Mission
Create the final draft timeline from approved parent/child clips. Keep clip order, duration, gaps, transitions, audio treatment, captions, and export settings explicit so another editor or agent can reproduce the assembly.
Use Video Editing when the source itself needs a visual transformation or extension. Use this skill when the shots are already approved and the primary task is the cut, package, or handoff.
Required inputs
- ordered clip IDs or URLs and each clip's parent, duration, ratio, and status;
- in/out points, intentional gaps, transitions, and loop/end-card behavior;
- narration, dialogue, music, ambience, and mix/ducking policy;
- caption source, language, placement, style, and burn-in versus sidecar choice;
- target ratio, resolution, frame rate, container, and filename convention; and
- rights, disclosure, reviewer, and definition of done.
Reject unapproved, missing, private, expired, or mismatched assets instead of silently substituting a nearby clip. If no audio mix or caption renderer is available, return a timeline/EDL handoff and state what remains for local post-production.
Timeline contract
Build a table such as:
| Order | Clip | Source parent | In/out | Transition | Audio | Caption state | Approval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | clip-001 |
shot-001 |
0.0–4.0 |
opening | narration A | pending | accepted |
Record actual measured duration after rendering. Distinguish a requested duration from a provider's returned duration and call out gaps, overlaps, black frames, silent sections, and aspect-ratio changes.
Execute
- Validate that every selected clip is accepted and its hosted URL/asset ID is still usable. Upload local inputs once and preserve provenance.
- Freeze the ordered timeline and audio/caption decisions before a paid combine call. Ask before broad variants or final upscaling.
- Use
media.combine_videoor the live documented utility with explicit order and accepted fields. Do not assume it performs transitions, audio mixing, captions, color correction, or frame extraction. - Caption only the approved cut. Proofread names, numbers, timing, line length, safe areas, contrast, and uncertain transcription.
- Poll the assembly job, retain its receipt, and compare the output against the timeline. Run video QA on the entire export.
Use MODELS.md and muapi-video-tools.md to verify the current combine operation and its accepted fields.
Output contract
Return the timeline, asset manifest, assembly operation/schema, prediction ID,
output URL, measured properties, audio/caption status, rights/disclosure
state, QA findings, and a local post-production handoff where applicable. Save
permitted receipts under .video/ using
reports-and-receipts.md.
Assembly is draft-only. Do not publish, overwrite source assets, or represent generated clips as evidence of a real event.