How Claude edits my videos in DaVinci Resolve

Claude can run a real edit in DaVinci Resolve: it builds the timeline, cuts the dead air and grades the clips, then hands the cut back for my review. This is how I set it up, the prompt I use, and how I give notes.

sound familiar?

An hour of dragging clips before the edit even starts.
Dead air you cut by hand, again.
Notes typed in a chat that never land on the right frame.

My only job now: approve it.

before you start

What you need

Three things. If you already edit in Resolve Studio, you have most of it.

DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1Version 21.1 lets Claude work inside Resolve. Studio is the paid version.
ClaudeThe Claude desktop app is the easiest start. Claude Code gives you more control, and it is what I use every day.
Your footage in one folderOne folder per video. Claude imports from it, and your source files stay where they are.

step 01

Update to Resolve 21.1

This is the only setup. In Resolve: Help, then Check for Updates. Then open Resolve and leave it running: Claude talks to the open app.

DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 with its icon: 21.1 gives Claude native access. No plugins, no code. — From one of my reels: Resolve Studio 21.1 gives Claude native access. No plugins, no code.

step 02

Ask Claude to connect

Open Claude and say it in plain words. It finds its own way into Resolve and tells you when it is in.

say to Claude

Hey Claude, connect to DaVinci Resolve.

Works in the Claude app and in Claude Code.

say to Claude

List my DaVinci Resolve projects.

If it lists them, you are connected.

step 03

Send the prompt

This is the whole prompt from the reel. Talk to Claude like an assistant editor.

say to Claude

Hey Claude, I just filmed a new video. It’s in a folder. Spin up DaVinci Resolve, edit a timeline, cut the dead air, and do everything to prepare a video for my review.

The four highlights are the whole job.

The prompt card from the reel with four highlighted asks — The same prompt as it appears in the reel, word for word.

Want a sharper first cut? Be specific about what to keep and when to stop.

say to Claude

Hey Claude, the clips for today’s video are in [folder]. Open DaVinci Resolve, create a project called [name], build a timeline, cut the dead air and repeated takes but keep natural breaths, grade every clip to match the first one, and add a marker on every cut you were unsure about. Don’t render. Tell me when it’s ready.

step 04

Watch it edit

Keep Resolve on screen. On my setup it works in this order.

01
Imports your folderA new project and bin. Your clips stay where they are on disk.
02
Reads what you saidTranscribes the takes, so it cuts on sentences, not guesses.
03
Cuts the dead airDrops silences, false starts and repeated takes, then builds the timeline.
04
GradesBalances each clip on the Color page and matches them to each other.
05
Adds graphics, if you askTitles and motion graphics on a track above your edit.
06
Marks its decisions and stopsMarkers on anything worth a second look, then it hands the cut back to you.

DaVinci Resolve's Color page with twelve clips, the colour wheels and Claude's status — Resolve’s Color page on my machine while Claude grades: the clips of the cut along the middle, the wheels below, and its status at the bottom, “Calling timeline item color”.

A shot of the reel before and after motion graphics were added — The same shot before and after Claude added the graphics, as the reel shows it.

step 05

Teach it your style once. Save it as a skill.

This is what makes it yours. A skill is a saved set of instructions Claude loads every time. Without one you get a generic edit. With a video edit skill and a motion design skill, you get your edit.

skillVideo edit

How you pace a cut
What counts as dead air for you
Your jump cuts, zooms and captions
Your colour look

skillMotion design

Your fonts and colours
How titles animate in and out
Where graphics sit on screen
What it should never do

Walk Claude through one real edit and give notes while it works, like you would to a junior editor. When the cut is right, save it:

say to Claude

Save everything we just did as a skill called [format] edit: the steps, the rules I gave you, and what a good result looks like, so you can repeat it on the next video.

Next video, one line: use my [format] edit skill on the new folder.

A card listing what goes into an edit skill — My edit skill, as one of my reels lists it: how I pace a cut, what counts as dead air, my jump cuts and zooms, my colour look.

step 06

Review it like a director

Your only job now. One watch, five checks.

First 2 secondsDoes it open on your strongest line?

Every cutCuts land between words. Jump through the markers.

Skin tonesNo clip suddenly warmer or colder.

GraphicsSpelling, numbers and timing.

SoundEven levels from clip to clip, no clipped peaks.

say to Claude

Tighten the intro, make the grade a bit warmer, and keep the take where I laugh.

Plain words. It edits the same timeline.

A review card with Request changes and Approved buttons — From the reel: the cut comes back ready for review, and you request changes or approve it.

step 07

Leave your notes as markers

Typing notes in a chat means describing where the problem is. A marker sits on the exact frame, so Claude never has to guess which moment you mean. Watch the cut once, drop a marker wherever you have a comment, type the note into it, and make the fixes red.

A timeline with red markers, and a list of three notes with their timecodes — Red markers on one of my course episodes, and three of the notes in them, in my own words.

say to Claude

Read every marker on this timeline, timeline markers and clip markers. Make the changes on a duplicate timeline, check each fix on the frames, and tell me which notes you didn’t change and why.

The same moment before and after the note was fixed — The note “no transition from screenshare to full screen speaker”: my trim had cut the transition off, and it rebuilt it.

Two timelines, the original and the copy with only the noted clips changed, and Claude's reply to a wrong note — It works on a copy, so my cut stays untouched. And when one of my notes was wrong, it said so: it measured the clip I flagged at -23.0 LUFS, the same as its neighbours, found the real dip at 02:49 and asked which one I heard.

if something breaks

Quick fixes

The first cut is not what I meant

Say what you want in plain words and it edits the same timeline: “start on the second line, keep the take where I laugh, warmer skin.” For a bigger change, ask for it on a duplicate timeline so you can compare.

Claude can’t connect

Make sure Resolve 21.1 is open, then ask Claude what is in the way. It walks you through it. If it mentions a setting, it is Preferences › System › General › External scripting › Local.

I use the free version of Resolve

This guide is for DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1. Ask Claude what it can do with your version.

I’m nervous about a real project

Ask Claude to work in a new project or on a duplicate timeline. Your source files stay where they are.

It stopped halfway on a long video

Ask it to continue from the last marker, or split the job: timeline first, then colour, then markers.

bonus · prompts I use after the first cut

say to Claude

Cut a 30-second vertical version for Instagram from this timeline, starting on the strongest line.

say to Claude

Put a marker on every jump cut so I can check them one by one.

say to Claude

Match the color of every clip to the clip at the playhead.

say to Claude

Find every place I restarted a sentence and keep only the last take.

say to Claude

Set up a 1080x1920 H.264 render for Instagram and add it to the render queue. Don't start it.

An independent guide by Luka (@omgluka), made at Engram. DaVinci Resolve is a trademark of Blackmagic Design. Claude is made by Anthropic. Neither is affiliated with this guide.

Let agents run the rest of your work.