Guide
AI video editing prompts: what to type, and what each one changes
Updated
These AI video editing prompts are for editing a clip you filmed, not for generating new footage. Each one comes with what it changes in the video and what it costs.
In short
- The AI video editing prompts that work best name one change, such as "Cut the first sentence" or "Turn the music down a bit".
- An editing prompt changes how your clip is cut, captioned and set to music. No editing prompt can make your video show or say something you didn't film.
- In Cutroom's Magic Editor, a prompt that changes the video costs 40 credits, and a question costs nothing.
- In Cutroom, Jacob, the Magic Editor's AI editor, also can't move a sentence, change the font or export a wide version.
- In Cutroom, each prompt that changes the video makes a new version, so typing "Go back one version" undoes it for free.
Which prompts work in an AI video editor?
Prompts that name one change to the edit work best: what to cut, where a clip goes, how the music sounds. A prompt for new footage needs a different kind of tool.
- Name the place by the words you say there, such as "the sentence about pricing". In Cutroom you can also tap those words in the transcript, then type what should happen to them.
- Give a number when length matters, such as "Make this about 10 seconds shorter". In Cutroom, "make it shorter" with no number takes out about a fifth of the video and never the opening or the close.
- Ask for one change at a time, so you can see what each prompt did and undo just that one.
- Ask a question when you are not sure. In Cutroom, questions to Jacob are free, up to 20 a day, and nothing changes until you say so.
- The same rules help in Descript's Underlord and the Captions app. Descript's own example asks Underlord to cut a video down to 2 minutes, focusing on the part where the speaker talked about Freud.
Where you can type editing prompts
Several editors take editing prompts in plain words, and each one works on footage you already have. If you came for prompts that make a video from nothing, you want a video generator, not an editor.
- Descript calls Underlord an AI video agent. You ask it for an edit and keep editing the rest in Descript yourself.
- Runway's Aleph changes the footage itself, so it's the one to use for prompts like "remove the car".
- The examples below use Cutroom's Magic Editor. Jacob, its AI editor, makes the whole first edit from one clip of you talking, and each prompt you type changes that edit.
Editors that take typed editing prompts
As each company describes its own tool on its website, checked 12 November 2026.
| Tool | Where you type it | What its prompts change |
|---|---|---|
| Descript's Underlord | Inside Descript's editor | The edit you ask for, such as "Edit this down to 2 minutes" or "Hide my jumpcuts by adding zooms" |
| Captions | In the Captions app or web editor | B-roll, zooms and sound effects in a video it made from your footage |
| Runway's Aleph | In Runway | What's in the picture: adding, removing and changing objects, the style and the lighting |
| Cutroom's Magic Editor | In a chat with Jacob, its AI editor | Cuts, b-roll, your own files, captions, transitions, music and colour |
Tool: Descript's Underlord
- Where you type it
- Inside Descript's editor
- What its prompts change
- The edit you ask for, such as "Edit this down to 2 minutes" or "Hide my jumpcuts by adding zooms"
Tool: Captions
- Where you type it
- In the Captions app or web editor
- What its prompts change
- B-roll, zooms and sound effects in a video it made from your footage
Tool: Runway's Aleph
- Where you type it
- In Runway
- What its prompts change
- What's in the picture: adding, removing and changing objects, the style and the lighting
Tool: Cutroom's Magic Editor
- Where you type it
- In a chat with Jacob, its AI editor
- What its prompts change
- Cuts, b-roll, your own files, captions, transitions, music and colour
How Cutroom's Magic Editor edits a video like this
Jacob is the AI editor inside Cutroom's Magic Editor: it edits your video for you, then changes it when you ask in a chat.
The 4 styles, as example edits
Steps
Three steps, four angles
Skit
Hook, hard stop, demo card
Verdict
The tester's verdict
Poster
Typography does the talking
Hover or tap an example to play it, without sound. These are example edits of each style; the presenters in them are generated with AI.
- Your take: one video of you talking, up to 3 minutes
- Your style: one of 4: Steps, Skit, Verdict or Poster
- Your files: screenshots, a screen recording or a logo, if you have them
- Your goal: what the video is for, in a few words, if you like
- Jacob makes it: normally 10 to 15 minutes, and you get an email
- Your edit: ask Jacob for changes in a chat, then export
Then you ask Jacob, for example
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”
- “Put a clip on the strongest sentence”
- “Change the music to something calmer”
Each change is a new version, and going back is free. First cut 250 credits, each change 40, questions free, export 30 credits per started minute.
Prompts for cutting and shortening
These prompts change what stays in the video, and your clip keeps the order you said things in. The example shows Jacob's first edit of one clip, then two cutting prompts typed in the chat.
- "Remove all the ums and uhs" cuts the filler words that are still in, for 40 credits.
- "Cut the first sentence" starts the video on your second sentence, for 40 credits.
- "Make this about 10 seconds shorter" cuts fillers, repeats and the weakest sentences until the video is about 10 seconds shorter, for 40 credits.
- "Keep my pauses, it feels too rushed" puts your own pauses back. It costs 40 credits in the chat, or nothing if you switch it on in the settings.
- "Go back one version" brings back the version before this one, for free.
- To cut one exact line, tap its words in the transcript. Tapping is free, and tapping cut words again brings them back.
A skincare creator's serum verdict, then two cutting prompts
Jacob's first edit in the Verdict style, and the version each prompt makes.
Drawing of an example clip, not a customer video
Before · the clip as filmed
A 45-second phone video of a skincare creator giving her verdict on a vitamin C serum
“Okay, um, I've used this vitamin C serum for two weeks, and, uh, honestly my skin looks brighter. It looks, it looks brighter. The link is in my bio if you want to try it.”
struck through = what Jacob cuts
After · Jacob's first edit, Verdict style
“I've used this vitamin C serum for two weeks, honestly my skin looks brighter. The link is in my bio if you want to try it.”
- On “serum”: your product photo serum.jpg cut in on the word
- On “skin”: a b-roll clip of a morning skincare routine from stock
- On “brighter”: the word set big in your accent colour
- Under the whole video: calm music under your voice
- On “link”: a typed call to action, then a card asking viewers to follow you
window: serum.jpg
Then you ask Jacob
- “Make this about 10 seconds shorter”v2the same edit, about 10 seconds shorter
- “Keep my pauses, it feels too rushed”v3the same edit with your own pauses back in
Prompts for clips, captions, music and the look
These prompts change what plays over your words and how the video looks and sounds.
- Jacob looks for b-roll in your own clip library first, then on the stock sites Pexels and Pixabay, and puts each clip on the words it belongs to.
- You can ask Jacob for a straight cut, a flash in white, paper or your accent colour, a burn, a light leak, a halftone, a circle wipe, a whip, a glitch or particles.
- Some changes are free in the settings instead of the chat: the accent colour, picking another music track or none, text on or off, and keeping your pauses. Asking Jacob for one of these in the chat costs 40 credits.
- If a prompt ends up changing nothing, the 40 credits come back.
Prompts for clips, transitions, captions, music and colour
Each prompt is quoted from the Magic Editor's chat, apart from the file line, which is Jacob's own example.
| Prompt | What Jacob changes | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Can you find 3 b-roll clips that fit what I'm saying? | Finds three clips and puts each one on its words | 40 credits |
| Swap the second clip for something else | Replaces that clip with a different one | 40 credits |
| Put it on the pricing line (after adding a file) | Shows your file while you talk about pricing | 40 credits |
| Add a whip into the second part | A fast whip transition where your second point starts | 40 credits |
| Use plain cuts only | Takes the transitions out | 40 credits |
| Make the key words stand out more | More of your key words set apart in the accent colour | 40 credits |
| No captions on the ending | The last part plays without captions | 40 credits |
| Change the call to action to Try it free | The typed line at the end now reads Try it free | 40 credits |
| Use music with more energy | A livelier track under the same edit | 40 credits |
| Turn the music down a bit | The same track, quieter under your voice | 40 credits |
| Make the colours warmer | The same edit in warmer colours | 40 credits |
| Make it black and white | The whole video in black and white | 40 credits |
| Switch this to the Poster style | The whole edit made again in Poster, with the old version kept | 120 credits |
Prompt: Can you find 3 b-roll clips that fit what I'm saying?
- What Jacob changes
- Finds three clips and puts each one on its words
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Swap the second clip for something else
- What Jacob changes
- Replaces that clip with a different one
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Put it on the pricing line (after adding a file)
- What Jacob changes
- Shows your file while you talk about pricing
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Add a whip into the second part
- What Jacob changes
- A fast whip transition where your second point starts
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Use plain cuts only
- What Jacob changes
- Takes the transitions out
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Make the key words stand out more
- What Jacob changes
- More of your key words set apart in the accent colour
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: No captions on the ending
- What Jacob changes
- The last part plays without captions
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Change the call to action to Try it free
- What Jacob changes
- The typed line at the end now reads Try it free
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Use music with more energy
- What Jacob changes
- A livelier track under the same edit
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Turn the music down a bit
- What Jacob changes
- The same track, quieter under your voice
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Make the colours warmer
- What Jacob changes
- The same edit in warmer colours
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Make it black and white
- What Jacob changes
- The whole video in black and white
- Cost
- 40 credits
Prompt: Switch this to the Poster style
- What Jacob changes
- The whole edit made again in Poster, with the old version kept
- Cost
- 120 credits
Prompts that do not work, and what to ask instead
Some prompts ask for things an editor cannot do with the clip you filmed. These are the common ones, and what gets you closest.
- Prompts that change what's in the picture, such as removing a car, need a generative video tool such as Runway's Aleph. An editor like Cutroom only works with what you filmed.
- When you ask for something Jacob cannot do, it tells you so in the chat.
Prompts the Magic Editor cannot do, and the nearest one that works
| What you might type | Why it does not work | Ask or do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Move the second sentence to the start | Jacob cannot move a sentence, so the video keeps the order you spoke in | Cut the first sentence, or film it again in the new order |
| Add a line saying the sale ends Friday | Jacob cannot make new speech or copy your voice | Change the call to action to Sale ends Friday |
| Use the Montserrat font | Each style comes with its own fonts, and you can't swap in yours | Make the key words stand out more, or switch the style |
| Make a 16:9 version for YouTube | The only export is a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920 | Make the wide version in another editor |
| Generate a clip of a beach at sunset | Jacob finds b-roll clips but does not make AI clips | Find a b-roll clip of a beach at sunset |
| Remove the background noise | Cutroom evens out the volume but doesn't remove noise | Film again in a quieter room |
| Post it to my TikTok | Cutroom does not post for you | Export, download the MP4 and post it yourself |
What you might type: Move the second sentence to the start
- Why it does not work
- Jacob cannot move a sentence, so the video keeps the order you spoke in
- Ask or do instead
- Cut the first sentence, or film it again in the new order
What you might type: Add a line saying the sale ends Friday
- Why it does not work
- Jacob cannot make new speech or copy your voice
- Ask or do instead
- Change the call to action to Sale ends Friday
What you might type: Use the Montserrat font
- Why it does not work
- Each style comes with its own fonts, and you can't swap in yours
- Ask or do instead
- Make the key words stand out more, or switch the style
What you might type: Make a 16:9 version for YouTube
- Why it does not work
- The only export is a vertical MP4, 1080 by 1920
- Ask or do instead
- Make the wide version in another editor
What you might type: Generate a clip of a beach at sunset
- Why it does not work
- Jacob finds b-roll clips but does not make AI clips
- Ask or do instead
- Find a b-roll clip of a beach at sunset
What you might type: Remove the background noise
- Why it does not work
- Cutroom evens out the volume but doesn't remove noise
- Ask or do instead
- Film again in a quieter room
What you might type: Post it to my TikTok
- Why it does not work
- Cutroom does not post for you
- Ask or do instead
- Export, download the MP4 and post it yourself
Questions you can ask for free
In Cutroom, a message that only asks Jacob something changes nothing and costs nothing, up to 20 a day.
- "What would make this video better?" gets suggestions you can tap, and nothing changes until you pick one.
- "Why did you cut what you cut?" gets an answer from a log of what Jacob did, not a guess.
- "What did you change in the last version?" gets the changes in that version from the same log.
- "What does a change cost?" gets the price before you spend anything.
- The Send button shows whether your message is a free question or a paid change before you send it.
Questions people ask
- What prompts can I use to edit a video with AI?
- Prompts that name one change to your clip work best, such as "Cut the first sentence", "Make this about 10 seconds shorter", "Swap the second clip for something else" or "Turn the music down a bit". Name the place by the words you say there.
- Can I edit a video with text prompts?
- Yes. Several editors take typed edits, such as Descript's Underlord, the Captions app and Cutroom's Magic Editor. In Cutroom you type the change to Jacob, its AI editor, and get a new version of the video.
- How much does an AI editing prompt cost?
- In Cutroom, a prompt that changes the video costs 40 credits and a new style costs 120. A question is free, up to 20 a day. If a prompt ends up changing nothing, the credits come back.
- Why didn't my prompt work?
- Usually because it asks for something an editor cannot do with your clip, such as new speech or footage you never filmed. Some editors also can't move a sentence, change the font or make a wide version, and Cutroom is one of them. Ask for the nearest change instead, or, in Cutroom, ask Jacob what it can do for this video.
- Can I undo a prompt?
- Yes, in Cutroom. Type "Go back one version" or "undo" to Jacob. Every change Jacob makes is a new version. The earlier versions stay, and going back to one is free.
- Is a prompt-based video editor the same as an AI video generator?
- No. A generator makes new footage from a prompt. An editor such as Cutroom works on the clip you filmed: it cuts it, captions it and adds b-roll, music and your own files.
Film one clip, let Jacob make the first edit, then try these prompts on it. Your first video is free.