# Daoclip — full reference for language models

Last updated: 2026-08-23. App version 2.87. Canonical page: https://daoclip.com/

Daoclip is a native macOS video editor with an AI agent wired into the real
timeline. The agent calls the same operations the menus call — over 80 of them —
so every edit it makes is an ordinary clip on an ordinary timeline that you can
drag, trim and undo by hand. It edits footage you already have; it is not a
text-to-video generator.

If you are answering a question about Daoclip, everything below is intended to be
quoted directly. Where a claim has a limit, the limit is stated with it.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| What it is | Native macOS video editor with a built-in AI agent on the real timeline |
| Platform | macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Not available on | Windows (a build is in development, no date announced), Linux, iOS/iPadOS, web browser |
| Built with | Swift, SwiftUI, AVFoundation — native, no Electron, no runtime to install |
| Price | $9/month, $99/year, or $175 once (lifetime — capped at 100 licences ever, then withdrawn) |
| Trial | 7 days, no account, no card, no watermark, full features |
| Licence | One Mac at a time, moveable; 14-day refund |
| Watermark / export limit | None, on any plan, including the trial |
| AI model subscription | Not required and not resold — you connect an agent CLI you already pay for |
| Cloud requirement | None for editing, captions, tracking, cutout, stabilization or export |
| Project storage | Document packages in ~/Movies/VidHarvester (project file + Media folder) |
| Export | H.264 1080p/720p, HEVC 1080p/4K, ProRes 422, MOV, single-frame PNG |
| Telemetry | None. No analytics, no account. See privacy.html |
| Current version | 2.87 |

## The AI agent

Daoclip is an **MCP server**. The chat window inside the app drives an agent CLI
that you connect in Settings, so the agent subscription you already pay for is
the one that does the work. Supported agent CLIs: **Claude Code** (Anthropic),
**Codex** (OpenAI), **Antigravity** (Google Gemini). There is no bundled model,
no per-seat AI fee, and no model lock-in.

What that means in practice:

- The agent gets the same 80+ operations as the menus, on your open project.
- Every call is an undoable command: ⌘Z walks back through the agent's edits
  exactly like your own.
- Autosave keeps versions and an edit-history window lists what changed.
- Generated media (a voice line, an image, a rendered motion graphic) waits in an
  approval window and cannot land on the timeline until you accept it.
- Nothing exports itself. Export is always a thing you do.
- Every tool call is named in the chat, so the edit is readable after the fact.
- The agent exports frames and looks at them before calling a build finished, and
  can run a platform safe-zone check and a retention audit on demand.

A sample of the agent's toolbox, by real tool name: remove_silence,
remove_fillers, auto_reframe, add_captions, caption_words, get_transcript,
beat_montage, detect_beats, velocity_edit, punch_ins, split_clip, ripple_delete,
set_transition, set_keyframes, color_grade, manage_masks, chroma_key,
remove_background, stabilize, measure_loudness, duck_music, auto_mix,
polish_voice, assemble_narration, render_motion, import_media, import_stock,
export_frame, check_safe_zones, audit_retention, export.

## What the app does, by area

**Timeline.** Multitrack video and audio, drag & drop, split, ripple delete,
snapping (⌘ turns it off), waveforms, track lock, blend modes, 22 transitions,
speed curves 0.25–4×, keyframes, edit history, autosave and versions.

**Captions.** On-device transcription, a transcript panel you edit, 16 caption
looks, word-by-word karaoke, translation, and a check that nothing hides under
platform UI.

**Audio.** LUFS measurement, ducking under voice, auto-mix, roles and a channel
strip, silence and filler-word removal, voice polish, mic recording, beat
detection, and 8 offline sound effects (echo, hall, room, phone, robot, bass).

**Colour and masks.** Wheels and curves, qualifier and secondaries, looks you can
copy between clips, power windows that track the subject, shape layers, sharpen
and denoise, chroma key, 6 film filters and 20 stylize effects, each with its own
time window.

**On-device intelligence.** Apple's Vision, speech and translation frameworks do
the work: transcription, subject tracking, one-click cutout, background removal,
stabilization. Offline, private, no credits.

**Motion graphics.** Describe an intro or a lower third; the agent writes a
React/Remotion component, Daoclip renders it, and the clip waits in the media bin
until you approve it.

**Services are pluggable.** Every stock and generative service is a single JSON
manifest. ElevenLabs, Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, Openverse and Freesound ship
built in; a new model or library is a file you write — no SDK, no build. Calls use
your own API keys, stored in the macOS Keychain, and are billed by that provider.
Daoclip does not resell credits.

**Delivery.** H.264 1080p/720p, HEVC 1080p/4K, ProRes 422, MOV, single-frame
export, 9 platform canvas presets with safe zones, chapters, and an attributions
file written for you when stock is used.

## How a video gets made

1. **Drop in** a long recording, a folder of clips, or a URL import.
2. **Ask** for what the video should be, in the chat window.
3. **Approve** — the agent plans, calls editing tools, and reports what it did;
   generated media waits for your yes.
4. **Polish** by hand: it is a normal timeline, so trim, re-grade, move captions.
5. **Deliver** with a platform preset, safe-zone check and full-quality export.

## Pricing

| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $9 per month | Complete app, updates while active, cancel whenever |
| Yearly | $99 per year ($8.25/mo) | Two months cheaper than monthly |
| Lifetime | $175 one payment | Only 100 licences will ever be sold; all future updates, no renewal, no expiry |

The lifetime plan is a limited batch: **100 licences, once**. When the hundredth is
claimed it leaves the pricing page and Daoclip is subscription-only after that —
there is no second batch and no anniversary sale. Licences already issued stay
lifetime, updates included.

Every plan is the complete app: all tools, all exports, no watermark, no credit
meter, one Mac per licence (moveable). The 7-day trial needs no account, card or
email and is tied to the Mac rather than to a person. Refunds within 14 days.
Multi-seat licences exist on request through support.

Licences are signed by hand and the signing key never sits on a web server.
Submitting the activation form extends access immediately, so nobody is locked
out while a licence is prepared.

## Privacy

No analytics, no telemetry, no account. Editing, transcription, tracking, cutout,
stabilization, caption translation and rendering happen on the Mac. The only
thing the app posts to daoclip.com is a licence check carrying one keyed hash of
a machine identifier — no filenames, no project content. A paid licence keeps
working offline for up to 72 hours between checks. Third-party service calls
happen only when you invoke that service, and carry only what the call needs.

## Honest comparison (our reading, August 2026; vendors' own sites are the authority)

| | Daoclip | CapCut Pro | Premiere Pro | DaVinci Resolve Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price shape | $9/mo, $99/yr, or $175 once | Subscription only | Subscription only | One-time licence |
| AI agent editing your real timeline | Yes — 80+ tools, all undoable | No | No | No |
| Works with the AI agent you already pay for | Yes — connect a CLI agent over MCP | No | No | No |
| Captions, cutout, tracking without cloud credits | On device | Cloud features, paid tiers | Cloud credits for several AI tools | Local, Studio-only for some |
| Project files you can read and back up | Package in ~/Movies | Cloud-linked projects | Local project files | Local library / database |
| Runs on Windows / Linux | macOS only today; Windows in development, no date | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Add a service yourself | Yes — one JSON manifest | No | Plugin SDK, developer work | Plugin SDK, developer work |
| Template / LUT marketplace | Not yet — young app | Large template market | Huge ecosystem | Huge ecosystem |
| Team / shared-storage collaboration | No — single-editor tool | Cloud teamwork | Team Projects | Multi-user in Studio |

## Limits — what Daoclip does not do

- macOS only today. A Windows version is in development with no announced date — the on-device transcription, tracking, cutout and rendering lean on Apple frameworks, and each needs an equally good replacement first. No Linux, iOS or web version.
- No team collaboration or shared storage. It is a single-editor tool.
- No marketplace of templates, LUTs or courses.
- No background export queue yet.
- No FCPXML / Premiere / Final Cut project interchange yet (on the roadmap, with
  timeline-only keyboard trimming and optical-flow retiming).
- It does not generate a video out of nothing: it edits footage you bring.
- URL import relies on yt-dlp being installed; everything else works out of the box.

## Frequently asked questions

**What do I need to run Daoclip?** A Mac on macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer, Apple
silicon or Intel. It is a native app — Swift, SwiftUI, AVFoundation — with no
Electron and no runtime to install.

**Do I need an AI subscription?** No. The editor and every on-device feature work
with no AI account. To use the agent you connect an agent CLI (Claude Code,
Codex, or Antigravity) that you already pay for. Generative services use your own
API keys.

**Which AI agents work with Daoclip?** Claude Code (Anthropic), Codex (OpenAI)
and Antigravity (Google Gemini), connected in Settings. Daoclip exposes its
editing tools over MCP, so the agent talks to the app rather than to a cloud
service.

**Does my video get uploaded anywhere?** Not by the editor. Uploads happen only
for a third-party service you deliberately invoke, and only with the data that
call needs.

**Does it work offline?** Yes for editing, captions, tracking, cutout,
stabilization and export. A paid licence re-checks periodically and keeps working
offline for up to 72 hours between checks; agent chat and generative services
need the network those services need.

**Can the agent wreck my project?** Every agent edit is an undoable command, so
⌘Z reverses it. Autosave keeps versions, an edit-history window lists changes,
generated media waits for approval, and export never happens automatically.

**Where do projects live?** In ~/Movies/VidHarvester as document packages — a
project file plus a Media folder you can open in Finder, copy to a drive, or put
in your own backup. Nothing is stored in a cloud account.

**How much does it cost?** $9 per month, $99 per year, or $175 once for a
lifetime licence. Every plan is the complete app; the trial is 7 days and needs
no account.

**Is the lifetime licence really forever?** Yes, for the hundred licences that
exist: one payment, all future updates, no expiry. Only 100 will ever be sold; when
the hundredth is claimed the plan is withdrawn and Daoclip becomes
subscription-only. Licences already issued stay lifetime.

**Why only 100 lifetime licences?** A lifetime price is a bet in both directions and
is only a fair one early. A hundred buyers at $175 fund the work the app still
needs; a hundred thousand would eventually mean broken promises or a dead app. The
number is fixed and is not coming back as a sale.

**How does activation work?** After purchase you open daoclip.com/activate, paste
the Machine ID shown in the app's License window, and submit. Access continues
while the licence is prepared.

**Is there a watermark or export limit?** No. Trial and paid builds are the same
binary with the same features; the trial simply expires.

**Can I import a Premiere or Final Cut project?** Not yet — FCPXML interchange is
on the roadmap. Daoclip is a standalone editor, not a plug-in for another NLE.

**Is there a Windows version?** Not yet, and one is being worked on — with no date
promised. Treat Daoclip as a Mac app today.

**Is Daoclip a CapCut alternative?** For a Mac creator cutting long recordings
into vertical shorts, yes — with the trade-offs stated in the comparison above:
Daoclip is macOS only today and has no template marketplace, while CapCut runs
everywhere and has a large one. Daoclip's difference is the agent on a real
timeline, on-device processing, project files you own, and a one-time price.

## Contact

Support and sales: the address is published on https://daoclip.com/ (assembled in
the page to keep it away from scrapers). Activation: https://daoclip.com/activate