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README

README.md

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  <h1>OpenCut</h1>
  <h3 style="margin-top: -10px;">A free, open-source video editor for web, desktop, and mobile.</h3>
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Sponsors

Thanks to Vercel and fal.ai for their support of open-source software.

<a href="https://vercel.com/oss"> </a> <a href="https://fal.ai"> </a>

Why?

  • Privacy: Your videos stay on your device
  • Free features: Most basic CapCut features are now paywalled
  • Simple: People want editors that are easy to use - CapCut proved that

Project Structure

  • apps/web/: Next.js web application
  • apps/desktop/: Native desktop app built with GPUI (in progress)
  • rust/: Platform-agnostic core: GPU compositor, effects, masks, and WASM bindings. We're actively migrating business logic here from TypeScript.
  • docs/: Architecture and subsystem documentation

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Note: Docker is optional but recommended for running the local database and Redis. If you only want to work on frontend features, you can skip it.

Setup

  1. Fork and clone the repository

  2. Copy the environment file:

    bash
    # Unix/Linux/Mac
cp apps/web/.env.example apps/web/.env.local

# Windows PowerShell
Copy-Item apps/web/.env.example apps/web/.env.local

  3. Start the database and Redis:

    bash
    docker compose up -d db redis serverless-redis-http

  4. Install dependencies and start the dev server:

    bash
    bun install
bun dev:web

The application will be available at http://localhost:3000.

The .env.example has sensible defaults that match the Docker Compose config — it should work out of the box.

Desktop setup

Desktop is opt-in. If you're only working on the web app, skip this entirely.

If you want to get ready for apps/desktop, see apps/desktop/README.md. It's a two-step setup: Rust toolchain first, then desktop native dependencies.

Local WASM development

Only needed if you're editing rust/wasm and want the web app to use your local build instead of the published package.

  1. Build the package once from the repo root:

    bash
    bun run build:wasm

  2. Register the generated package for linking:

    bash
    cd rust/wasm/pkg
bun link

  3. Link apps/web to the local package:

    bash
    cd apps/web
bun link opencut-wasm

  4. Rebuild on changes while you work:

    bash
    bun dev:wasm

To switch apps/web back to the published package, run:

bash
cd apps/web
bun add opencut-wasm

Self-Hosting with Docker

To run everything (including a production build of the app) in Docker:

bash
docker compose up -d

The app will be available at http://localhost:3100.

Contributing

We welcome contributions! While we're actively developing and refactoring certain areas, there are plenty of opportunities to contribute effectively.

🎯 Focus areas: Timeline functionality, project management, performance, bug fixes, and UI improvements outside the preview panel.

⚠️ Avoid for now: Preview panel enhancements (fonts, stickers, effects) and export functionality - we're refactoring these with a new binary rendering approach.

See our Contributing Guide for detailed setup instructions, development guidelines, and complete focus area guidance.

Quick start for contributors:

  • Fork the repo and clone locally
  • Follow the setup instructions in CONTRIBUTING.md
  • Working on apps/desktop? See apps/desktop/README.md for setup
  • Create a feature branch and submit a PR

License

MIT LICENSE