# auto-editor-transcribe

Transcribes media or live microphone input into text and subtitles, then cuts sections by spoken words or regex. Useful for speech-based video editing.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 668 installs · ★ 5633
- Author: WyattBlue
- License: Unlicense · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/WyattBlue/auto-editor/tree/HEAD/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-25
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/auto-editor-transcribe

## What it does

The skill runs `auto-editor whisper` to transcribe a media file or live microphone input. It supports Whisper and NVIDIA Parakeet models in `ggml` format, plus Apple Speech through the `apple` model. Output can be plain text, `srt`, or `json`, with options for English translation, word-level cues, and file output.

It can then edit a timeline from subtitle content. `subtitle` and `regex` match a pattern, while `word` checks for a whole-word match; wrapping an expression in `not` reverses the result. When a video has no embedded subtitles, transcribe it to a sidecar such as `talk.srt`, which `auto-editor` loads automatically.

Passing `:mic` streams audio directly and does not save a recording. Apple Speech requires macOS 26 or later, and its first use of a language may need network access to download the speech model. That is worth checking before relying on the Apple backend.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add WyattBlue/auto-editor --skill auto-editor-transcribe -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add WyattBlue/auto-editor --skill auto-editor-transcribe -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add WyattBlue/auto-editor --skill auto-editor-transcribe -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install WyattBlue/auto-editor auto-editor-transcribe
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add WyattBlue/auto-editor --skill auto-editor-transcribe -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/WyattBlue/auto-editor --path skills/auto-editor-transcribe
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add WyattBlue/auto-editor --skill auto-editor-transcribe -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/WyattBlue/auto-editor/tree/HEAD/skills/auto-editor-transcribe/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- transcribe a video or audio file
- export speech as SRT or JSON subtitles
- cut silent gaps between spoken sections
- keep clips where a target word is spoken
- remove filler words from a video

## Example prompts
- Transcribe `talk.mp4` with `ggml-medium.en.bin` and save the result as `talk.srt`.
- Keep only the parts of `lecture.mp4` where the whole word `question` is spoken.
- Remove every section containing `um` from `video.mp4` by inverting the match with `not`.

## Source text · SKILL.md · Unlicense

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: fbd51625107b13a5.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE fbd51625107b13a5
````text
---
name: auto-editor-transcribe
description: Transcribe a media file or live microphone to text or subtitles with auto-editor's whisper subcommand, then edit by spoken content — cut to keep (or drop) sections whose subtitles match a word or regex. Use when someone wants a transcript, captions, live speech transcription, or to cut a video based on what is said rather than on loudness.
---

# Transcribe & edit by speech

Use auto-editor's whisper.cpp (Whisper or NVIDIA Parakeet models) or Apple Speech backend to transcribe audio. Cut a timeline based on subtitle content with `--edit subtitle`/`word`.

## Transcribe — `auto-editor whisper`

```
auto-editor whisper <file|:mic> <model> [options]
```

Set `<model>` to a `ggml` model path. Three backends, chosen by the model:

- **Whisper**: `ggml-small.en.bin`, `ggml-medium.en.bin`, `ggml-large-v3.bin`, …
  (https://huggingface.co/ggerganov/whisper.cpp). 99+ languages, `--translate`,
  `--prompt`.
- **Parakeet**: any model with "parakeet" in the filename, e.g.
  `ggml-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-q8_0.bin` (https://huggingface.co/ggml-org/parakeet-GGUF).
  Faster than Whisper at comparable English accuracy; language is
  auto-detected. `--translate`, `--prompt`, and `--language` are rejected.
- **Apple**: the magic model name `apple` uses Apple's built-in transcriber;
  requires macOS 26 or later.

Only the first audio stream of a file is used. Audio is resampled to 16 kHz, and
text prints to stdout by default.

```bash
auto-editor whisper example.mp4 ggml-medium.en.bin                      # plain text → stdout
auto-editor whisper example.mp4 ggml-medium.en.bin --format srt -o out.srt
auto-editor whisper example.mp4 ggml-parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3-q8_0.bin      # parakeet backend
auto-editor whisper example.mp4 apple --language en_US                  # macOS 26+
```

Options: `--format text|srt|json`, `-o/--output FILE`, `-l/--language en`
(default auto), `-tr/--translate` (→ English), `-sw/--split-words` (one word per
cue), `--queue SECS` (default 30), `--prompt TEXT`, `--threads N` (default 4),
and `-t/--threshold THRES` (default 0.04).

`--split-words` works with on all backends. Parakeet is the most accurate.

With the `apple` model, set `--language` to a supported language or locale.
Apple speech cannot auto-detect language, so `auto` falls back to `en_US` with a
warning. Do not pass `--translate` or `--prompt`; neither is supported. The first
use of a language may download Apple's speech model and therefore needs network
access.

### Transcribe a live microphone

Pass `:mic` instead of a file. Stop capture gracefully with Ctrl-C.

```bash
auto-editor whisper :mic ggml-medium.en.bin
````
END THIRD-PARTY FILE fbd51625107b13a5

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the fbd51625107b13a5 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

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