OpenMontage: An Open Video Studio for Claude Code and How to Install It

Video is usually put together in five places at once: the idea in one service, the script in another, the voiceover in a third, the images in a fourth, the editing in a fifth. OpenMontage offers a different setup. You open the project in Claude Code, describe the clip in plain words, and the agent runs the whole chain on its own: research, script, materials, editing and final assembly.

Below: what this project is, how to install it, and what it costs to run.

What OpenMontage is

The project description calls it the first open agentic video production system. Agentic means your AI assistant runs everything, not a separate program. It reads instructions from the project files, calls tools, and asks for your approval on creative decisions.

The project works with more than Claude Code. The README says it's compatible with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf and Codex. Any assistant that can read files and run code will do.

There's a ready-made pipeline for each type of video, more than ten in all. Among them are an animated explainer, a documentary montage from free footage, a talking head and a screen recording. There's also localization with dubbing and cutting a long video into short clips.

What it does in practice

The main idea of the project: you don't write a "perfect prompt," you go through stages. The agent finds material online, proposes a script, assembles scenes, and picks voiceover and subtitles. At creative forks it stops and waits for your answer, so the result stays under your control.

Another feature that's useful for experts: you can start from someone else's sample clip. You paste a link to a YouTube video, Short, Reel or TikTok. The agent breaks down the pace, structure and hook and proposes two or three options on the same mechanic but on your topic. You don't have to copy anything: only the technique is taken.

After assembly, the system checks the result itself: the file, frames, sound, subtitles. And there's a budget mode: the agent estimates the cost before generation starts, not after.

What you need to install it

To run it you'll need:

1. 1. Python 3.10 or newer.
2. 2. FFmpeg.
3. 3. Node.js 18 or newer.
4. 4. An AI assistant, such as Claude Code.

The installation itself takes three commands:

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

Then you open the project folder in Claude Code and write what you need. An example from the README: "Make a 60-second animated explainer about how neural networks learn." If your computer doesn't have the make command, the README has a long one-line variant for macOS and Linux. For Windows it notes separately: if an error appears while installing Node packages, run the installation through npx.

What's free and what costs money

One of the main questions about any AI video tool is how much a single clip costs. According to the README, the answer is: you can do a lot with no keys at all.

With no paid key whatsoever, the project gives you free offline Piper voiceover and open footage archives: Archive.org, NASA, Wikimedia Commons. Clip assembly in Remotion and HyperFrames, FFmpeg editing and automatic subtitles also work without keys. Stock services Pexels, Unsplash and Pixabay need keys, but those are free.

If you have a powerful graphics card, you can enable local video generation. If not, there's a paid path through cloud services such as FAL, Kling, ElevenLabs, OpenAI or Runway. All of these keys are optional: the README says outright that every key is optional, so add the ones you have.

The README gives cost benchmarks. A clip with an image or video provider connected is estimated at roughly 0.15 to 1.50 dollars.

A full setup with voiceover and music comes to roughly 1 to 3 dollars. One example in the project, a one-minute animation called "The Last Banana," cost 1.33 dollars. Service prices can change, so work out the total from the current rates of the providers you choose.

Who it suits

OpenMontage is worth trying if you already work in Claude Code and want to assemble video from one window. It's well suited to faceless explainers, documentary montage from open footage, and cutting up long recordings.

Right away, what may not suit you. This is a tool for people who aren't afraid of the terminal: installation goes through the command line, and fine-tuning providers will mean reading the documentation. The project's license is AGPLv3: for commercial use and distribution of changes, read its terms before you start.

If you're looking for other places to generate video for free, see the roundup of free video limits. If you're just getting acquainted with the Claude Code and video combination, start with the article How to Make a Video Without a Camera or Editing: 5 Steps With Claude. To extend Claude Code itself, the roundup 5 MCP Servers for Claude Code will help.

We post short notes on AI tools for content in the Telegram channel Растём с ИИ. And if you need a content system for your niche, you can sign up for a free consultation.