Dawn Cut

What Dawn Cut is

Dawn Cut is an open-source video editor for macOS that turns transcript changes into video edits. Its local whisper.cpp transcription produces word-level text and supports Korean auto-subtitles. Delete a range of words to cut the matching footage and close the gap; the editor also offers automatic silence removal, filler-word detection, and subtitle review and correction. For finishing, it includes color grading, reframing, overlays, and style packs. Exports listed for the project include SRT subtitles, chapters, deterministic EDL files, and video rendered through an FFmpeg sidecar.

The project describes Dawn Cut as fully local, with no cloud service or account requirement. Its Free plan costs nothing, has no subscription, and adds no watermark. The project is released under the MIT license and labels the product v0.1, with its deterministic editing core ready to use. Natural-language editing is experimental: a local llama.cpp planner requires a one-time model download, and its planning quality is bounded by the 1.5B model. An experimental headless MCP server can let external agents such as Claude Desktop and Cursor operate on .dawn projects, though its render does not yet burn in subtitles or overlays.

Who it suits

Dawn Cut suits macOS editors who want transcript-based cuts, local word-level transcription, and automatic silence removal. Its local operation and MIT license may also suit people seeking an open-source workflow without an account or cloud service.

Limits

The Free plan costs nothing and has no subscription, account requirement, or watermark. Experimental natural-language editing is bounded by its 1.5B planner; experimental MCP rendering does not burn in subtitles or overlays.

Getting started

1. Open https://github.com/kwakseongjae/dawn-cut.
2. Use a Mac, then install Node 20 or later and pnpm 10.
3. Install cmake and FFmpeg for transcription setup.
4. Follow the project's quickstart to set up the app.
5. For experimental natural-language editing, download its model once.

Verdict

Choose Dawn Cut if you want a free macOS editor that ties transcript edits to footage and runs locally. Look elsewhere if you need a published npx-installable MCP package or MCP renders with subtitles and overlays burned in.