What's free and what needs Blotato
Free, on your Mac: /get-video, /clip, /captions and /storyboard (plus the full editor). Nothing to pay for.
Needs Blotato: /post and /automation. Those two touch your real social accounts, so they run through Blotato, which connects Claude to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and six more, and runs comment-to-DM automations without ManyChat.
Claude talks to Blotato through its MCP connection, and that is only on a paid Blotato plan. The free trial does not include it. Here's 30% off:
ZACH301. Set it up with one prompt
Open Claude Code (or the Code tab in the Claude desktop app) on your Mac, in the folder where you keep projects. Paste this. Claude downloads the editor, installs everything it needs, fixes anything that breaks, adds Blotato, and tells you exactly what's left for you to click.
Takes about 10 minutes, most of it downloading. You do not need to know what any of it means.
Set up the free Claude Video Editor (Blotato edition) on my Mac, so Claude can pull videos off my iPhone, edit them, post them and run comment-to-DM automations. Repo: https://github.com/TakeOff-Team/claude-video-editor-blotato (built by Zach Geleott, MIT licensed) 1) Clone the repo into the folder I'm in right now, then run its setup.sh. It installs ffmpeg, Node, Python, Whisper (speech to text that runs on my Mac), yt-dlp and Remotion. 2) If anything fails, read the error, fix it, and run setup.sh again until it says "All set." Explain each fix to me in plain English, because I'm not technical. 3) If it needs Homebrew and I don't have it, stop and give me the exact command to paste into Terminal (it needs my Mac password, so you can't run it for me). Wait for me to say done, then keep going. 4) Run ./edit doctor and show me the result. 5) Connect Blotato (only /post and /automation need it): - Run `claude mcp list`. If Blotato is already there, skip to the last bullet. - If it's not, run: claude mcp add --transport http --scope user blotato https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp - Tell me I need a paid Blotato plan for this part (the MCP isn't in the free trial) and that code ZACH30 gets 30% off at https://blotato.com/?ref=zach - Tell me to connect my social accounts at https://my.blotato.com/accounts (Instagram must be a Business or Creator account for comment-to-DM) - Tell me to open a new Claude Code session inside the claude-video-editor-blotato folder, type /mcp, pick blotato, choose Authenticate and approve it in my browser. Then ask "List my connected Blotato accounts" to check it works. 6) Then tell me: - That I need to open Claude Code inside the claude-video-editor-blotato folder for the codes to work, and the exact command to get there. - What each code does, in one line each: /get-video, /clip, /captions, /storyboard, /post, /automation, plus /build-style, /inspiration and /edit-video - That my first step is /build-style with 3 to 5 videos I'd love mine to look like. Don't tell me something worked unless you actually checked.
The code is public: github.com/TakeOff-Team/claude-video-editor-blotato
2. Connect Blotato to Claude
Only needed for /post and /automation. The prompt above does the first part for you. If you skipped it, or it is not working, here is the whole thing by hand. About 3 minutes.
- 1. Get Blotato and connect your accounts Sign up for a paid plan at blotato.com (code ZACH30), then connect Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and anything else under Accounts. For comment-to-DM, your Instagram needs to be a Business or Creator account.
- 2. Add Blotato to Claude Code Paste this into Terminal (not inside a Claude chat). Already added it before? Skip this one.
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user blotato https://mcp.blotato.com/mcp- 3. Sign in Open Claude Code inside the claude-video-editor-blotato folder and type
/mcp. Pick blotato, choose Authenticate, and approve it in your browser. Be logged in to Blotato in that browser first. - 4. Check it works Ask Claude: "List my connected Blotato accounts." You should see your accounts. Empty list? Claude is connected, but you have not connected any social accounts inside Blotato yet. A "subscription" error means the plan does not include the MCP.
3. Teach it your style
Inside the folder, type /build-style. It asks what your content is about, who it is for and how you want it to feel. Then it asks for 3 to 5 videos you would love yours to look like. Yours or another creator's, links or files.
It watches each one frame by frame and writes your style guide into my-style/. Every edit after that uses it.
The one rule it never breaks: every visual shows what is being said, the moment it is said. Say "your inbox" and an inbox shows up. That is what keeps people watching.
4. The 6 codes
Type any of these in Claude Code inside the editor folder. In order, they take a video from your phone to posted.
1 /get-video Grabs your raw video off your iPhone
Plug your iPhone into your Mac with a cable and type it. It pulls the video you just recorded straight off the phone. No AirDrop, no Photos app, no hunting for the file. It only takes real camera recordings (not videos you saved from Instagram), tells you the second you can unplug, and asks if you want it clipped or fully edited.
/get-video (or /get-video 3 for your last 3 recordings)2 /clip Removes every second of dead space
Keeps your last good take of every line and cuts the restarts, stutters, "ummm"s and every pause longer than a tenth of a second. Paste your script and it follows it line by line. You get back a tight cut with the audio already mastered.
/clip, then drag in your raw video (and paste your script, if you have one)3 /captions Adds perfect text captions
Word-by-word captions, spelled right, in your caption style. Misspelled a name or a brand? Tell it once and it adds it to your vocabulary for good.
/captions, then drag in the video4 /storyboard Shows you the edit before it edits
Plans the whole edit and shows it as a storyboard: one real frame per beat, what you are saying, and what will be on screen. Give it an already-edited video you like too, and it plans yours the same way. Leave a note on any beat, press "Copy all notes", paste them back, and it rebuilds until you approve. Every note gets saved for next time.
/storyboard, drag in your video, then paste a link to an edited video you want it to look like5 /post Posts it to your accounts
Needs Blotato
Posts the finished video to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Threads, Bluesky or Pinterest, right now or scheduled. It writes the caption from what you actually said (or uses yours), fills in every platform setting for you, and shows you a summary before anything goes live.
/post (then: "Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, tomorrow at 9am")6 /automation Sends your free resource to every commenter
Needs Blotato
Builds a comment-to-DM on the post you just made. Someone comments your keyword, they get a DM with your link on a button. Turn on "follow first" and they only get it after they follow you. This replaces ManyChat. Works on Instagram and Facebook.
/automation (then: "when someone comments GUIDE, DM them my guide link")5. Phone to posted, start to finish
Here's a real run once you are set up:
1. Record on your iPhone. Plug it in. /get-video. Unplug when it says so.
2. /clip and paste your script. Approve the cut.
3. /storyboard with a link to a video you want it to feel like. Leave notes on any beat. Say "looks good, render it."
4. /post. Pick your accounts and a time, approve the caption, say go.
5. /automation. Give it a keyword and your link. Now everyone who comments that word gets your link in their DMs, all night, without you touching your phone.
Make sure the caption tells people the keyword. /post writes that line for you when you are running /automation on the post.
3 more codes in the same folder
- /build-style Run this first. A quick interview, then 3 to 5 videos you would love yours to look like. It writes your style guide and every edit uses it.
- /inspiration Give it any edited video. It works out why each choice works and adds the parts you pick to your style for good.
- /edit-video The whole edit in one go: clip, captions, graphics that show what you are saying the moment you say it, storyboard, render, audio mastered, quality checked.
6 things to know
- /post and /automation need a paid Blotato plan Everything else is free and runs on your Mac. Posting and comment-to-DM run through Blotato, and Blotato only lets Claude connect on a paid plan (the free trial does not include the MCP). Use code ZACH30 for 30% off.
- Mac and Claude Code only It runs in Claude Code (or the Code tab in the Claude desktop app) on a Mac, Apple Silicon or Intel. It does not work in claude.ai in the browser or on Windows. You need about 5 GB of free space. /get-video needs an iPhone and a cable.
- Open Claude Code inside the folder The codes only exist inside the claude-video-editor-blotato folder. Open Claude Code anywhere else and typing /clip does nothing. This is the number one "it is not working" message.
- Comment-to-DM is Instagram and Facebook only That is what Meta allows. Your Instagram has to be a Business or Creator account. Test it by commenting from a different account: your own comment will not DM you.
- Unlock your phone for /get-video Plug in, unlock, tap Trust, and stay on the home screen while it pulls. With iCloud "Optimize iPhone Storage" on, older videos may only live in iCloud: open the video on your phone once, then run it again.
- Plan on some back and forth at first The first few edits take notes. The good part: it remembers every note in my-style/feedback.md, so after a few videos you barely have to give any.
Free, open source, yours
This is the editor I use on my own videos, brand-neutral so it learns your look, not mine. MIT licensed, so you can change anything. Want just the editing without Blotato? That version is at zachdoesai.com/guides/claude-video-editor.
Posting and comment-to-DM run on Blotato. The audio mastering method and caption rules are adapted from Jake Schincariol's master-skills. Rendering runs on Remotion, which is free for individuals and companies with up to 3 people.
If it helps you, tag me in what you make.