Claude Code
The guide the app writes into every workspace, what Claude Code can do there, and how it relates to the command line.
What the app sets up
Every workspace carries three things for Claude Code. The app writes them when it creates the workspace and refreshes them on every launch.
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
BetterEdits.md | The generated guide: how to run the command line, every command with its options, and how tracks, clips, text and captions behave. Rewritten on every launch, so keep your own notes out of it. |
CLAUDE.md | Yours. The starter imports the guide with @BetterEdits.md. Add anything you want Claude to know about your videos. |
.claude/settings.json | A permission rule that lets Claude run the app's command line without asking each time. Other rules in the file are kept. |
The command line is the app's own binary, /Applications/BetterEdits.app/Contents/MacOS/BetterEdits cli …. Nothing goes on your PATH and nothing is copied anywhere. If the app moves, the next launch rewrites the guide and the rule with the new path.
Start a session
Open a terminal in the workspace folder and start Claude Code.
cd ~/Movies/Reels
claude
Claude reads CLAUDE.md, follows the import to the guide, and can then drive the app. Commands connect to the running app; if it is not running they launch it in the background.
What Claude Code can do
Everything the command line can. See Command line. In practice:
- Read the project: which tracks and clips exist, the media in use, the words spoken on a track with timings.
- Cut: add, trim, split, move, replace and remove clips; add placeholders; put text on screen; generate and fix captions; change styles and positions.
- Look: render a frame or a contact sheet as a PNG and read it like any image; make a quick preview export.
- Show you: move the playhead, select a clip, bring the app to the front.
- Manage: list and open projects, set up media folders, import a template, clone a reel, export.
Every change lands in the app as an ordinary undo step. You see it in the timeline as it happens, and ⌘Z takes it back.
Prompts that work
Transcribe Video 1, then cut out the pauses longer than a second. Leave a little air around each cut and show me a contact sheet when you are done.
Add a title in the Strong favorite over the first two seconds that says "Stop doing this", near the top. Then put subtitles on the piece with the default style at the bottom.
Here is a template for a three-shot reel: hook, demo, call to action, each five seconds, with music underneath. Write the JSON, import it as a new project called Hook v2, and open it.
The account
The command line needs the same live trial or subscription as the app. While the app is locked, every command answers "BetterEdits needs an active subscription or trial. Open the app to sign in." Transcription and cloning spend credits from the command line exactly as from the app. See Account.