A futuristic control panel with glowing holographic interfaces, displaying abstract video editing timelines and code snippets for OpenMontage video production.

OpenMontage video production: Ever wished your AI coding assistant could do more than just write code? What if it could produce an entire video, from script to final render, all by itself? Well, get ready, because OpenMontage video production is here to make that a reality! This groundbreaking open-source system transforms your favorite AI coding assistant—like Claude Code, Cursor, or Copilot—into a full-fledged video production studio. 🤯

In this guide, we'll walk you through how OpenMontage works, why it's a game-changer for creators and developers, and how you can set it up to start generating your own AI-powered videos. You'll learn to install the system, run a demo with zero API keys, and even craft your first video prompt within Claude Code. Let's dive in!

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Meet OpenMontage: Your AI Production Team 🎬

Imagine having a dedicated video production team—a researcher, scriptwriter, voice artist, and editor—all working tirelessly for you, driven by AI. That's exactly what OpenMontage offers. It's the world's first open-source, agentic video production system, designed to take a single prompt and turn it into a complete video.

OpenMontage handles everything: researching your topic, writing the script, generating visuals, pulling B-roll, adding music, voiceover, and sound effects, and then composing and rendering the final video. Whether you need animated explainers, product ads, UGC-style videos, documentary montages, or cinematic trailers, OpenMontage has a pipeline for it. And the best part? It's free and open source (AGPL-3.0), meaning you have full control and can run it locally with free tools right out of the box.

The Power of AI Coding Assistants 🤖

OpenMontage isn't just a standalone tool; it's designed to supercharge your existing AI coding assistant. It integrates seamlessly with popular assistants like Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf, and Codex. This means your AI assistant, already skilled at understanding and generating code, can now orchestrate complex video production tasks.

Think of it: your coding assistant, powered by models like Anthropic's Claude, which excels at creative workflows and code generation (even building a C compiler!), now has the 'skills' to direct a full video production. OpenAI's community also shows a strong trend in AI-powered video, with tools like VidGPT and Lixpi AI Media Editor emerging. OpenMontage leverages this existing intelligence, turning your coding environment into a creative powerhouse.

Getting Started: Prerequisites You'll Need 🛠️

Before you unleash your inner Spielberg, you'll need a few foundational tools. Don't worry, they're all standard for developers and tech enthusiasts.

Here's what you'll need:

On a Mac, you can often install many of these with a single Homebrew command. Always check your versions afterward to ensure compatibility. These tools form the backbone of OpenMontage, allowing it to perform everything from video encoding to script composition.

  • Python 3.10+ The primary language OpenMontage is built on.
  • FFmpeg The essential open-source multimedia framework for handling audio and video. This is crucial for editing, converting, and streaming media.
  • Node.js 18+ A JavaScript runtime environment, necessary for certain components like the Remotion composer.
  • An AI Coding Assistant Choose your fighter! Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or Windsurf will be your director.

Installation: Clone, Setup, and Go! 🚀

Ready to get your hands dirty? The installation process is straightforward. You'll clone the OpenMontage repository and run a setup command. This command is a powerhouse, setting up your Python virtual environment, installing dependencies, and even warming up the HyperFrames runtime.

Specifically, it installs the Python dependencies, gets the Remotion composer ready, integrates free offline text-to-speech (Piper), and creates your essential .env file. If your machine doesn't have make, don't sweat it—the project's README usually provides a simple one-line alternative. This step gets all the gears turning for your new video production studio.

Terminal window showing successful OpenMontage installation with git clone and setup commands, indicating readiness for AI video production.

Cloning the OpenMontage repository and running the setup command to prepare your AI video production environment.

Verify Your Setup & Render a Free Demo 🌟

Before you unleash your creative vision, it's smart to do a quick check. Run the preflight check within OpenMontage. This will show you which tools are ready to go on your machine. You'll likely see dozens of local tools marked as available—think FFmpeg for editing, audio mixing, subtitle generation, visual QA, and HyperFrames/Remotion for composition. Cloud providers, like ElevenLabs for premium voices or Fal.ai for advanced workflows, will show as unavailable until you add your API keys.

Once verified, render one of the built-in 'zero-key' demos. This is a fantastic way to confirm that the entire rendering pipeline works perfectly without needing any external services or paid APIs. These demos usually take a few minutes and land in your projects/demos/renders/ folder. It's your first taste of AI-powered video creation, completely free!

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Your First Prompt: Directing with Claude Code ✍️

Now for the fun part! Open the OpenMontage folder in your AI coding assistant. Because OpenMontage ships with instruction files specifically for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Copilot, your agent already knows the drill. It understands how to pick a pipeline, read stage instructions, and use the tool registry instead of improvising.

Then, simply describe the video you want in plain language. OpenMontage's agent will guide you, asking for your approval at key creative decision points. This interactive process ensures the final video aligns with your vision, even as the AI handles the heavy lifting. You're not just coding; you're directing!

Claude Code interface in VS Code showing OpenMontage Python code, illustrating AI coding assistant integration for video production.

Using Claude Code to prompt OpenMontage for a new video project, turning code into creative output.

Exploring Production Pipelines & Formats 🗺️

OpenMontage is incredibly versatile, offering 12 distinct production pipelines. You don't need to explicitly name them; just describe your desired outcome, and the agent will propose the best plan. These pipelines cover a vast range of video types, from short, punchy ads to longer, more complex narratives.

Whether you're aiming for an Animated Explainer, a Cinematic trailer, a UGC-style clip, or even a Podcast Repurpose, OpenMontage has a structured approach. Use the prompts below as templates, swapping in your own product, topic, and brand to create unique content tailored to your needs. The system boasts over 100 tools and more than 700 agent skill and production-knowledge files to make this happen!

Upcoming features, like local LLM support via Ollama and LM Studio, will make it even more flexible and powerful.

  • Animated Explainer Perfect for breaking down complex ideas simply.
  • Product Ad Quick, engaging videos to showcase your offerings.
  • UGC-Style Video Authentic, user-generated content feel.
  • Documentary Montage Compelling narratives built from various clips.
  • Cinematic Trailer High-impact, dramatic previews.

Backlot: Your Live Production Board 📊

Once a production starts, OpenMontage's 'Backlot' becomes your real-time command center. This live production board fills itself in as the pipeline runs, giving you a transparent view of the entire process. You'll see stages light up, the script appear as a screenplay page, and scene cards update as assets are generated.

Backlot also shows you every provider decision and cost, offering full transparency. Your agent will usually open it automatically, but you can always access it yourself to monitor progress, review assets, and ensure everything is on track. It's like having a project manager for your AI video team!

Unlock More Power with Optional API Keys 🔑

While OpenMontage is incredibly powerful with zero API keys, you can unlock even more advanced capabilities by adding your own keys. Want premium voices from ElevenLabs? AI-generated music? Or perhaps advanced image and video generation from services like OpenAI or Fal.ai? Simply add your keys to the .env file in your OpenMontage folder.

More keys mean more tools for the agent to choose from, expanding its creative arsenal. After adding new keys, run make preflight again to confirm what's newly available. This allows you to customize your production capabilities, integrating best-in-class AI services for specific needs, while still maintaining the open-source core.

Complete step-by-step walkthrough

Original TECH4SSD tutorial and reference media

Tools

  • OpenMontage (free, open source, AGPL-3.0)
  • Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot or Windsurf
  • Python 3.10+
  • Node.js 18+
  • FFmpeg
  • Optional API keys: ElevenLabs, OpenAI, fal, Pexels and others

Before you begin

  • A Mac, Linux or Windows computer with a few GB of free disk space (the install is roughly 700 MB)
  • Python 3.10 or newer, Node.js 18 or newer and FFmpeg
  • An AI coding assistant such as Claude Code
  • Comfort running a handful of terminal commands

Watch the original Instagram tutorial

Open the approved tutorial video

1. Meet OpenMontage

OpenMontage is an open-source, agentic video production system. It works like a real production team (researcher, scriptwriter, voice artist and editor), except every role is an AI agent driven by your coding assistant. You give it one prompt. It researches the topic, writes the script, generates the visuals, pulls B-roll, adds music, voiceover and sound effects, then composes and renders a finished video. It covers animated explainers, product ads, UGC-style videos, documentary montages and cinematic trailers. It is free and open source (AGPL-3.0). Out of the box it runs locally with free tools; cloud providers such as ElevenLabs or Veo are optional extras you unlock with your own API keys.

Tip: The free path is real: local Piper text-to-speech, Remotion and HyperFrames composition, FFmpeg and open stock archives. Paid keys only add more providers.

Official GitHub repository

2. Install the prerequisites

OpenMontage needs Python 3.10 or newer, FFmpeg, Node.js 18 or newer and an AI coding assistant. On a Mac, Homebrew installs everything in one line. Check the versions afterward.

Code

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install python@3.12 node ffmpeg

# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
# sudo apt install python3 python3-venv nodejs npm ffmpeg

# Check
python3 --version   # 3.10+
node --version      # 18+
ffmpeg -version | head -1
  • Python 3.10+
  • Node.js 18+
  • FFmpeg on your PATH
  • Claude Code (or another coding assistant) installed

3. Clone and set up OpenMontage

Clone the repository and run the setup target. It creates a Python virtual environment, installs the Python dependencies, installs the Remotion composer, installs free offline text-to-speech (Piper), warms the HyperFrames runtime and creates your .env file. If your machine has no make, use the one-line alternative from the project README instead.

Code

git clone https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage.git
cd OpenMontage
make setup

# No make? (macOS/Linux)
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate && python -m pip install -r requirements.txt && cd remotion-composer && npm install && cd .. && python -m pip install piper-tts && cp .env.example .env

Warning: Got 'No module named pip' during setup? If you have uv installed, the Makefile creates the virtual environment with uv, which does not include pip by default. Create it yourself first with pip seeded, then run setup again: uv venv --seed --python 3.12 .venv && make setup

4. Verify it works and render a free demo

Run the preflight check to see which tools are available on your machine. With zero API keys you should see dozens of local tools marked available (FFmpeg editing, audio mixing, subtitles, visual QA, HyperFrames and Remotion composition, free stock archives), while cloud providers show as unavailable until you add keys. Then render one of the built-in zero-key demos to prove the whole render path works. Each takes a few minutes and lands in projects/demos/renders/.

Code

make preflight

# List and render the zero-key demos
.venv/bin/python render_demo.py --list
.venv/bin/python render_demo.py code-to-screen
# also try: focusflow-pitch, world-in-numbers

open projects/demos/renders/code-to-screen.mp4
  • Preflight lists local tools as available
  • A demo MP4 rendered in projects/demos/renders/

5. Open it in Claude Code and give it one prompt

Open the OpenMontage folder in your coding assistant. OpenMontage ships instruction files for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Copilot, so the agent knows to pick a pipeline, read its stage instructions and use the tool registry instead of improvising. Then describe the video you want in plain language. These are the two starter prompts from the project README; the agent asks for your approval at the important creative decisions.

Exact prompt

Make a 60-second animated explainer about how neural networks learn

Make a 75-second documentary montage about city life in the rain. Use real footage only, no narration, elegiac tone, with music.

Code

cd OpenMontage
claude

6. Try your own formats: product ad, UGC, trailer

Every request is treated as a pipeline choice: Animated Explainer, Animation, Avatar Spokesperson, Cinematic, Clip Factory, Documentary Montage, Hybrid, Localization and Dub, Podcast Repurpose, Screen Demo or Talking Head. You don't need to name the pipeline; describe the result, the length, the format and the tone, and the agent proposes the plan. Use the prompts below as templates and swap in your own product, topic and brand.

Exact prompt

Make a 30-second vertical (9:16) product ad for a premium perfume called Plum Noir. Moody studio lighting, slow camera moves, elegant serif typography, a calm female voiceover, soft cinematic music, and an end card with the product name. Ask me before generating any paid visuals.

Make a 45-second UGC-style video where a friendly creator explains three tips for staying focused while working from home. Vertical 9:16, word-by-word captions, upbeat music under the voice.

Make a 30-second cinematic sci-fi teaser about a signal that arrives from the future. Dark, atmospheric shots, sparse dramatic narration, title cards between shots, rising orchestral music.

Tip: Long-form source (a podcast, a talk, a stream)? Ask for the Clip Factory pipeline to get a ranked batch of short clips from one long video.

7. Watch the production team work in Backlot

Backlot is OpenMontage's live production board. It fills itself in as the pipeline runs: stages light up, the script appears as a screenplay page, scene cards update while assets generate, and every provider decision and cost is shown. The agent usually opens it automatically when a production starts; you can also open it yourself.

Code

# Library of every project on disk
python -m backlot open

# One production's live board
python -m backlot open <project-id>
  • Research and script stages complete
  • Visuals, B-roll, voice, music and sound effects generated
  • Final render lands in projects/<project-name>/renders/

8. Unlock more providers with optional API keys

Everything above works with zero keys. When you want premium voices, AI music, image or video generation, add your own keys to the .env file in the OpenMontage folder. More keys means more tools for the agent to choose from; run make preflight again to confirm what's newly available.

Code

# .env (add only the ones you use)
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your-key    # premium TTS, AI music, sound effects
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-key        # OpenAI TTS, GPT Image images
FAL_KEY=your-key               # FLUX images + Veo, Kling, MiniMax video
PEXELS_API_KEY=your-key        # free stock footage and images
PIXABAY_API_KEY=your-key       # free stock footage and images
GOOGLE_API_KEY=your-key        # Imagen images, Google TTS

Warning: Never commit your .env file or paste keys into chat. Paid providers bill your own accounts, so keep the agent's approval checkpoints on.

9. How I use it on this series

I run OpenMontage under my own TECH4SSD editor: one project file holds the transcript, scenes, captions and audio cues, and OpenMontage tools plug in underneath as capabilities. Its visual QA tool checks every export before I post: resolution, duration, audio, pixel format and audio levels. It even caught a colour-range bug in my earlier exports. The zero-key demo renders from step 4 are also the finished-video and format examples you see in the Day 3 Reel.

Code

# Probe a finished export with OpenMontage's visual_qa tool
cd OpenMontage
.venv/bin/python -c "
from tools.analysis.visual_qa import VisualQA
import json
r = VisualQA().execute({'operation': 'probe', 'input_path': 'final.mp4',
  'checks': ['resolution', 'duration', 'audio_present', 'pixel_format'],
  'expected': {'width': 1080, 'height': 1920, 'pixel_format': 'yuv420p', 'has_audio': True}})
print(json.dumps(r.data, indent=2))
"

Open reference video

Try OpenMontage

💡 Pro Tip: For optimal performance and to avoid hitting rate limits, consider implementing your own caching for frequently used assets, especially when integrating with APIs like Pexels for stock media.

Key Takeaways

  • OpenMontage is the first open-source, agentic system turning AI coding assistants into full video production studios.
  • It integrates with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and others, automating research, scripting, visuals, and rendering.
  • Requires Python 3.10+, FFmpeg, and Node.js 18+ to run locally, with zero-key demos available.
  • Offers 12 production pipelines, over 100 tools, and 700+ agent skills for diverse video formats.
  • Optional API keys (ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Fal.ai, Pexels) unlock premium features and expanded capabilities.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What AI coding assistants work with OpenMontage?

OpenMontage is designed to integrate with popular AI coding assistants like Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf, and Codex, leveraging their existing intelligence for video production tasks.

Do I need API keys to use OpenMontage?

No! OpenMontage works with zero API keys right out of the box, running locally with free tools. You can render demo videos and perform many tasks without any external services. Optional API keys (e.g., for ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Fal.ai, Pexels) unlock premium features like advanced voices, music, or image/video generation.

What kind of videos can OpenMontage create?

OpenMontage offers 12 production pipelines, covering a wide range of video types including animated explainers, product ads, UGC-style videos, documentary montages, cinematic trailers, and more. You describe the video, and the agent proposes the plan.

What are the core technical requirements for OpenMontage?

You'll need Python 3.10 or newer, FFmpeg, Node.js 18 or newer, and an AI coding assistant. These are standard tools for most developers and tech enthusiasts.

Final Word

OpenMontage isn't just another tool; it's a paradigm shift in how we approach video creation. By empowering your AI coding assistant to become a full-fledged production studio, it democratizes access to sophisticated video content. This means small businesses, students, and everyday creators can now produce high-quality videos without needing extensive budgets or specialized teams.

You're not just automating tasks; you're unlocking a new level of creative potential. Dive in, experiment, and watch as your prompts transform into polished videos, all thanks to the power of open-source AI. The future of video production is here, and you're at the helm! 🚀

Sources & Further Reading

AI tools and features change fast — verify current options before relying on them. — Tech4SSD Editorial