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Prewatch for DaVinci Resolve

AI editing in DaVinci Resolve, with footage your AI has already watched

DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 lets Claude or ChatGPT operate Resolve through its own MCP server. Prewatch tells the same assistant what is in your footage: every shot, line of dialogue, scene and usable moment, with the seconds to cut on.

Notify me at launchSetup guide

14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.

One take: from a folder of footage to a timeline in DaVinci Resolve
01

Drop in a folder

Prewatch watches it and indexes every clip: shots, transcripts, speakers, days and scenes.

On your Mac
02
What happened on day 3?

Claude or ChatGPT asks Prewatch and answers with the clips, the scenes and the seconds where things happen.

Your AI app
03
Cut a 60-second teaser.

The assistant picks moments with in and out points from the Prewatch folder, not by scrubbing video.

Your AI app
04

The timeline appears in Resolve

Through DaVinci Resolve Studio's own MCP server, in the project you have open.

On your Mac
Two MCP servers, one conversation

Resolve does the editing. Prewatch knows the footage.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is how Claude Desktop and the ChatGPT Mac app use tools on your Mac. Connect both servers and one chat can search your rushes and build the timeline.

Knows the footage[01]
On your Mac

Prewatch

Watches every clip on your Mac and keeps an index: shots, transcripts, speakers, days and scenes, quality flags and moments with in and out points. Its MCP server answers questions about that index.

  • Finds clips, lines and moments
  • Gives seconds, source timecode and the file path
  • Shows the assistant the exact frame

Never opens or changes your Resolve project.

Plans the cut[02]
Your AI app

Claude or ChatGPT

Claude Desktop or the ChatGPT Mac app, with both MCP servers connected. It reads your brief, asks Prewatch for material, writes the plan and asks Resolve to build it.

  • Turns a brief into a list of shots
  • Checks shots before it uses them
  • Keeps the edit going in one chat

Never sees your video files, only Prewatch's answers and the frames it asks for.

Operates Resolve[03]
On your Mac

Resolve Studio's MCP server

Built into DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1. Blackmagic describes it as letting assistants analyze projects, organize media, change project settings and batch render by conversation.

  • Works in the project you have open
  • Builds the timeline from the plan
  • Renders when you ask

Keeps no index of what is inside your clips.

Resolve's MCP server as reported by CineD (9 September 2026), Digital Production (8 September 2026) and Y.M.Cinema (17 September 2026): Studio only, set up under File → Setup AI Assistants, for Claude, Claude Code and Codex.

From brief to timeline

What happens when you ask for a cut

Prewatch comes with these steps as a ready-made prompt, Cut with Prewatch and DaVinci Resolve: give it a brief such as “a 60-second teaser of day 3” in any app that lists MCP prompts, or just ask in your own words.

  1. [01]

    Overview

    The assistant asks Prewatch for the folder's days and scenes, so it knows what was shot before it looks for anything.

  2. [02]

    Candidates

    It pulls moments rated 3 or better and searches what was said. Each answer carries in and out points in seconds and source timecode, and the clip's file path.

  3. [03]

    Check

    It looks at the exact frame of any shot it is unsure about, instead of trusting a description.

  4. [04]

    Plan

    It writes the cut as a list: clip, in, out and why. Change it in the chat before anything is built.

  5. [05]

    Build

    Through Resolve Studio's MCP server it brings the clips into your open project and lays the ranges on a new timeline.

  6. [06]

    Refine

    You review the timeline in Resolve and keep going in the same conversation: shorter, another opening, a different take.

Claude or ChatGPT · Prewatch · ResolveExample
Cut a 60-second teaser of day 3 from the best moments, on a new timeline.
prewatch · overview Iceland 2026
prewatch · moments day 3 · q 4 or better
clipinoutqkindtext
A014_C00680.096.04revealcloud clears off the summit
A014_C00644.072.05besttalks to camera, the summit behind
A014_C006150.0170.05beststeady wide of the summit, nobody in frame
prewatch · frame A014_C011 at 12.5
resolve · import 5 clips, new timeline “Day 3 teaser”
“Day 3 teaser” is in your open project: 6 shots, 0:59. It opens on the cloud clearing off the summit and ends on the steady wide. I left out A014_C011: the frame is soft.
The result

A timeline in the project you have open

The assistant imports the clips and lays the ranges it chose on a new timeline. From there it's a normal Resolve timeline: trim, reorder, grade and render as you always do.

Prewatch's MCP server

Eight tools, all read-only

Answers are short, tab-separated and paged, because the assistant pays for every token it reads. Locations are never in them.

ToolWhat the assistant gets back
overviewEvery indexed folder, or one folder's days and scenes with a synopsis, tags, shot roles and who speaks. The assistant starts here.
searchSearches what was seen (moments, descriptions, image tags) and said (transcripts, with English translations). Your picks first, then moments, best first.
momentsRanges worth cutting: in and out seconds, source timecode, a usability score from 1 to 5, the kind of moment and the clip's file path for importing.
clipOne clip in full: path, duration, frame rate, timecode, camera, time shot, scene, motion, flags, description, moments and what is said.
frameThe exact frame at any second, as an image, so the assistant can check a shot. Log footage is shown with a viewing transform.
statusWhether a folder is still being indexed and how far it has got.
picksThe transcript lines you ticked, in your order: in and out seconds and source timecode, who says each line, the words and the clip's file path. The assistant reads them and can't change them.
peopleEveryone heard in a folder, recognized by voice across clips: the name you gave them, their talk time and the clips they speak in.
What to ask

Brief it like an assistant editor

Ask in plain words. Transcripts, speakers, motion, flags, days and scenes work without an API key; descriptions and moments need your own Claude or OpenAI key.

You ask[01]

What happened on day 3?

The assistant reads the day's scenes and answers with the clips and the seconds where things happen.

You ask[02]

Find every shot where someone talks about the weather.

Search runs over the transcripts and returns each line with its clip, speaker and time.

You ask[03]

Show me the steadiest drone shots of the lake.

Camera motion and descriptions narrow it down. The assistant checks the frames before it suggests any.

You ask[04]

Cut a 60-second teaser from the best moments.

Moments with in and out points become a plan, then a timeline through Resolve's MCP server.

You ask[05]

Leave out anything soft, dark or frozen.

Quality flags are in the index, so problem takes stay out of the cut.

You ask[06]

String out my picks in my order.

The lines you ticked in the transcripts come back in your order, with in and out points and who says them. See paper edits.

What you need

Resolve Studio builds the timeline. Free Resolve still gets the index.

Building timelines by chat needs DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 or later, because the MCP server is a Studio feature. Everything Prewatch knows works whichever version you edit in.

With PrewatchResolve StudioFree Resolve
Index footage: shots, transcripts, speakers, days and scenes, flagsYesYes
Ask Claude or ChatGPT about your footage and get clips and timecodeYesYes
The assistant builds timelines in your Resolve projectYes 21.1 or laterNo Place the clips yourself from the timecodes
A file of the cut that Resolve importsPlannedPlanned
Requirements14-day free trial, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month.
A Mac with Apple siliconmacOS 26 or later
Claude Desktop or the ChatGPT appClaude Code and Codex work too
DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+For timelines, with its AI assistants set up
An API key, if you wantOnly for descriptions and moments
Why it is cheaper for the model

The assistant reads an index, not the video

An assistant that has to export and look at frames to understand footage is slow and expensive, and a long shoot won't fit in one conversation. Prewatch does the watching once, on your Mac, and writes a short read layer for agents: an index, one line per clip and one per moment. The assistant opens the full record only for the clips it needs.

152×less for your AI to read
An AI watching and listening to the footage5,283,450
Prewatch's index of the same footage34,765
The footage
A real trip folder: 381 clips, 4 h 58 min of picture and sound.
Watching it
Picture and sound at the rates Google publishes for Gemini, a model that takes video directly: 263 tokens a second for the picture, 32 for the sound, so 295 tokens for every second of footage. The Claude and OpenAI APIs don't take video directly; they would need frames and a transcript.
Prewatch
What your AI reads to plan a cut: the folder's index, its scenes and one line per clip, counted with Claude's tokenizer, October 2026. Transcripts and moments are searched, not read whole.
Privacy

Your footage stays on the Mac

No video or audio is uploaded, and nothing is sent to us. Your assistant sees Prewatch's answers and the frames it asks for.

Every step, in detail
StepWhere it runsWhat leaves the Mac
Indexing: shots, motion, flags, transcripts, speakers, scenesOn your MacNothing. It runs on the Mac with Apple's frameworks and on-device models.
Descriptions and moments (optional)Claude or OpenAIStill keyframes, one contact sheet and the transcript text, with your own key, at a cost shown before you turn it on. Never video, audio or locations.
The conversationYour AI appPrewatch's short text answers, and any frame the assistant asks to see, become part of your chat.
Timelines and rendersOn your MacNothing from Prewatch. Resolve makes the changes in your project, on your Mac, when you ask.
Questions

Prewatch and Resolve

All questions
What is the difference between Resolve's MCP server and Prewatch?

DaVinci Resolve Studio's MCP server lets an AI assistant operate Resolve: organize media, build timelines, change settings, render. Prewatch gives the same assistant an index of what is inside every clip of your footage folder: shots, transcripts, speakers, scenes and moments with in and out points. Used together in Claude Desktop or ChatGPT, the assistant finds the material with Prewatch and builds the timeline with Resolve.

Does it work with the free version of DaVinci Resolve?

Building timelines by chat needs DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1 or later, whose built-in MCP server lets your assistant work in Resolve. With the free version you can still index your footage, search it and ask Claude or ChatGPT about it, then place the clips yourself. A file handoff that the free version can import is planned.

Does Prewatch change my Resolve project?

No. Prewatch only reads your footage and writes its own files. Changes to a Resolve project are made by Resolve's own MCP server, when you ask your assistant for them in the chat.

Do I need a Claude or ChatGPT account, or an API key?

To chat with your footage you need Claude Desktop or the ChatGPT app for Mac, signed in to your account. Prewatch connects to either with one click. Claude Code and the Codex CLI work too. ChatGPT in a web browser can't reach apps on your Mac.

An API key is optional. Indexing, transcripts, speakers, scenes and search all run on your Mac without one. Descriptions, moments and the better English translations use your own API key from Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI; that company bills you for the use directly, and Settings shows what a clip costs before you turn it on.

Is my footage uploaded anywhere?

No video and no audio ever leaves your Mac. If you turn descriptions on and add your key, Prewatch sends still keyframes, one overview contact sheet and the transcript text of each clip to the provider you chose, Claude or OpenAI. Locations and anything about speakers are never sent. When you chat in Claude or ChatGPT, the assistant reads what Prewatch answers, as part of your conversation. Every step and where it runs.

Does it work with Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro?

Not directly. The chat-to-timeline workflow is built for DaVinci Resolve Studio. A file handoff that Final Cut Pro and the free Resolve can import is planned; there is no Premiere Pro integration. Whatever you edit in, the index is plain files, so you can search your footage, find the clips and timecodes and bring them in yourself.

Prewatch watches the footage.
You cut in Resolve.

Add a folder, connect Claude or ChatGPT, set up Resolve's AI assistants. The guide walks through every step.

Notify me at launchSetup guide

14 days free, then $59 a year or $7.99 a month. Works with your Claude or ChatGPT plan; timelines need DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.1+. Clip descriptions are optional and use your own API key, billed by Anthropic or OpenAI.

Mac App Store

Prewatch is almost here

Prewatch goes live on the Mac App Store as soon as Apple approves it. Leave your email and you'll get one message the day it's available, with the 14-day free trial.

One email at launch, then we delete your address. Privacy