Claude Integration: Drive Editing from Chat
Learn how to drive VideoBuff directly from Claude Desktop / Claude Code. Covers installation, typical prompts, what Claude can and cannot do, and privacy.
What is Claude integration?
VideoBuff supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing Claude Desktop and Claude Code to operate it directly. Once installed, Claude can autonomously add clips to the timeline, trim them, overlay text, apply color grades, add transitions, and open the export dialog.
The integration is strictly additive — VideoBuff works identically as a manual editor without it. After installing you can still use keyboard and mouse normally, so you can mix the two: delegate repetitive work to Claude while keeping fine adjustments in your own hands.
Claude can only operate VideoBuff while the editor browser tab is open. Closing the tab immediately disconnects the integration.
Installation: Claude Desktop
If you use Claude Desktop, a one-click installable .mcpb bundle is available from the VideoBuff site footer or the settings dialog. Double-click the downloaded .mcpb file to open Claude Desktop, which will prompt you to confirm adding the extension.
Once approved, VideoBuff-specific tools (add clip, edit text, open export dialog, and so on) become visible to Claude. Open the VideoBuff editor tab and send Claude a prompt — it will read the tab state and call the relevant tools.
When a new version ships, download the latest .mcpb and install it the same way; it overwrites the previous install.
Installation: Claude Code
For Claude Code, you run the MCP server contained in the bundle as a local stdio process. Point your Claude Code MCP config to the bundle's dist/index.js and the integration becomes active.
The flow after startup mirrors the Desktop path — open the VideoBuff editor tab, send a prompt, and Claude drives the edit. If multiple Claude Code sessions try to operate the same VideoBuff tab, a leader election lets exactly one session become active while others follow along, sharing the same edit state.
See the README inside the distributed bundle for example config snippets.
Prompt examples: what Claude can do
You can give instructions in natural language — both Japanese and English work. Typical prompts include "Trim the first 3 seconds and add an 'OPENING' title at the start," "Apply a cinematic color grade to every clip and add dissolves between them," or "Open the export dialog."
Claude reads the current timeline state (clip list, durations, text content, color settings) via tools before acting, so state-dependent prompts like "make the existing text bigger" or "brighten only the last clip" work correctly.
Starting the actual export is left to you, since resolution, codec, and save location all need to be chosen. Claude opens the export dialog and then tells you "pick resolution and destination, then click Export."
Limitations and caveats
Both importing files and starting an export ultimately require a user click. Claude opens the import or export dialog, but file selection and save-location picking are left to you.
Claude cannot currently "listen" to audio waveforms to align narration, or "see" the preview to verify layout. It reasons from metadata — clip durations, text content, color parameters, measured font sizes — rather than visual or audio signals.
Rather than packing a complex edit into one prompt, stepping through "cut first, then text, then export" gives more reliable results.
Privacy: what is actually sent
Video, audio, image, and project data are never sent to any server, even while Claude integration is active. All editing happens inside your browser, and Claude only reads the browser state through a local MCP server.
Only anonymous usage stats may be sent for improvement. These are limited to tool names, success/error outcomes, coarse duration buckets, the MCP version, and your OS family. File contents, project names, and text you have entered are never included. To understand usage trends, a single anonymous UUID is stored on your device and attached as an identifier — with no personally identifiable information.
You can toggle the stats off anytime from the .mcpb install dialog or your MCP config. See the privacy policy for full details.