AutoShorts

AutoShorts is a local-first desktop application for turning long-form video or audio recordings into high-impact, vertical short-form clip candidates (9:16 portrait) with AI-powered viral moment ranking.

This repository implements the desktop app foundation using Tauri 2 + React + TSX + Rust + SQLite.

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Key Features

• Dynamic Multi-LLM Support: Supports both DeepSeek (default) and Claude (anthropic) for viral moment detection and hooks analysis.
• Automated Pipeline: Imports media, extracts audio, transcribes using Deepgram, and automatically analyzes and ranks moments in a single automated chain.
• Local SQLite Storage: Saves transcripts, candidates, custom names, and rendering data locally.
• Native Project Manager: Create, open, rename, and delete projects from the dashboard.
• Portrait Auto-Cropping: Automatically center-crops landscape videos to vertical H.264 portrait clips using native ffmpeg integration.
• Key Warnings: Built-in visual warnings that identify missing environment variables and prompt you directly in the UI.

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Prerequisites

To run or build the application from source:

• Node.js: 20+
• Rust: 1.80+
• FFmpeg & FFprobe: Must be installed and available on your system PATH.
  • On macOS, you can install them using Homebrew:

    brew install ffmpeg

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Installation Guide (For Users)

1. Download the App Bundle

Download the latest .dmg or .app release from the GitHub Releases. Be sure to select the architecture matching your Mac:

• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3): Choose the aarch64 package.
• Intel Mac: Choose the x64 package.

2. Install the App

1. Double-click the downloaded .dmg file.
2. Drag the AutoShorts app icon into your Applications folder.

3. Bypass macOS Gatekeeper (Unsigned Local Builds)

Because the local build is self-signed/ad-hoc signed, macOS may block it on first run with a warning ("damaged or from an unidentified developer").

• Easiest fix: Right-click the AutoShorts.app icon in Finder, choose Open, and click Open in the prompt.
• Terminal fix: Run the following command in your terminal:

  xattr -cr /Applications/AutoShorts.app

4. Configure API Credentials

Since the standalone app runs outside your local environment, you need to configure your API keys within the app interface:

1. Open AutoShorts and click API Settings in the top bar.
2. Paste your API keys for Deepgram, Claude, and/or DeepSeek.
3. The app will visually badge your active provider and alert you if keys are missing.

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Developer Guide

1. Setup Environment Configuration

Copy .env.example to .env in the root folder:

cp .env.example .env

Fill in your API Keys:

DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=your-deepgram-api-key
DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=your-deepseek-api-key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-api-key

# Choose your default AI analysis provider ("deepseek" or "claude")
LLM_PROVIDER=deepseek

2. Run in Development Mode

To start the live-reloaded frontend and backend development shell:

npm install
npm run tauri:dev

3. Build the Application

To build and package the native macOS app bundle (.app and .dmg installer):

npm run tauri:build

The output installers will be built under src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.