HTCUT
Guide 1 of 10 · Install & first project
  1. 1Install & first project
  2. 2Set up Claude Code
  3. 3Editing basics
  4. 4Text & motion graphics
  5. 5Sound
  6. 6Edit by transcript
  7. 7Look
  8. 8Shorts
  9. 9Publish
  10. 10CLI quick reference

Learn · Guide 1 of 10

Install & first project

Download the app, make a project, drop in some footage and export it. About ten minutes, start to finish.

Install

  1. Download

    Download HTCUT for Mac. It needs macOS 15 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later). It’s free, with no account.

  2. Drag it to Applications

    Open HTCUT.dmg and drag HTCUT onto the Applications folder. Then eject the disk image.

  3. Open it

    Open HTCUT from Applications. It’s signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS only asks you once to confirm opening an app you downloaded.

Your first project

  1. Create a project

    On the start screen click New Project…, or choose File ▸ New Project… ⌘N. Name it and pick a format:

    • Vertical 1080 × 1920 for Shorts and Reels
    • Horizontal 1920 × 1080 for YouTube
    • Square 1080 × 1080

    and a frame rate (30, 24, 25 or 60 fps). HTCUT makes a folder with that name for the project, its graphics and its renders. You can change the canvas later in File ▸ Project Settings… ⌘J.

  2. Bring in your media

    Choose File ▸ Import Media… ⌘I, or drag video, audio and images from Finder. Drop them on the Media pane to add them, or straight onto the timeline to place them where you drop. Media tiles drag onto the timeline too.

  3. Know the window

    The viewer is in the middle, the inspector on the right ⌘4, the timeline below. The left pane has tabs:

    • Media ⌘1 · Graphics ⌘2 · History ⌘3
    • Transitions ⌘5 · Transcript ⌘6 · Library ⌘7

    The toolbar’s sidebar buttons show or hide both side panes.

  4. Play and move around

    • Space or K: play or pause
    • L: play · J: back one second
    • ← →: one frame (hold ⇧ for ten)
    • Home End (or fn ← fn →): start and last frame

  5. Nothing to save

    Every change is written to the project as you make it. ⌘Z undoes and ⇧⌘Z redoes. The History pane ⌘3 lists every edit.

  6. Export

    Choose File ▸ Export… ⌘E, or the Publish menu in the toolbar. The quick picks are 4K (HEVC), 1080p (H.264) and, on vertical projects, Shorts 1080×1920. Every export with sound is measured against YouTube’s −14 LUFS and a −1 dBTP peak. If it’s off, HTCUT shows you where and offers a fix.

Already have a project somewhere else?

HTCUT imports CapCut desktop drafts: tracks, timing, volume, fades, position, scale, text and the glitch and flash transitions. Anything it can’t carry over is listed, not faked. This is a command for now (see Set up Claude Code to get the htcut command):

$ htcut import-capcut "~/Movies/CapCut/User Data/Projects/com.lveditor.draft/My Video" ~/Movies/MyVideo

Moved your footage to another drive? Edit Timeline ▸ Relink Media… finds it on other drives, by Spotlight or in folders you pick, and only accepts files of the same length.