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videopython

PyPI Python License

Minimal, LLM-friendly Python library for programmatic video editing, processing, and AI video workflows.

Full documentation: videopython.com

Disclaimer: This project started as a hand-written hobby project, but most of the code is now produced by LLM agents. Humans still drive direction, approve changes, and own design decisions.

Installation

# Install FFmpeg first (macOS: brew install ffmpeg | Debian: apt-get install ffmpeg)
pip install videopython              # core video/audio editing
pip install "videopython[ai]"        # + ALL local AI features (GPU recommended)
pip install "videopython[ai,mcp]"    # + MCP server for agent-driven editing

Python >=3.11, <3.14. AI features run locally — no cloud API keys required, but model weights are downloaded on first use. LLM-driven editing and scene captioning use a local Ollama server (ollama pull qwen3.6:27b). See the install guide for FFmpeg, Ollama, and hardware details.

Quick start

An edit is a plan — a dict (or JSON) validated and executed against the source files:

from videopython.editing import VideoEdit

edit = VideoEdit.from_dict({
    "segments": [{
        "source": "raw.mp4",
        "start": 10.0,
        "end": 20.0,
        "operations": [
            {"op": "resize", "width": 1080, "height": 1920},
            {"op": "color_adjust", "saturation": 1.15, "contrast": 1.05},
            {"op": "fade", "mode": "in", "duration": 0.5},
        ],
    }],
})
edit.validate()                  # dry-run via metadata, no frames loaded
edit.run_to_file("output.mp4")   # streams ffmpeg decode → effects → encode

run_to_file() streams, so memory stays bounded even for hour-long sources. Walk through it in Tutorial 1.

Automatic editing (local LLM)

Give AutoEditor your clips and a brief; a local Ollama vision model selects and orders the shots, and you get back a runnable VideoEdit:

from videopython.ai import AutoEditor, OllamaVisionLLM

editor = AutoEditor(planner=OllamaVisionLLM(model="qwen3.6:27b"))  # ollama pull qwen3.6:27b
edit = editor.edit(
    ["clip_a.mp4", "clip_b.mp4", "clip_c.mp4"],
    brief="A punchy 15-second teaser; lead with the most dynamic shot.",
)
edit.run_to_file("teaser.mp4")

The model picks scenes by id from a catalog built from scene detection + captions, so its temporal imprecision never reaches the render. See Let a local LLM edit for you.

AI generation

from videopython.ai import TextToImage, ImageToVideo, TextToSpeech

image = TextToImage().generate_image("A cinematic mountain sunrise")
video = ImageToVideo().generate_video(image=image)
audio = TextToSpeech().generate_audio("Welcome to videopython.")
video.add_audio(audio).save("ai_video.mp4")

LLM & AI agent integration

Putting an LLM in the loop works three ways, differing in who owns the model:

  1. Bring your own LLM — videopython gives your model the JSON Schema and a structured refine loop; your model authors the plans. Guide
  2. AutoEditor — a local Ollama vision model is the planner. Guide
  3. MCP server — videopython-mcp exposes the pipeline as Model Context Protocol tools, so an agent like Claude drives editing with its own model. Guide

Mode 1 in brief: every operation is a Pydantic model whose fields are the JSON wire format, so VideoEdit.json_schema() hands your model a ready-made tool schema — a discriminated union over every LLM-exposed op (pass strict=True for provider grammar modes). Plans parse permissively and own their numeric bounds at validation, so a refine loop converges fast:

  • edit.check(meta) — collect every structured error in one pass, not just the first
  • edit.repair(meta) — auto-clamp mechanical violations (overruns, negatives) with a changelog
  • edit.normalize_dimensions(meta, target) — make heterogeneous segments concat-compatible

Why it is built this way: LLM-first design.

Features

  • videopython.base — Video, VideoMetadata, FrameIterator, Transcription, and shared result types (BoundingBox, FaceTrack, SceneBoundary, ...). No AI dependencies.
  • videopython.audio — Audio with overlay, concat, normalize, time-stretch, silence detection, segment classification.
  • videopython.editing — Operation/Effect foundation, VideoEdit plan runner with JSON Schema + streaming execution. Transforms (resize, crop, fps, speed, freeze, silence removal; cutting is the segment's own start/end) and effects (blur, zoom, color grading, vignette, Ken Burns, fade, overlays, animated subtitles).
  • videopython.ai (install with [ai]) — generation (TextToVideo, ImageToVideo, TextToImage, TextToSpeech, TextToMusic), understanding (AudioToText, AudioClassifier, SceneVLM, FaceTracker, ObjectDetector, SemanticSceneDetector), the FaceTrackingCrop transform, the ObjectDetectionOverlay effect, and the full-pipeline VideoAnalyzer. Scene captioning and dubbing translation run on a local Ollama model.
  • videopython.ai.auto_edit — AutoEditor + OllamaVisionLLM: plan and render an edit from sources + a one-line brief.
  • videopython.ai.dubbing — VideoDubber for voice-cloned revoicing with timing sync.
  • videopython.mcp (install with [ai,mcp]) — videopython-mcp, an MCP stdio server exposing the auto-edit pipeline so an agent drives editing.

Documentation

The docs follow Diátaxis: four sections, each answering a different kind of question.

Tutorials Learn by doing — start here if you are new
How-to guides Recipes for a specific goal
Reference Classes, operations, parameters, wire format
Explanation Why the library is shaped the way it is

Development

See DEVELOPMENT.md for local setup, testing, docs, and the release workflow.

Metadata

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