Roughcut
A working personal tool, still being built. Not released publicly.
Roughcut is a desktop video editor where a chat assistant is the main way to edit. You describe the cut in plain English and it changes the real timeline: it reads the project, makes the cut, and tells you what to double-check. All the footage stays on your computer. It exists to get YouTube and short social videos out fast.
The story
I wanted to ship YouTube and short-form video fast without my footage leaving my computer. The project folder is still called Daydream. The app has been Roughcut since July 2026.
The plan was written for a junior engineer working alone. The junior engineer is an AI, and the person checking the work is me, by hand, in the running app.
- Launched
- First build June 24, 2026.
A few tips
- Green tests do not prove the edit looks right. Hand-testing in the running app is the only real proof.
- Instrument before fixing a bug you can only see at runtime. Don't guess from reading code.
- Route every edit through one command layer, so undo always works.
Related files on this desktop
Tools I used for this project
