OpenReelio

Overview

OpenReelio is an AI-powered desktop video editor designed for content creators. Built with a prompt-first approach, it combines the power of modern AI with professional editing capabilities.

Key Concepts

• Prompt-First Editing: Describe what you want in natural language
• Event Sourcing: Complete edit history with unlimited undo/redo
• AI Agent-Driven: Parallel processing, automatic analysis, source generation
• IDE-like Experience: Familiar interface for developers and creators

Features

Core Editing

• Non-linear timeline with multi-track support
• Clip splitting, trimming, and repositioning
• Effects and transitions
• Audio mixing and synchronization
• Caption/subtitle support with styling

AI Integration

• Natural language edit commands
• Automatic scene detection foundation
• Speech-to-text transcription (optional build feature)
• Smart asset search (optional build feature)
• AI-generated edit suggestions

Plugin System

• WASM-based plugin runtime foundation
• Provider interfaces for assets, presets, and templates
• Backend integration groundwork for future plugin UX

Quality Control

• QC framework with built-in rule scaffolding
• Black frame, audio peak, and caption checks are currently heuristic/early-stage
• Auto-fix suggestion plumbing for future hardening

Performance

• GPU-accelerated encoding (NVENC, AMF, QSV, VideoToolbox)
• Parallel proxy generation
• Efficient memory pooling
• Smart caching with LRU/LFU eviction

Tech Stack

Installation

Prerequisites for Source Builds

• Rust 1.88+
• Node.js 20+
• FFmpeg 6+ or bundled FFmpeg binaries in src-tauri/binaries
• (Optional) LLVM/Clang for Whisper: building with --features whisper requires libclang (bindgen). On Windows, install LLVM and set LIBCLANG_PATH to the folder containing libclang.dll.

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/openreelio/openreelio.git
cd openreelio

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run tauri dev

# Build for production
npm run tauri build

Pre-built Binaries

Download the latest release from the Releases page. Pre-built installers include OpenReelio's required runtime tools, including FFmpeg/FFprobe and the OpenReelio CLI used for local MCP integration. Automatic updates use the signed latest.json manifest from GitHub Releases. Windows/macOS OS code signing is optional and may show first-run warnings until paid certificates are configured.

Windows

1. Download OpenReelio-x.x.x-windows-x64.msi
2. Run the installer
3. If you see "Windows protected your PC":
   • Click "More info"
   • Click "Run anyway"

macOS

1. Download OpenReelio-x.x.x-macos-x64.dmg (Intel) or OpenReelio-x.x.x-macos-arm64.dmg (Apple Silicon)
2. Open the DMG and drag to Applications
3. If you see "cannot be opened":
   • Right-click the app → "Open"
   • Click "Open" in the dialog

Linux

1. Download OpenReelio-x.x.x-linux-x64.AppImage
2. Make executable: chmod +x OpenReelio-*.AppImage
3. Run: ./OpenReelio-*.AppImage

Documentation

• Architecture Overview
• API Specification
• Command Reference
• Data Models
• Plugin Development

Project Structure

openreelio/
├── src/                    # React frontend
│   ├── components/         # UI components
│   ├── stores/             # Zustand stores
│   └── types/              # TypeScript types
├── src-tauri/              # Rust backend
│   └── src/
│       ├── core/           # Core engine
│       │   ├── ai/         # AI integration
│       │   ├── commands/   # Edit commands
│       │   ├── plugin/     # Plugin system
│       │   ├── qc/         # QC automation
│       │   └── ...
│       └── ipc/            # Tauri IPC layer
└── docs/                   # Documentation

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

Quick Start

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feat/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development

# Run frontend tests
npm test

# Run Rust tests
cd src-tauri && cargo test

# Run linter
npm run lint
cargo clippy

Notes:

• Windows PowerShell may block npm due to npm.ps1 execution policy. Use npm.cmd ... (or adjust PowerShell execution policy) if you see PSSecurityException.

Roadmap

v0.1.0 (Current)

• [x] Core timeline editing
• [x] Effects and transitions
• [x] Audio mixing
• [x] Export pipeline (7 presets)

v0.2.0

• [ ] AI provider integration hardening
• [ ] Speech-to-text transcription (Whisper, optional build feature)
• [ ] Smart asset search (optional build feature)
• [ ] Release and distribution

Future

• [ ] Video generation (Sora, Runway)
• [ ] Collaboration features
• [ ] Cloud project sync
• [ ] Mobile companion app

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Tauri for the amazing desktop framework
• FFmpeg for video processing
• All our contributors