The ChatCut Agent Plugin lets Claude Code Desktop or the Codex desktop app create and edit a ChatCut project. You describe the result in the agent conversation, while ChatCut remains an editable video editor: you can watch the timeline change and adjust it yourself at any time.

The plugin runs in desktop agent apps only

Install and use the plugin in one of these supported host apps:

Claude Code Desktop
Codex desktop app (shown as ChatGPT/Codex in ChatCut’s menu)

Do not paste the install prompt into Claude’s website, ChatGPT’s website, a remote web workspace, or the ChatCut web editor. Those environments cannot install a plugin into the desktop app on your computer.

The plugin is also different from the Claude Code and Codex CLI choices inside ChatCut Desktop’s Agent Selection menu. See ChatCut Desktop for that workflow.

Choose the right ChatCut product

Product	Where the main conversation lives	How it reaches ChatCut
ChatCut web app	Inside ChatCut in a browser	ChatCut’s built-in Agent works in the web editor
ChatCut Desktop	Inside the native ChatCut app	Choose ChatCut, Claude Code, or Codex CLI in Agent Selection
ChatCut Agent Plugin	Claude Code Desktop or the Codex desktop app	The host connects to ChatCut through the plugin and MCP

The easiest route is to copy the current official prompt from ChatCut:

Open the ChatCut web app and sign in.
Click your avatar in the top-right corner.
Hover over Agent Plugin.
Click Copy next to Claude Code or ChatGPT/Codex.
Open the matching desktop app on the same computer.
Start a new conversation, paste the prompt, and send it.
Let the agent finish installation and open the ChatCut authorization page. Sign in and approve access.
Follow the agent’s instruction to continue in the new session or task it creates. Plugin tools are loaded when a session starts, so the installation conversation cannot use newly installed tools immediately.

Do not replace the guided prompt with an old npm command or a prompt copied from an earlier brief. The official prompt sends the agent to the maintained setup guide for its host.

Install in Claude Code Desktop

Open Claude Code Desktop, start a new conversation, and paste this exact English prompt:

/goal Read chatcut.io/claude to install and use the ChatCut plugin

For a Chinese conversation, use the exact Chinese version shown on the website:

/goal 阅读 chatcut.io/claude 帮我安装和使用 ChatCut 插件

The agent installs the maintained ChatCut plugin, opens browser authorization, verifies the connection, and then tells you to click New session. In that new session, make a natural-language request that names ChatCut, for example: “Use ChatCut to edit this interview and add captions.”

Install in the Codex desktop app

Open the Codex desktop app, start a new conversation, and paste this exact English prompt:

/goal Read chatcut.io/chatgpt to install the ChatCut plugin and set up a new task for me.

For a Chinese conversation, use the exact Chinese version shown on the website:

/goal 阅读 chatcut.io/chatgpt，帮我安装 ChatCut 插件并创建一个新任务。

The agent installs and authenticates the plugin, verifies the desktop host, and opens a new task for the first ChatCut editing conversation. Continue there rather than trying to use ChatCut tools in the installer conversation.

What you can ask the plugin to do

In the new session or task, name ChatCut and describe the editing outcome. The plugin can work with the same editable project you see in the agent app’s Browser pane, including:

importing media and organizing project assets;
cutting, trimming, arranging, and reviewing a timeline;
transcribing speech and adding or editing captions;
creating motion graphics and adding them to the timeline;
generating video, voiceover, music, sound effects, and other assets;
exporting the finished project; and
checking that its edits are visible in the editor.

You are not limited to a single one-shot render. Open the editor pane to review the timeline, change clips or captions manually, and then ask the agent for another pass.

How the editor appears in the agent app

After setup, the agent opens ChatCut in its built-in Browser pane. The conversation and editor stay side by side: the agent can operate ChatCut, and you can click into the editor to make normal timeline edits yourself.

If the editor does not appear, first confirm that you are in the desktop app—not a browser tab—and that you continued in a brand-new session after installation.

Plugin MCP versus ChatCut Desktop’s local MCP

There are two connections with different jobs:

The Agent Plugin connects the external desktop agent to ChatCut’s hosted MCP service and opens a ChatCut project in the agent app’s Browser pane.
ChatCut Desktop exposes a separate local MCP connection so Claude Code Desktop or the Codex desktop app on the same computer can control the native project currently open in ChatCut Desktop.

If your goal is direct control of the native desktop editor, install and open ChatCut Desktop. When its local connection is active, an agent icon appears in the ChatCut Desktop top bar; click it to view the connection or use Reconnect if repair is needed. Installing the hosted Agent Plugin is not the step that creates this local desktop bridge.

Authentication and safety

The setup guide opens ChatCut’s authorization page in your browser. Sign in there and approve the connection. Do not paste cookies, access tokens, or account passwords into the agent conversation.

If authorization times out, ask the installer agent to continue from the failed login step. Do not start multiple login attempts at the same time.

Common installation problems

The agent says it cannot install the plugin

Check whether the conversation is actually in Claude Code Desktop or the Codex desktop app. A web or isolated remote session cannot write to the local desktop app’s plugin directory. Open the desktop app and paste the matching official prompt there.

Installation succeeded, but ChatCut tools are missing

Start a completely new session or task. Plugin tools are captured when the session starts and do not appear retroactively in the installation conversation.

The prompt opens the wrong or an outdated guide

Copy it again from avatar → Agent Plugin → Copy. The current guide addresses are chatcut.io/claude and chatcut.io/chatgpt.

The native ChatCut Desktop project is not responding

Make sure ChatCut Desktop is open on the same computer. Click the connected-agent icon in its top bar; if the row shows Reconnect, use it to repair the local MCP connection. This is a Desktop local-MCP issue, not the hosted plugin installation flow.

Agent Plugin