I edit my reels by talking to Claude. No editing app, no timeline, no dragging clips around at midnight.
The trick that made it click? Giving every effect a name. Now I just say "add Money Meter when I say ten million" or "Big Mouth on the word NO" and it knows exactly what I mean. Here's the whole library, every one shown on my own footage. Tap around, steal the names, make your own.
Headlines
Red Room
Your headline stamps in behind your head on a solid colour, with you cut out in front.
Use it for: Your hook, or the one line that matters most.
Big Mouth
One huge word at a time over your chest as you say it.
Use it for: Short punchy answers. NO. MAYBE. YES.
Peekaboo
A colour field with giant letters cut out, and your video showing through them.
Use it for: A one-word title moment.
Fly Through
Peekaboo, then the camera flies through the letters into the shot.
Use it for: Opening a new section.
Silent Movie
A flickering old-movie title card.
Use it for: A dramatic pause or a 'meanwhile...'
Clicky Keys
A word typed out on chunky keyboard keys.
Use it for: A code, a keyword or a tiny instruction.
Word Drop
Your words fall from the sky and pile up as you say them.
Use it for: A list of things that are piling up.
The Script
A screenplay page where your words type in as dialogue.
Use it for: Storytime moments.
Numbers and proof
Money Meter
A number rolls up like an odometer and lands with a thud.
Use it for: Any real number you say out loud.
Stat Pops
Stat tiles pop in on either side of your head and stay.
Use it for: Two or three real numbers in a row.
The Receipt
A receipt prints out line by line.
Use it for: Breaking down what something cost or included.
Love Notes
Real customer reviews float in as chat bubbles.
Use it for: Social proof, copied word for word.
Cover Girl
You become the cover of a magazine, with cover lines and a barcode.
Use it for: Introducing yourself or a big announcement.
B-roll
Cut To
Your B-roll takes over the screen while your voice keeps going.
Use it for: Whenever you describe something people should see.
Polaroid
Your clip plays in a tilted white-bordered card floating over you.
Use it for: Showing a product or a place without leaving your face.
Green Screen
Your clip plays behind you, with you cut out in front.
Use it for: Talking about a place, a build or a moment.
Brady Bunch
A grid of clips all playing at once.
Use it for: 'Here's everything that goes into it.'
Card Toss
Phone-shaped clips tumble in and stack up.
Use it for: Showing a bunch of products or posts.
Doomscroll
A phone feed snapping through your clips, likes and all.
Use it for: Talking about content, reels or socials.
Top Half
B-roll on top, you on the bottom.
Use it for: Reacting to or explaining a clip.
Photo Drop
Photos or GIFs dealt in one after another like prints.
Use it for: Mentioning people, products or a before and after.
Your own footage
Proof Sheet
A contact sheet of your whole video with a headline over it.
Use it for: A scroll-stopping first second.
Collapse
A grid of moments from your video collapses into the live shot.
Use it for: Opening a reel.
Deal Me In
Moments from your video dealt out as a hand of cards.
Use it for: 'There's so much to show you.'
Movie Night
You, projected on running film with sprocket holes.
Use it for: Nostalgia, origin stories, 'back in the day'.
Dive In
The shot starts as a small print, then the camera dives in.
Use it for: The very start of a reel or a new section.
Porthole
The next shot opens through a growing circle.
Use it for: Moving to a new point.
Looks
Super 8
70s film stock: weave, glow, faded blacks and grain.
Use it for: Memories and throwbacks.
Moody Blues
The colours drop dark and moody like a curtain falling.
Use it for: The hard part of the story.
Before & After
A handle sweeps across showing the raw shot and the graded shot.
Use it for: Showing what an edit does.
Colour Pick
A dropper picks a brand colour and the picture tints to it.
Use it for: Talking about your brand or colours.
Camera moves
Zoom Punch
A quick punch-in zoom.
Use it for: Landing a key word.
Earthquake
A short impact shake.
Use it for: Something shocking or exciting.
Whiplash
A fast whip-pan into the shot.
Use it for: Changing topic with energy.
Handheld
A slow handheld wander.
Use it for: Calm, honest moments.
Blast Off
A little rocket flies across the screen.
Use it for: Launches and big jumps.
Apps and screens
Ask Claude
An AI prompt bar types your instruction and hits send.
Use it for: Any time you say what you asked AI to do.
Comment Bait
A comment box types your keyword and posts it.
Use it for: Your 'comment KEYWORD' call to action.
Reply Guy
A comment and its replies slide in.
Use it for: Answering a question you got.
Comment Rain
Comments rain down and pile up.
Use it for: 'You guys keep asking...'
Cancelled
App tiles get struck through in red and drop away.
Use it for: Things you stopped using.
Wiggle Mode
Phone icons jiggle and one gets deleted.
Use it for: Quitting an app.
Edit Bay
An editing timeline with a moving playhead.
Use it for: Talking about editing.
Drop Zone
A file drops into an upload zone and gets a tick.
Use it for: 'I just send it the raw file.'
Scroll Down
A web page scrolls inside a browser card.
Use it for: Showing a website or landing page.
Red Pen
A hand-drawn red circle, arrow or tick.
Use it for: Pointing at something in the shot.
Margin Notes
Red Pen plus a handwritten note.
Use it for: Calling out a detail.
Magnify
A magnifying ring zooms into part of the shot.
Use it for: A detail on a product or label.
Get all my effects in your own editor
Want the whole thing? Here it is. My reel editor with all 48 effects, free to download. Claude sets it up for you, you don't need to know any code.
- Get Claude Code. It's the Code tab in the Claude desktop app. That's what runs the editor on your computer.
- Unzip the pack. Put the folder somewhere easy, like Documents, and open Claude Code in that folder.
- Let Claude install it. Paste the setup prompt below. It installs everything and teaches itself how the editor works, so it remembers in every future chat.
- Make it your brand (don't skip this one!). The pack comes in my colours with a plain font, because my fonts are paid licences. Open the brand folder and drop in your own: your font files, your colour palette (hex codes or a screenshot of your brand board), your logo, and a few reference images of the look you love: your best posts, reels you wish you'd made, your Pinterest board. Then paste the brand prompt. Not sure what goes in? The BRAND guide walks you through it.
- Edit your first reel. Drop a raw video in the inbox folder and ask for effects by name.
Set up this reel editor for me. Read README.md and SKILL.md. Make a Python virtual environment, install requirements.txt, and install SKILL.md as a skill called reel-edit so you know how to use the editor in future chats. Then tell me when it's ready and how to give you my first video.
I've put my brand in the brand folder: my fonts, my colour palette, my logo and some reference images of the look I want. Study all of it. Then update the reel editor so every caption, headline and effect uses my fonts and colours instead of Good Livin's, and match the vibe of my reference images. Save my brand rules so you use them every time. Show me stills of 3 effects before you render anything.
I want a reel effect called [NAME]. Here's what it does: [describe it, or paste a screenshot of a reel that does it]. Build it into my reel editor in my brand colours and fonts, add the name to fx_names.py, and show me a still before you render.
Edit this take in my usual look. Add Red Room on the hook with the word [WORD], Money Meter when I say [number], Cut To [clip] when I talk about [thing], and Comment Bait with [KEYWORD] at the end. Storyboard it first.