your version and setup, and nothing about your videos.

Getting started

1. Install Cutcrow from your Gumroad library (see Installing, below).
2. Activate it. Paste the licence key from your Gumroad receipt. You only do this once per computer; it needs the internet for that step, then Cutcrow works offline.
3. Connect your AI. Pick Claude Code or Codex and follow the steps (see below).
4. Make something. Create a project, drop in your clips, and tell the agent what you want: "cut the ums and long pauses", "make 3 Shorts from this interview", "add captions".

Installing

• Windows: run Cutcrow_x.y.z_x64-setup.exe. Windows may show "Windows protected your PC" because the installer isn't code-signed yet: click More info → Run anyway.
• Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Pop!_OS: open the .deb with your software installer, or run sudo apt install ./Cutcrow_x.y.z_amd64.deb in a terminal.
• Arch, Fedora and other Linux: make the AppImage executable (chmod +x Cutcrow_x.y.z_amd64.AppImage) and open it. Install FFmpeg from your distribution's packages too.

Connecting Claude Code or Codex

Cutcrow doesn't include an AI model. It works with the agent you already use, signed in with your own account, so you're never charged twice.

• Claude Code works with a Claude Pro or Max plan, or an Anthropic API key. Install it with Anthropic's guide: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/setup. Then sign in, or save an API key in Settings → Sign-in & API keys.
• Codex works with a ChatGPT Plus or Pro plan, or an OpenAI API key. Install it with npm install -g @openai/codex and sign in with your ChatGPT account.
• Sign in from Cutcrow (from version 0.1.3): type /login in the chat box to run your agent's own sign-in right in the agent panel, or to switch accounts.
• Switch the model with the picker above the chat box, or type /model. A lighter model makes your plan go further.
• Usage: the agent's work counts toward your plan's limits, or your API bill, like any other Claude Code or Codex session. From version 0.1.3, each reply shows roughly how much it used.

Editing with the agent

• Ask in plain words. Every request becomes a change card on the timeline, so one click undoes it.
• Commands. The agent runs the commands and file changes it needs without stopping to ask ("Run any command", on by default). To approve each one yourself (Allow, Always allow or Deny), turn it off in Settings → Commands. Commands that try to become an administrator are always blocked.
• Plans. For bigger jobs the agent may write a plan and ask you to approve it. Click View plan to read it first.
• Reference files. Attach images, scripts or other files with the paperclip, or drop them on the chat.
• Skills. Cutcrow includes video skills (Remotion, Manim, FFmpeg, ElevenLabs voiceovers, YouTube clipping, screen recording), and you can add your own in Settings → Skills. Type /skill to use one by name.
• Brand style (from version 0.1.3). Save your caption and title look once (Settings → Brand) and the agent uses it whenever you ask for captions or titles.

Editing by hand

Everything the agent does lands on a real timeline you can change yourself. Press ? in Cutcrow for the full list of shortcuts. The ones you'll use most:

Exporting

Click Export at the top right. Pick a shape (the sequence's own, 9:16 for Reels, TikTok and Shorts, 16:9 for YouTube, or square) and a resolution from 720p to 4K. Exports are rendered on your computer.

Your licence and computers

• One licence works on up to 3 computers. Find your key, and download Cutcrow again, in your Gumroad library: https://app.gumroad.com/library.
• Reinstalling or updating keeps your licence: Cutcrow remembers it on that computer.
• New computer? If you've used all 3, email us and we'll free one up.

Updates

• The Windows installer and the Linux AppImage update themselves. When a new version has downloaded, a bar offers Restart to update; if you carry on, it installs when you close Cutcrow.
• A .deb install can't replace itself: Cutcrow tells you when a new version is out, and you download it from your Gumroad library.
• Turn automatic updates off, or check now, in Settings → Updates.

Troubleshooting

Cutcrow opens to an empty window on Windows

That was a bug in version 0.1.0. Download the newest version from your Gumroad library and run it: it installs over the old one and keeps your licence. From then on Cutcrow updates itself.

The AppImage won't open

Make sure it's executable (chmod +x on the file, or Properties → Permissions → "Allow executing"). AppImages also need FUSE 2: on Ubuntu 22.04 and newer run sudo apt install libfuse2t64 (or libfuse2 on older versions), and on Arch sudo pacman -S fuse2.

"Claude Code isn't installed" or "isn't signed in"

Install it (see above), then click Sign in here in the agent panel, or type /login in the chat box (from version 0.1.3). Cutcrow opens the agent's own sign-in: follow its steps in your browser, and the panel closes once you're signed in. Type /login again any time to switch accounts. On older versions, sign in from a terminal (claude, or codex login for Codex), then click Check again in the agent panel.

Videos won't play, or exports fail, on Linux

The AppImage uses your system's FFmpeg: install it with your package manager (sudo apt install ffmpeg, sudo pacman -S ffmpeg, or sudo dnf install ffmpeg). The .deb installs it for you.

Transcription takes a while the first time

The first transcript downloads Cutcrow's speech model (148 MB) once. Transcription itself runs on your computer.

"This key is already active on 3 computers"

Email us from the address on your Gumroad receipt and we'll free one up.

Privacy

Your videos and projects stay on your computer: Cutcrow has no accounts and no tracking. The agent you connect sends what it works with to Anthropic or OpenAI under your own account. The full details are in the privacy policy.

Contact

Email cutcrow.support@gmail.com. We usually reply within a day or two.