Does it change what I say in the video?

No. It only removes silence: your words stay untouched and speech mistakes are left to cut-mistakes.

How much does it trim?

With the default setting, which treats any pause over 0.55 seconds as trimmable, it typically removes 15 to 20 percent of a raw take. You can lower or raise that threshold.

Do I need ffmpeg and a transcript?

You need a word-level transcript. ffmpeg is only needed to render the cut video, not to get the edit list.

By nateherkaiUpdated 25 Sept 2026

Remove silences from a video

/cut-silences

/cut-silences is a Claude Code skill in the Video & Motion section. It is maintained by nateherkai and published under the MIT license. Removes silences and dead air from a talking-head recording using its word-level transcript, keeping a natural breath between phrases.

Author's description

Agent 1 of the video editing pipeline. Removes silences and dead air from a talking-head recording. Use when asked to cut silences, trim pauses, remove dead air / gaps, or tighten the pacing of a raw video, given a word-level transcript. Produces an edit list (EDL), a re-timed transcript for downstream agents, and optionally the cut video via ffmpeg. Does NOT cut mistakes, repeats, or false starts — that is the cut-mistakes agent.

Use it when

You have a raw recording with long pauses at the start, the end or between phrases
You want to give a talking video more pace
It is the first step of an edit and you already have a word-level transcript

Not for

Cutting stutters, repeats or false starts: cut-mistakes does that
Working without a transcript: it needs one with word-level timing

What you get

An edit list of the ranges kept and removed, a transcript re-timed to the new timeline, a readable summary and, if you ask for it, the cut video rendered with ffmpeg.

How to ask for it

Remove the silences and dead air from this talking-head recording
Trim the long pauses in my raw video and give me the edit list
Tighten the pacing of this video by cutting the silent gaps

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sgomez-dev/claude-skills/main/install.sh | bash

After installing with the script, type /cut-silences. Using Cursor, Windsurf or Codex? Platform guides

Questions about this skill

Does it change what I say in the video?: No. It only removes silence: your words stay untouched and speech mistakes are left to cut-mistakes.
How much does it trim?: With the default setting, which treats any pause over 0.55 seconds as trimmable, it typically removes 15 to 20 percent of a raw take. You can lower or raise that threshold.
Do I need ffmpeg and a transcript?: You need a word-level transcript. ffmpeg is only needed to render the cut video, not to get the edit list.

Demo coming soon