How to edit video with AI without uploading your footage

Why do most AI video editors upload your footage?

Because the models behind them need a lot of computing power, and for years that meant a data centre. Transcribing an hour of footage, finding the best takes and reading what is on screen all happened on the provider's servers, so your footage had to go there first.

The meter follows from the same fact. Minutes, media hours, credits and export limits are how a cloud editor pays for the servers your edit runs on. When the work moves onto your own computer, the reason for the meter goes with it.

What does uploading your footage involve?

More than the wait:

A copy of your footage on someone else's computers, kept for as long as their policy says, under their terms about who can access it and what it can be used for.
Time. An hour of 4K footage runs to tens of gigabytes, and every new file has to finish uploading before the editing can start.
A meter. Monthly minutes, media hours or credits, and a plan upgrade when you run out.
A connection. No upload, no edit.

For client work, interviews, anything under an agreement, or footage of people who never agreed to be on someone's servers, that copy is the part that matters most.

	A typical cloud AI editor	Sharpy
Where your footage goes	Uploaded to the provider's servers	Stays on your Mac
Transcripts and projects	Kept in the provider's cloud	Kept on your Mac
What is metered	Minutes, media hours, credits or exports	Nothing
Waiting before you start	Every new file uploads first	None
Editing without a connection	Not possible	Yes
What leaves your computer	Your media	Searches for music or stock footage, when you ask

What do you need to edit with AI on your own computer?

A computer that can run the models, and an editor built to use it. For Sharpy that means a Mac with Apple silicon (M4 or later), 16 GB of memory, macOS 26 or later and about 25 GB of free space for its models.

The entry-level Mac is enough. Every number Sharpy publishes was measured on the base Mac mini M4 with 16 GB: it watches footage 1.7 times faster than real time, reads on-screen text with 2.82% of it wrong (Apple's own text reader gets 11.00% wrong), and answered 18 of 18 held-out questions about the footage correctly.

Someone edits video on a MacBook Pro at a train table at dusk, the countryside a blur through the window. — Every model is on the Mac, so the edit goes wherever the Mac goes.

How do you edit a video with AI on your Mac?

With Sharpy, from raw footage to a finished render, without a single upload:

Bring the footage onto your Mac. Copy it from the card or the drive, or point Sharpy at the folder where it already is.
Say what you are making. Pick the format, and if you like, give Sharpy a reference video, or a link to one, to study: it learns the structure, the pacing and where the cuts fall.
Let it understand the footage. It goes through every word, pause and shot, on your Mac.
Read the plan. Sharpy plans every beat of the edit and writes each decision into an edit decision list, with its reason.
Let it cut, render and check. It assembles the edit, renders it and checks the result before you see it.
Review and export. Change anything you disagree with, run it again, and export.

Each step is also a tool your own AI agent can call, so you can run the same edit from Claude, Codex or any MCP client. How Sharpy makes its decisions is covered in how Sharpy decides where to cut.

Is anything sent over the internet?

Only what you ask for. Sharpy's models download once, the first time it needs them. After that, when you ask it to find music or stock footage, the search goes to that library and the track or clip comes back, and when you give it a link to a reference video, it fetches a copy to study. Your footage, audio, transcripts and projects stay on your Mac.

One thing to know if you work through your own AI agent: when Claude, Codex or another MCP client drives Sharpy, your conversation with that agent, including what Sharpy's tools report back to it, goes through the agent's own provider, under its terms. Sharpy itself still uploads nothing.

Your account and subscription live on sharpy.live, which knows your email address and your plan, and never your footage.

Why does running on your Mac make it unlimited?

Because there is nothing to pay for per minute. A cloud editor's costs grow with every hour you upload, so its plans have to cap you. Sharpy's computing happens on a machine you already own, so there is one plan with everything in it: no credits, no minute limits and no export charges. At launch it costs $20 a month or $200 a year.

Frequently asked questions

Does Sharpy upload my footage?

No. Every model Sharpy uses runs on your Mac, and your footage, audio, transcripts and projects stay there.

Can I edit video with AI offline?

Yes, once its models are on your Mac. Understanding the footage, cutting and rendering all happen there, so they work without a connection. Finding music or stock footage needs one, because those libraries are online.

Which Mac do I need?

A Mac with Apple silicon (M4 or later), 16 GB of memory, macOS 26 or later and about 25 GB of free space. The base Mac mini M4 is enough.

Is an on-device model good enough to edit with?

Judge it by the numbers, all measured on the base Mac mini M4: 1.7 times faster than real time while it watches, 2.82% of on-screen text read wrong against 11.00% for Apple's own reader, and 18 of 18 held-out questions about the footage answered correctly.

What does it cost?

One plan with everything included: $20 a month or $200 a year at launch. The public price rises with every 1,000 paid members, and you keep the price you joined at for as long as you stay.