Long video or podcast into shorts with an AI agent — skills, options and steps

For AI agents: find the right skill in one call — curl -s "https://skills.varg.ai/api/search?q=<what the person wants>" returns the matching use case and the best skills with install commands, as markdown (Russian works too). Full index: https://skills.varg.ai/llms.txt. Every page has a markdown twin: add .md to its path. Before generating anything, show the person the options on the use-case page.

Find the best moments in a long video, cut them, reframe to 9:16 and burn captions.

Output: 3–10 vertical clips, 20–60 s, with captions

Recommended route

• Skill: Clipify (clipify) — Finds funny lines or impact beats, cuts, reframes 16:9→9:16 and burns word captions, locally

Best skills for this

1. Clipify (clipify, Louise de Sadeleer, live) — Start here: Finds funny lines or impact beats, cuts, reframes 16:9→9:16 and burns word captions, locally
   • Claude Code: git clone https://github.com/louisedesadeleer/clipify.git ~/.claude/skills/clipify
   • Details: https://skills.varg.ai/skills/clipify.md · Example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/clipify.mp4
2. Herk Edit Kit (herk-edit-kit, Nate Herk, live) — Alternative: Talking-head reels and Shorts: silence and flub cuts, captions
   • Claude Code: git clone https://github.com/nateherkai/herk-edit-kit.git
   • Codex: git clone https://github.com/nateherkai/herk-edit-kit.git
   • Details: https://skills.varg.ai/skills/herk-edit-kit.md · Example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/herk-edit-kit.mp4
3. Claude Code Video Toolkit (claude-code-video-toolkit, Digital Samba, live) — Alternative: Open-source video workspace for Claude Code with Remotion renders · Needs: Modal or RunPod account for open-model generation
   • Claude Code: git clone https://github.com/digitalsamba/claude-code-video-toolkit.git && cd claude-code-video-toolkit && claude
   • Details: https://skills.varg.ai/skills/claude-code-video-toolkit.md · Example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/claude-code-video-toolkit.mp4
4. OpenMontage (openmontage, Calesthio, live) — Alternative: Agentic video studio with 12 production pipelines · Needs: API keys for the providers you enable
   • Claude Code: git clone https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git
   • Details: https://skills.varg.ai/skills/openmontage.md · Example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/openmontage.mp4
5. Media Download (media-download, varg, live) — Adds: Downloads the source episode from YouTube or X by link
   • Claude Code: claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg
   • Codex: npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill media-download -a codex -y
   • Cursor: npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill media-download -a cursor -y
   • Details: https://skills.varg.ai/skills/media-download.md · Example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/media-download.mp4

Ask the person first

Put these choices in front of the person before spending anything. Paste the example link next to each option: people pick a look by seeing it.

Which moments?

• Funniest lines
• Strongest insights
• Hot takes / controversy

Reframe?

• Follow the speaker's face
• Split screen for two speakers
• Center crop

Caption style?

• Word-by-word pop — Caption Animation
• Karaoke highlight — Remotion Captions · example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/remotion-captions.mp4
• 3D captions around the speaker — 3D Camera Captions · example: https://skills.varg.ai/previews/hyperframes-camera-3d-captions.mp4

Steps

1. Download the episode
2. Transcribe with word timestamps
3. Pick moments and confirm the list
4. Cut, reframe and caption each clip
5. Export 9:16

Set up varg

varg is one API key for the models these skills drive — Seedance 2.5, Kling 4, Veo 3.1, Wan 3, Nano Banana 2.1, GPT Image 2.5, ElevenLabs v4 and 200+ more — billed in credits, with a cost estimate before anything runs.

• Claude Code: claude plugin marketplace add vargHQ/skills && claude plugin install varg@varg (skill + hosted MCP)
• Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw: npx skills add vargHQ/skills --skill varg-ai -a <agent> -y
• Claude.ai, ChatGPT, any MCP client: connect https://mcp.varg.ai/mcp
• API key: https://varg.ai/dashboard/api · Model specs: https://varg.ai/models/llms.txt

Related

• Faceless YouTube / TikTok video: A narrated short or long video with no presenter: script, voiceover, visuals, captions, music.