Create and edit video with AI
on a real timeline
ArtDaddy is a local-first, open-source AI video editor. Describe the cut and watch it happen on a multi-track timeline you can still grab, trim and undo. Drive it with Claude, Codex, Copilot or Cursor over MCP — or the agent built in. Nothing is uploaded to be edited, and the whole app is on GitHub under the GPL, so you can check that for yourself.
Version 0.21.6 · free while we build · source on GitHub · made by AUTOSHOT PRIVATE LIMITED, Delhi, India
Real sessions. Every cut on screen was made by the agent.
Claude can edit your videos now
The whole toolset is exposed as a local MCP server. Point Claude, Codex, Copilot or Cursor at the project open in front of you and it can import footage, read the transcript, build the timeline, grade, caption and export — while you watch it happen. No agent of your own? One is built in.
Claude
Codex
Copilot
Cursor
Any MCP client
You bring the taste. ArtDaddy does the edit.
Say what you want changed, in your own words. No timeline surgery, no dragging clips around, nothing to learn first.
Not a template filler
Everything an editor expects, driven by whichever hand is faster — yours or the agent's.
Your footage never leaves
Media is referenced where it already lives, so importing is instant and a project never duplicates your library. Transcription runs on your machine.
Multi-track and keyframed
Trim, split, ripple, transitions, keyframed motion, colour grading, captions burned from a real transcript, and an ffmpeg export that matches the preview.
New shots on the same timeline
Video, images, music and voiceover generate straight into the project, already trimmed to the gap you asked them to fill. No round trip through five tabs.
Read the code that touches your footage
The entire desktop app — editor, timeline, renderer, MCP server and the agent — is published under the GNU GPL v3 at art-daddy/artdaddy. Not a demo, not a trimmed-down mirror: it is the same tree the installers on this page are built from.
"Nothing is uploaded" is checkable
Every privacy claim on this page is a claim about code you can read. Clone it, grep it, run it from source, point Wireshark at it. An open-source editor is the only kind where that promise means anything.
No one can take it away
The GPL is irrevocable. If we raise the price, change direction or disappear entirely, the version you have keeps working and anyone can fork it and carry on. Your projects are plain files on your disk either way.
Add the tool you wish it had
Issues, pull requests and forks are all welcome. The agent's toolset is an ordinary TypeScript module — adding a new editing tool is a file, not a negotiation.
Cut, graded, scored and exported in the app
Say goodbye to dragging clips around by hand. Every one of these was briefed in words and cut by the agent.
Everything worth knowing before you install
Which platforms does ArtDaddy run on?
Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit; macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon (M1 and up); and an x86_64 Linux preview built for Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12 and related distributions. Every build has the same editor and local MCP server. There is no Intel Mac or Linux ARM build yet.
How does it compare to other AI video editors?
Most of the agentic editors released in 2026 are macOS-only — see ArtDaddy vs Palmier Pro, which requires macOS 26 Tahoe on Apple Silicon and has never shipped a Windows or Linux build. Against the mainstream editors the difference is ownership rather than platform: ArtDaddy vs CapCut covers where your projects live and what happens to them later.
Does my footage get uploaded anywhere?
No. Your media is referenced where it already sits on disk, editing and export run locally through a bundled ffmpeg, and transcription runs on your machine with Whisper. The only things that leave are the requests you explicitly make of an AI model — a prompt to generate a shot, or a question you ask the agent. Your footage is not training data, and projects are not stored in a cloud. The app is open source, so you do not have to take our word for any of that — read the code.
Is ArtDaddy really open source?
Yes — the desktop app is GPL-3.0 and lives at art-daddy/artdaddy. That covers everything that runs on your machine: the timeline, the renderer, the MCP server, the built-in agent and the UI on this page's screenshots. You can build it from source and use it forever without us. To be straight with you about the part that is not: the hosted service that proxies generation and agent calls to the AI providers is closed, because it holds our provider keys and billing. Bring your own models and you never touch it.
Can I use it without any AI at all?
Yes. It is a complete non-linear editor on its own: multi-track timeline, trimming, splitting, ripple delete, transitions, keyframed motion and scale, colour grading, captions and an ffmpeg export. Ignore the agent entirely and it is still an editor.
Which AI models can I use?
Video: Veo 3.1, Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1 Lite. Images: Nano Banana, Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, GPT-Image 1.5, GPT-Image 2 and MAI Image 2.5. Music: Lyria, including full songs with sung vocals. Plus voiceover generation, and on-device Whisper transcription for captions and search. Generated media lands on the timeline ready to trim.
Which agents can drive it?
Anything that speaks MCP — Claude Desktop and Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot and VS Code, and Cursor. ArtDaddy runs a local MCP server, so the agent edits the project already open in front of you rather than a copy. There is also an agent built into the app if you would rather not wire anything up.
Can I change what the agent did?
Yes, and this is the point of it. Every agent action is an ordinary edit on the
timeline — grab the clip, drag the handle, change the value. You share one undo
history with the agent, so Ctrl+Z works across both of you, and the
agent can carry on from whatever you just changed.
What can it actually make?
Short films and trailers, podcast and long-form clips with burned-in captions, social cuts in vertical, square or widescreen, ads and product videos. It works equally on footage you shot, footage you downloaded, and shots generated inside the app — usually a mix of all three, as everything on this page is.
Anything to know on first launch?
On macOS the build is not notarised yet: right-click the app and choose
Open, then confirm. Double-clicking it will claim the app is damaged.
You only do that once. On Linux, make the AppImage executable with
chmod +x ArtDaddy-linux-x86_64.AppImage before opening it. Windows
updates itself from inside the app. Linux does too after its signed preview entry
is published; on macOS, check back here for now.
What does it cost?
The editor is free while we are building it, and being open source it stays free to build and run from source whatever we do later. Generation and agent calls run on our keys and are metered, so heavy AI use will eventually need credits — editing, exporting and the MCP server are not what you would be paying for.
Who makes ArtDaddy?
ArtDaddy is made and published by AUTOSHOT PRIVATE LIMITED, a company incorporated in Delhi, India. The desktop app is open source under the GPL-3.0. The About & contact page has the company's registered address, CIN and GST details, and how to reach us.
Open source, local first, and it works with any agent over MCP
Free while we build · Windows, macOS and Linux · GPL-3.0 on GitHub
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