Capcut

capcut

The short-form editing tool skill — edit to the script, drive the pace, ink the captions, tighten sound with the license check, and ship safe + to spec. The agent plans and flags the hazards; the human executes and approves; WoopSocial publishes the finished file. (Ships with tools/integrations/capcut.md.)

The POV: the edit serves the script — and "free" has fine print

CapCut earned its place as the default short-form editor: auto-captions in seconds, beat-sync, background removal, trend templates, phone-to-desktop sync — with a ~15-minute ceiling by design (it's a short-form tool; route long-form to Descript/Resolve). Two top-1% edges most creators learn the hard way. (1) The licensing fine print: the June 2025 ToS grants ByteDance a perpetual, transferable, sublicensable license to anything uploaded/synced (you keep copyright — it's a license, not ownership, stated precisely) — so client/NDA material edits locally, never synced; and the music trap: free-library assets are personal-use only, and even tracks labeled "Commercial use" are reported cleared for TikTok/CapCut platforms only — YouTube/IG claims still happen, verify per track. (2) Check the tier before you build: features migrate behind Pro over time, and the documented failure is hours of editing ending at a paywalled export. The craft line: the edit executes what short-form-video-script designed — pacing, captions, and sound serve the beats; and auto-captions always get an accuracy pass, because a wrong claim in a caption is a published error.

Read these first

1. short-form-video-script — the beats this edit executes.
2. brand-profile + design-and-templates (caption style/type/color) + voice-builder (any copy/TTS).

The framework: EDITS

(Depth: references/the-edits-framework.md.)

• E — Edit to the script: load the beats; cut everything that isn't in them; the hook lands in the first seconds; the last cut is the loop.
• D — Drive the pace: visual change every ~2–4s (jump cuts, punch-ins/keyframes, B-roll, text pops); beat-sync; scrub-test for dead stretches.
• I — Ink the captions: auto-captions + the mandatory accuracy pass; style once, save the preset; sound-off first; SRT/VTT export when copy travels.
• T — Tighten sound + effects (the license gate): license-check music BEFORE export (the "Commercial use"-is-TikTok-only trap); platform-native audio, licensed tracks, or ai-music-and-sound; effects sparingly.
• S — Ship safe + to spec: right resolution/fps per destination; ToS hygiene (local-only for client work); likeness/AI-disclosure handled; export → scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial.

The reality (verify-quarterly)

2026 CapCut: auto-captions (free 10-min/project cap; Pro unlimited; SRT/VTT/ASS export), real-time background removal, motion/camera tracking, vocal isolation + flicker removal (Pro), TTS/avatars, Long-Video-to-Shorts, keyframes/beat-sync, MP4/MOV to 4K (Pro). Plans restructured early 2026 — **Standard ≈ $9.99 / Pro ≈ $19.99 ($15 annual); sources conflict (regional/legacy $7.99–9.99 figures) — verify in-app**, and features migrate behind Pro over time (check tiers before building). Documented billing/cancellation complaints (manage via app store). The ToS + music-license spines as above. India ban since 2020. Attribute all; verify-quarterly. Full detail: references/capcut-2026-reality.md. The daily loop, the pre-edit tier check, the client-work hygiene checklist, long-form routing, and two worked examples: references/workflows-and-templates.md.

Honest scope (never violate)

• The agent plans the edit (cut plan, pacing, caption spec, sound plan + license gates, export spec) and flags every ToS/licensing hazard; the human executes in CapCut, judges footage, approves the cut (no CapCut agent connector — never pretend to see or edit video; never fabricate "that cut works"). WoopSocial publishes the finished export (TikTok's required fields validate there) — it does not edit video; CapCut's direct-to-TikTok path exists and the split is a stated choice.
• Licensing/ToS spine: personal-use free assets; "Commercial use" music verified per track; uploaded-content license → client/NDA work local-only, never synced (counsel for high-stakes; not legal advice); users bear responsibility for uploads. Likeness + AI-disclosure: no non-consensual lip-sync/deepfakes; disclose TTS/AI voices where required (EU AI Act; C2PA). Never pirated packs, unlicensed music, uncorrected captions, or fabricated prices/gates/metrics. (Full scope: references/scope-and-connections.md.)

Distinct from its siblings (route correctly)

capcut (this) = the short-form timeline edit · short-form-video-script = designs the beats (read first) · captions-and-clipping / opus-clip = clip long video into shorts (feeds this) · descript = text-based talk/long-form editing (the >15-min route) · canva = graphics + simple motion · ai-video / veo-3 / kling / runway = generate footage (this edits it) · talking-head-and-piece-to-camera = the performance the footage comes from · tiktok-video-publishing / instagram-reels-publishing / youtube-shorts = platform publish specifics.

Where this connects

Reads first: short-form-video-script + brand-profile/design-and-templates + voice-builder. Pulls footage from: talking-head-and-piece-to-camera, ai-video/heygen (disclosed), captions-and-clipping. Feeds: tiktok-video-publishing, instagram-reels-publishing, youtube-shorts, before-after-and- transformation, content-recycling. Publishes via: export → scheduling-and-queue → WoopSocial. Tool file: tools/integrations/capcut.md. Measure with: native + analytics-and-reporting on watch-through / 3s hold — never fabricated.

Definition of done

A short-form edit that executes the script's beats (hook inside the first seconds, dead air gone, the loop cut last), paced with a visual change every ~2–4s and beat-synced sound, captioned via auto-captions plus the mandatory accuracy pass in a saved on-brand preset inside safe zones, with every asset license-checked before export (personal-use free assets avoided for commercial work; "Commercial use" music verified per destination platform; no pirated packs or unlicensed songs), the ToS hygiene held (client/NDA material local-only, never synced), likeness/AI-disclosure handled (no non-consensual lip-sync; TTS/avatars disclosed where required), and the export to spec per destination; tiers checked before the edit was built (no paywall surprise at export), the human executing and approving the cut, and the finished file published via WoopSocial; measured on watch-through/ 3s hold natively; no fabricated prices, feature gates, capabilities, or metrics; and correctly distinguished from short-form-video-script, captions-and-clipping/opus-clip, descript, canva, and the video generators.