Questions
Good to know
Do I need DaVinci Resolve?
No, sort of. Ingest, verified backup, organization, and the searchable catalog all work on their own, so Cut Valet is useful the moment you install it.
But the editing tools, rough cut, auto cut, music to timeline, and timeline versioning, all drive a real DaVinci Resolve project. Without DaVinci Resolve Studio specifically, you'll be missing the majority of what the app does. If you edit in Resolve Studio, you get everything. If you don't, you're using a fraction of it.
Does Cut Valet edit my video for me?
No. It's an assistant. It handles the footage management and gives you tools that build a starting point, but every creative decision and the final cut are yours, made on your own timeline.
Is there a subscription?
No. Cut Valet is a one-time purchase. Pay once during beta at the discounted price and it's yours, including beta updates. No monthly or annual fees.
The price goes up later. Do I have to buy in again at each step?
No. You pay once, at whatever it costs the day you buy. The steps are just what new customers pay later. Grab it at $49 and you get the $79 and $129 versions too, free. The only exception is a rebuild forced by Blackmagic changing Resolve's scripting language, which may carry a paid upgrade.
Will it run up my AI bill?
Not by default. The heavy processing runs on open-source models on your own machine, and the text features (titles, descriptions, planning) send small amounts of text on your own API key, so those costs stay very low.
The one thing that can get expensive is switching clip analysis from local to a cloud provider. That sends frames from every clip you analyse, so the cost scales with how much footage you shoot, not with how often you press a button. It is off unless you choose it, the app shows you what you are spending, and you can cap it.
What does it run on? What are the requirements?
macOS 13 (Ventura) or later on Apple Silicon (M1 or newer), or Windows 10/11 (64-bit). Cut Valet is built to sit between your cameras and your editor on either platform.
Intel Macs are not supported, and there is no workaround. The Mac build is compiled for Apple Silicon only, and the local AI stack it depends on no longer ships for Intel Macs at all. Rosetta does not help here: it lets Apple Silicon run Intel apps, not the other way round. If you are on an Intel Mac, use the Windows version on a PC, or email me for a refund.
The app itself is about 1.5 GB, plus the local AI models it downloads once on first use (transcription and clip analysis run on your own machine). For the editing tools you need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21 or newer; the free version of Resolve lacks the scripting API, and ingest, backup, and organization all work without Resolve entirely. A Claude API key is optional and only used for the AI text features, with your own key.
Memory. Cut Valet adapts to your hardware: it picks the largest local analysis model your machine can hold, so it runs on modest machines but sees more with more. Honest numbers: on a Mac, 16 GB of unified memory is the practical minimum for local analysis, 32 GB is what we recommend, and the highest-quality local model really wants 32 GB with headroom to spare while you edit. On Windows, local analysis needs an NVIDIA GPU: plan on 12 GB of VRAM for the balanced model and 24 GB for the highest-quality one, and even that is snug with Resolve open. With less than that (or no NVIDIA GPU) the app falls back to a lighter model or the CPU, which works but is slow, and the cloud analysis option becomes the better choice. Graphics render on the GPU when one is available and fall back to software automatically.
Where does my footage go? Is anything uploaded?
Your footage files stay on your own drives. They are never uploaded anywhere, and transcription, tagging and search always run on-device.
Two things can leave your machine, both only when you choose. Text features send small excerpts (a transcript snippet for a title, say) to your AI provider. And if you switch clip analysis from local to a cloud provider, Cut Valet sends sampled still frames from your clips to that provider so it can describe them. Local analysis is the default and sends nothing.
Does using Cut Valet require a Remotion license?
For almost everyone: no. Cut Valet's graphics are rendered by Remotion, and Cut Valet's own Remotion licensing covers the app. Picking templates, filling in fields, and AI-generated graphics never expose you to Remotion at all.
The exception is the template code features: opening a template in Remotion Studio, importing your own .tsx, or exporting a template's code. Those hand you actual Remotion source, which makes you a direct Remotion user. That is free for individuals and companies of up to 3 people, while larger organizations need their own Remotion license. These features are off by default and the app explains this before unlocking them.
How does Cut Valet work with YouTube?
When your edit is finished, Cut Valet can upload the video to your own YouTube channel and set its title, description, chapters, thumbnail, and captions. This uses Google sign-in with YouTube upload permissions that you grant explicitly. Cut Valet only touches videos it uploads for you, and you can revoke access anytime from your Google account settings.
Coastal Doc · Day 3