# KitCut docs, every page

> KitCut (https://kitcut.ai) makes short animated films from an idea: Claude Opus 5.5 writes, draws or paints, narrates and scores each film in code, 5 seconds to 8 minutes long, 16:9. People use it on the website, in a Studio of projects for series, or from AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Meta AI) through its MCP server.

Updated 2026-09-28. Source: https://kitcut.ai/docs

---

# KitCut docs

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs

KitCut (https://kitcut.ai) makes short animated films from an idea. A person describes a film in words, pictures or voice notes, and picks a look and a length. Claude Opus 5.5 then writes, animates, narrates and scores the film, and KitCut gives it its own page.

These docs describe what KitCut does and every limit a person can meet. They are written for AI assistants to read as much as for people:
- Each page is also plain Markdown at its `.md` address.
- [llms.txt](https://kitcut.ai/llms.txt) lists every page.
- [limits.json](https://kitcut.ai/docs/limits.json) has every number.

![The KitCut home page: the idea box, with buttons for pictures and voice notes, the look, the length and "Make the film".](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/home.webp "The home page: the idea box is where every film on the website starts.")

## What a film is

- **Length:** 5 seconds to 8 minutes, in steps of 5 seconds. How long a film can be depends on the plan.
- **Picture:** 16:9, 1920x1080 pixels at 60 frames a second on Standard and Pro, 30 on Free.
- **Sound:** narration, instrumental music and sound effects, with subtitles.
- **Look:** one of two. See [Looks](https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks.md).
  - **Hand-drawn:** Claude draws every frame in code.
  - **Painted:** an image model paints the scenes and Claude animates them.
- **Made from scratch every time.** KitCut uses no video model, no stock footage and no camera footage. The film is code, drawings, paintings and sound, rendered to video.

## Three ways to use it

| Where | What it is for | Page |
| --- | --- | --- |
| kitcut.ai | One film at a time, from the idea box on the home page | [Making a film](https://kitcut.ai/docs/making-a-film.md) |
| kitcut.ai/studio | Projects: a series of episodes with its own brief, characters and pictures | [Characters and projects](https://kitcut.ai/docs/characters-and-projects.md) |
| AI assistants | Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Meta AI and other MCP clients make films from a chat | [Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md) |

All three share one account, one balance of credits and one film maker.

## Accounts and credits

- **Watching** a film needs no account.
- **Making** a film needs an account: sign in with Google, or with a one-time link sent by email. See [Your account](https://kitcut.ai/docs/account.md).
- **Credits:** one credit is one second of film, and every film uses at least 30 credits.
- **Free** accounts get 30 seconds of film a month.
- **Paid plans:** Standard and Pro give more minutes, and Pro makes longer films. See [Plans and credits](https://kitcut.ai/docs/plans-and-credits.md).

## Words these docs use

- **Idea:** what the person types, up to 12,000 characters. The idea is shown as the film's title.
- **Look:** hand-drawn or painted.
- **Credit:** one second of film.
- **Attachment:** a picture or a voice note added to an idea.
- **Character:** a character Claude drew in code and keeps for the same person's later films. These docs also call characters the **cast**.
- **Project:** a series in the Studio, with its own brief, characters and pictures. Each film in a project is an **episode**.
- **The Studio:** the projects workspace at kitcut.ai/studio.
- **Link-only:** anyone with a link-only film's link can watch it, but it stays out of the gallery and out of search engines.
- **The making log:** the public list of steps and notes shown on a film's page while Claude makes it.

## How it differs

A KitCut film is written by Claude as a program and rendered, not generated as video. So on-screen words are spelled right, a logo is the real logo, characters stay the same from film to film, and a film can run 8 minutes. It also means there is no photorealistic motion. [How KitCut compares](https://kitcut.ai/docs/compared.md) sets KitCut beside AI video generators and beside running Claude Opus yourself.

## For AI assistants reading this

- **To answer "can KitCut do X?"**, check [What KitCut doesn't do](https://kitcut.ai/docs/not-supported.md) and [Limits](https://kitcut.ai/docs/limits.md) first.
- **To make films from a chat**, connect the MCP server at `https://kitcut.ai/mcp` ([Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)).
- **Don't promise what isn't listed here:** exact timings, a particular voice or piece of music, vertical video, or editing a finished film.

---

# How KitCut compares

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/compared

A KitCut film is not generated as video. Claude writes it as a program: every drawing, camera move, word on screen and cue in the music is code, timed to the narration. KitCut then renders it to video. That one difference explains most of what KitCut does well and most of what it doesn't do.

## KitCut vs AI video generators

AI video generators (Sora, Veo, Runway, Kling and similar) turn a prompt into moving pixels. KitCut instead has Claude write the film, and the film is drawn from what Claude wrote.

| | AI video generators | KitCut |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What the model makes | pixels, a clip at a time | a program: drawings, animation, text, sound cues |
| Length | usually seconds per clip, joined by hand for longer pieces | one film of 5 seconds to 8 minutes, planned and written as a whole |
| Words on screen | often misspelled or warped | typed as text and drawn in a font, so spelled exactly as written |
| Your logo or product | re-imagined by the model, often changed | the picture you attached, placed as it is |
| The same character across scenes and films | hard to keep; it drifts between clips | a drawn character is code, kept and reused as it is in later films |
| Picture timed to speech | within one clip at most; a narration across a longer piece is lined up by hand | every change can hang off a spoken word of the narration, across the whole film |
| Narration, music, sound effects | some make sound with each clip; a narrated, scored piece is usually put together with other tools | written, recorded and mixed as part of the film; subtitles included |
| Story and structure | prompt-to-clip | a director's pass first (style, voice, music), then the script, then review of its own stills |
| Style | photoreal or painterly motion | hand-drawn line animation, or painted stills animated with camera moves |

**What KitCut can't do that a video generator can:**
- photorealistic motion;
- real-looking people moving;
- live-action style shots;
- anything that needs generated video.

KitCut films are explainers, stories, ads, lessons and series in a drawn or painted look. See [What KitCut doesn't do](https://kitcut.ai/docs/not-supported.md).

**What that makes KitCut good for:**
- **Explainers and lessons,** where the words on screen must be right.
- **Product and brand pieces,** where the real logo must appear.
- **Series,** where the same characters, look, voice and music must come back.
- **Anything longer than a clip:** up to 8 minutes as one piece.

## KitCut vs using Claude Opus yourself

KitCut's films are made by Claude Opus 5.5. A person with Claude could ask it to write an animation directly. Doing that gets code; it doesn't get a finished film, unless the rest is built around it. KitCut is that rest:

| What a film needs | Running Opus yourself | KitCut |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Something to draw with | write or choose an animation library | a sketch engine made for this: hand-drawn "boiling" lines, a clean style, ten grounds, ready-made props, cameras, text, and pictures placed as prints |
| Instructions that make good films | write and refine your own prompts | direction and craft notes refined over many films, per look, sent with every film |
| A voice | set up text-to-speech, and time every word yourself | narration recorded, each word timed, and bad takes redone automatically |
| Music and sound effects | find or make them, then mix | an instrumental score on sampled instruments and synthesised effects, written for the film, with the music held under the voice and the sound mastered |
| Paintings (painted look) | set up an image model | an image model wired in, with repaints |
| Checking its own work | look at the output yourself | Claude renders stills and a motion check and fixes what it sees before the final render |
| Rendering | set up a browser, ffmpeg and fonts, and render at 60 fps | done: a 1920x1080, 60 fps (30 on Free) MP4 with subtitles |
| Keeping it safe and on track | watch the session | Claude works in a sandbox; every file is checked before each step; a film that runs out of time is finished or its credits come back |
| Characters for next time | save and re-supply them yourself | characters are kept per account or project and offered to the next film |
| Somewhere to watch and share it | host it | a page per film, a link preview card, the gallery, YouTube publishing |
| From any assistant | not applicable | the same films from Claude, ChatGPT, Grok or Meta AI ([Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)) |
| Setup | Node, Python, ffmpeg, a browser, fonts, sound fonts, API keys | none: a browser and an account |
| What it costs | tokens for every turn; a film takes many turns and it is not known in advance | one credit per second of film, known before it starts; nothing is charged for a failed film |

**When running Opus yourself makes sense:**
- You want to change the code of a film yourself.
- You need a format KitCut doesn't make, e.g. vertical video.
- You want full control of every step.

**When KitCut makes sense:** you want the finished, narrated, scored film from an idea, in minutes, without building or running anything.

---

# Making a film

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/making-a-film

A film on kitcut.ai starts in the idea box on the home page. The person types an idea and can add pictures and voice notes. They pick a look and a length, and press **Make the film**. The film's own page then opens and shows it being made.

![The idea box on kitcut.ai with six numbered red circles: 1 the idea text, 2 the + button for pictures, 3 the microphone for voice notes, 4 the look, 5 the length slider, 6 the Make the film button.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/composer.webp "① the idea, ② pictures, ③ voice notes, ④ the look, ⑤ the length and ⑥ Make the film.")

## The idea

- **Length:** 3 to 12,000 characters.
  - A counter appears near the limit.
  - A longer idea is refused, not cut.
  - With a picture or a voice note attached, the text may be empty.
- **What to put in it:** what the film is about, who is in it, the tone, anything it must say or show, and how to use the pictures.
- **The idea is the film's public title.** It is shown on the film's page and in the gallery.
- **Language:** the narration is in the language the idea is written in, or in the one it asks for. The narrator's voice (Gemini) speaks many languages, Ukrainian among them. On-screen words are limited to Latin and Cyrillic alphabets ([Looks](https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks.md)).
- **What the idea can't set:** the voice, the music or the style inside a look can't be picked from controls, because Claude chooses them. The idea can still ask for them in words, e.g. "a calm female voice, solo piano, clean line art". See [Looks](https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks.md).

## Pictures

![The idea box with two pictures and a voice note attached, shown as small tiles, with a red circle around the tiles.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/composer-attachments.webp "Attachments appear as tiles under the idea; ✕ removes one.")

- **How many:** up to 6 per film.
- **Three ways to add them:** the **+** button (on a phone it offers the photo library or the camera), dragging them onto the box, or pasting a screenshot.
- **Formats:** JPEG, PNG or WebP arrive as they are. The browser converts other pictures it can open (such as HEIC on an iPhone) before upload.
- **Shrinking:** the browser shrinks every picture to 2048 pixels on its long side before upload, and removes location data. One upload may be up to 4.4 MB.
- **What Claude does with them:** Claude looks at every picture and decides what it is. The film's making log states in one sentence what Claude took each picture to be.
  - **Material to show:** a logo, a product, a person or a place, shown as a picture in the film.
  - **A reference to match:** a look, a character design, a layout.
  - **The brief itself:** a screenshot of a written brief, a handwritten note, a sketch.
- **Saying how:** to decide it yourself, say so in the idea, e.g. "put my logo on the last frame".
- **Privacy:** pictures are never shown on the film's page. Only what Claude puts into the film is shown. A picture the film doesn't use is left out of the final render.

## Voice notes

![The recording bar that replaces the toolbar while recording: a cancel button, sound level bars, the timer and the attach button, with a red circle around the timer.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/recording.webp "While recording: ✕ throws the recording away, ✓ attaches it. The timer runs to 3:00.")

- **Recording:** press the microphone and speak. ✓ attaches the note; ✕ (or Esc) throws it away.
  - Up to 3 notes per film, each up to 3:00.
  - A warning shows 15 seconds before the end; at the end the note stops and attaches itself.
  - Recordings under 1 second are not kept.
- **Turned into text:** every note is written out as text, in the language spoken. Hovering over a note's tile shows the words.
  - A note in which nothing is said stops the film being made; remove it or record again.
  - Claude gets the text of the note, not the recording. The recording is never used in the film's sound.
- **The microphone:** the browser asks for permission the first time. Some in-app browsers can't record; there the microphone button does not appear.
- **Privacy:** voice notes are never shown or played on the film's page.

## Look and length

- **Look:** Hand-drawn or Painted (AI scenes). See [Looks](https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks.md).
- **Length:** from 5 seconds, in steps of 5 seconds, up to the plan's longest film. The slider starts at 30 seconds, since a film uses at least 30 credits however short it is.
  - The slider's track runs to 8:00; the part past the plan's longest film is shown locked.
  - Under the slider: the credits the film will use, the balance, and the renewal date.
  - A film uses at least 30 credits, however short it is.
  - If the balance is too low, the button says "Not enough credits".

## Signing in

![The sign-in dialog that opens when a signed-out visitor presses Make the film: Continue with Google, or an email address for a one-time link.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/signin.webp "Signed out, Make the film opens this dialog. The idea, pictures and voice notes are kept in the browser meanwhile.")

- **Anyone can type, attach and record without an account.**
- **Pressing Make the film while signed out** opens the sign-in dialog: Google, or a one-time link by email.
- **The idea, look, length, pictures and voice notes are kept in the browser.** They come back after signing in, even when the email link opens in a new tab.
- **The film starts only when Make the film is pressed again.**

## After "Make the film"

![A film being made: its page shows the idea, the status line and the making log headed "What Claude is doing", with a red circle around the log.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/making.webp "The film's page while it is made: the status line and the making log.")

1. **The credits are held.** The film's length (at least 30) is taken from the balance. They are charged only if the film is finished. See [Plans and credits](https://kitcut.ai/docs/plans-and-credits.md).
2. **The film's page opens at `kitcut.ai/film/<id>`.** Its address works at once and can be shared.
3. **The page shows the film being made:**
   - a status line, including its place in the queue;
   - the making log, "What Claude is doing": each step and Claude's own notes;
   - the latest review sheet, the stills Claude checks, where the video will be.
4. **When the film is finished, the page plays it.** How long that takes: [How a film is made](https://kitcut.ai/docs/how-films-are-made.md#how-long-it-takes).
5. **Stop:** the person who asked for the film can stop it from the browser they started it in. Its credits come back. A stopped film can't be resumed.

## Limits on making films

- **One film being made at a time per account.** A second one is refused until the first is finished.
- **5 films per account per day.** Every film asked for counts, including failed ones.
- **When too many films are already waiting,** a new film is refused with "the queue is full"; try again later.
- **When the service has made all the films it can in a day,** new films are refused until the next day. No credits are taken.
- **While the film-making service is offline,** new films can't start, and the home page says so.

## Not possible here

- Uploading a video clip to use as footage. Pictures are the only visual material a film takes.
- Choosing a voice, a piece of music or a drawing style from a list. Ask for them in words instead.
- Changing a film after it is made. Make a new one; its characters can come back ([Characters and projects](https://kitcut.ai/docs/characters-and-projects.md)).

---

# How a film is made

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/how-films-are-made

Claude Opus 5.5 makes each film as a program. It directs, writes the narration, draws or places every scene in code, and reviews its own frames. KitCut records the voice, mixes the music and sound, renders the video at 60 frames a second (30 on Free) and puts it online. Nothing is picked from a library of clips; every film is made new.

## The steps

| Step | What happens | Shown in the making log as |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1. Queue | The film waits for a free place. Pro films go ahead of the others. Waiting does not count against Claude's time. | "Waiting for a free studio: N films ahead" |
| 2. Direction | Claude first decides who the film is for and its mood (it does not assume children unless the idea says so) and holds the film to looking professionally made for them. Then it chooses the direction: the drawing style and ground (hand-drawn) or the painting style and shots (painted), the narrator's voice and how it speaks, and the music's instruments and tempo. | Claude's notes |
| 3. Narration | Claude writes the narration and records it with Gemini's text-to-speech. Each word is timed, so the picture can change on a word. A line that reads badly is recorded again. A line Gemini refuses to read is read by a backup voice instead, so the words stay as written. | "recording the narration" |
| 4. Paintings (painted look only) | The scenes are painted by Muse, Meta's image model, from Claude's descriptions. Claude checks them and repaints ones that are wrong. | "painting the scenes" |
| 5. Picture | Claude writes the film as code on KitCut's sketch engine: drawings, camera moves, text on screen, and pictures the person attached. | "wrote film.js" |
| 6. Review | Claude renders stills from across the film and a motion check, looks at them, and fixes what is wrong. This is repeated up to twice. | "looking at the review sheet" |
| 7. Music and sound | Claude writes an instrumental score and sound effects; KitCut plays them on sampled instruments and synthesised effects, keeps the music under the voice, and masters the sound. | "Mixing the soundtrack" |
| 8. Render | Every frame is drawn and encoded to an MP4 video. | "Rendering N frames" |
| 9. Keeping the cast | Characters the film drew are kept for the person's next films. | "Keeping the cast for the next films" |
| 10. Online | The video, its poster and its subtitles are copied online, so the film plays from anywhere. | "Putting the film online" |

## Which AI does what

| Model | Its part |
| --- | --- |
| Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) | Direction, script, narration text, every drawing and animation (as code), on-screen text, music and sound-effect scores, and reviewing the result. It runs at a high reasoning effort on every film. |
| Gemini (Google) | The narrator's voice (text-to-speech), and writing out voice notes as text. |
| ElevenLabs | The backup narrator: reads a line Gemini refuses to say (its content filter can block a name or a topic), in a low or high voice chosen to go with the film's narrator. Only that line; the rest stays Gemini's. |
| Muse (Meta) | Painting the scenes of painted films. |
| Whisper | Timing each spoken word, so the picture follows the narration. |

The music is played on General MIDI instruments from a sampled sound font, and the sound effects are synthesised. KitCut makes no sung vocals.

## How long it takes

A film takes about this long once its turn comes. Time spent waiting in the queue comes on top.

| Film length | Time to make it, once its turn comes |
| --- | --- |
| 10 seconds | 9 to 14 minutes |
| 30 seconds | 16 to 24 minutes |
| 1 minute | 26 to 39 minutes |
| 2 minutes | 35 to 54 minutes |
| 4 minutes | 53 to 84 minutes |
| 8 minutes | 1.5 to 2.4 hours |

The figures for films past 2 minutes are estimates; fewer long films have been measured.

## Claude's working time

Claude has a working limit that grows with the film's length. Time spent waiting in the queue does not count against it.

| Film length | Claude's working time | Paintings (painted look) | Narration sentences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 10 seconds | 20 minutes | 8 | 6 |
| 30 seconds | 23 minutes | 8 | 12 |
| 1 minute | 31 minutes | 8 | 12 |
| 2 minutes | 46 minutes | 12 | 24 |
| 4 minutes | 76 minutes | 12 | 48 |
| 8 minutes | 136 minutes | 24 | 96 |

When the time runs out:
- **If the film is complete** and passes its checks, it is finished and rendered.
- **Otherwise Claude gets one short last turn** to write what is missing.
- **If it is still not complete, the film fails** and its credits come back.

## Priority and the queue

- **Pro films go first.** Pro films go ahead of Free and Standard films at every step that waits: the queue, the voice and the mix, and the rendering. Among Pro films, first come is first served.
- **Several films are made at the same time.** A film only waits when all places are taken.
- **A limited number of films can wait.** Beyond that (5), a new film is refused with "the queue is full".

## When a film fails

- **A film that fails, is stopped, or is interrupted gives its credits back automatically.** Only finished films are charged.
- **A film that is not finished after 6 hours, plus 45 seconds for every second of film,** has its credits given back. For an 8-minute film that is 12 hours.
- **The film's page says why it failed,** e.g. "Claude ran past the 20-minute limit".
- **A failed film can't be resumed.** Make it again; the idea is still in the box on its page.

---

# Looks

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks

Every film has one of two looks, chosen before it is made: **hand-drawn** or **painted**. The person picks the look; everything inside it is Claude's choice, and the idea can steer it in words: the style, the colours, the voice and the music.

Before anything else, Claude decides from the idea who the film is for and its mood, and holds the whole film to one bar: professionally made for that audience. It does not assume children unless the idea says so, so a business documentary or a hospital explainer does not come out looking like a cartoon, while a bedtime story still looks like one. KitCut's instructions to Claude set that bar and name what exists; they prescribe no style.

## Hand-drawn

![A still from a hand-drawn KitCut film in the crayon style: Pip, an orange fox in a blue scarf, stands by an igloo among snowy pine trees, all drawn in crayon lines.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/look-drawn.webp "Hand-drawn, crayon style: from [Pip the fox sees snow for the first time](https://kitcut.ai/film/studio-20260926-195810-6kj2uw).")

![A still from a hand-drawn KitCut film in the clean style on the blueprint ground: a lever lifts a car, labelled rises, pivot, push and long end.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/look-drawn-clean.webp "Hand-drawn, clean style on the blueprint ground: from [How a lever lets one person lift a car](https://kitcut.ai/film/studio-20260927-033619-iucict).")

- **Drawn in code:** Claude draws everything with KitCut's sketch engine, a pen and a set of ready-made props, and animates it frame by frame.
- **Two drawing styles:**
  - **Crayon** (the default): hand-drawn lines that "boil" slightly from frame to frame, off-register fills, paper texture and grain.
  - **Clean:** crisp editorial line art, exact flat fills, a flat ground.
- **Ten grounds:** paper, white, kraft, sky, mint, butter, blush, night, chalkboard and blueprint. A film can change ground as it goes.
- **Pictures the person attached** can be shown in the film, placed like a pinned print.

## Painted

![A still from a painted KitCut film: glowing particles over a dark painted landscape, with the word proton drawn on top by Claude.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/look-painted.webp "Painted: the scene is painted, the word on top is drawn. From [a painted science film](https://kitcut.ai/film/studio-20260927-084459-7xaoci).")

- **The scenes are painted** by an image model (Muse, by Meta) from Claude's descriptions, at 1920x1280.
- **Claude animates the paintings:** camera moves across them, cross-fades on spoken words, and words and hand-drawn marks on top.
- **Painting styles** Claude chooses from include collage, flat vector poster, 1950s travel poster, claymation, ukiyo-e, ink wash, charcoal, gouache, risograph, pixel art, soft 3D, cinematic photoreal and watercolour.
- **How many paintings a film gets** depends on its length, repaints included:

| Film length | Claude's working time | Paintings (painted look) | Narration sentences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 10 seconds | 20 minutes | 8 | 6 |
| 30 seconds | 23 minutes | 8 | 12 |
| 1 minute | 31 minutes | 8 | 12 |
| 2 minutes | 46 minutes | 12 | 24 |
| 4 minutes | 76 minutes | 12 | 48 |
| 8 minutes | 136 minutes | 24 | 96 |

- **No lettering in paintings.** Words on screen are drawn over them instead.
- **The painter works from words alone.** It takes no reference picture. An attached picture can still be shown in the film, and Claude can describe it to the painter.
- **Consistency:** the same character may look a little different from one painting to the next.

## Text on screen

- **Optional** in both looks, and in the narration's language.
- **Three fonts:** Caveat (handwriting, the default), Balsamiq Sans and Patrick Hand.
  - Caveat and Balsamiq Sans cover Latin and Cyrillic alphabets; Patrick Hand covers Latin only.
  - On-screen words in other scripts (such as Chinese, Arabic or Hindi) are not supported. Narration in those languages still works.

## Steering the look

Say it in the idea, in plain words:
- "clean line art on a blueprint ground"
- "painted like a 1950s travel poster, warm evening light"
- "chalkboard, with a playful tone"
- "keep the same fox, look and music as last time" (see [Characters and projects](https://kitcut.ai/docs/characters-and-projects.md))

Claude follows what is asked when it can, and chooses the rest.

---

# Your films

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/films

Every film gets a page at `kitcut.ai/film/<id>` that plays the video and shows how it was made. Films made on the website are public and can appear in the gallery. Films made through an AI assistant are link-only unless the person asks for them to be public.

![A finished film's page: the video player, the idea as its title, the making log and the film's stats, with a red circle around the player.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/film-page.webp "A finished film's page: the video, its idea as the title, and how it was made.")

## The video

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Size | 1920x1080, 16:9 landscape |
| Frame rate | 60 frames a second on Standard and Pro; 30 on Free |
| Video | H.264 (MP4) |
| Sound | AAC, stereo, -14 LUFS: narration, instrumental music, sound effects |
| Subtitles | a soft track, off by default; also film.srt and film.vtt |
| Length | the length chosen, plus a 3-second closing on Free films |
| Poster | a still from just before the end |
| Two copies | the full-quality master, and a lighter web copy (about 5 Mbps) that the film's page and the gallery play |

The film page's player doesn't show the subtitles; the video file carries them.

## The film's page

- **The video,** with its poster, in the browser's own player.
- **The idea, look and length** the film was made from, back in the idea box, ready for a similar film. The browser tab and search results show the idea as the film's title.
- **The making log** ("What Claude is doing"): each step and Claude's own notes. It stays on the page after the film is finished.
- **While the film is made,** its latest review sheet (the stills Claude checks) shows where the video will be.
- **The film's stats:** how long it took, Claude's time, the render time, Claude's turns, and for a painted film the number of paintings.
- **For the person who made it:**
  - **Stop,** while it is being made.
  - **Publish to YouTube,** when it is finished ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md)).
- **A link preview:** shared links show a 1200x628 card with the film's poster.

## Who can see a film

| Film made | Its page and link | Gallery on the home page | Search engines |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| On kitcut.ai (home page or Studio) | anyone with the link | yes, when finished | yes, when finished |
| Through an AI assistant, by default | anyone with the link | no | no |
| Through an AI assistant, asked to be public | anyone with the link | yes, when finished | yes, when finished |

- **The gallery** on the home page lists every finished public film, newest first (the 12 newest while the film-making service is offline).
- **Switching:** an assistant can switch any of the person's films between public and link-only (`set_film_public`, [Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)). The website has no switch for this.
- **Taking a film out of the gallery:** write to hello@kitcut.ai.
- **Failed and stopped films** keep their page, which search engines are told to skip.

**What a film's page shows to anyone with the link:**
- the idea (in the idea box, and as the page's title);
- the making log, including Claude's notes, which may describe the pictures the person attached, and the review sheets shown while it is made;
- the video.

**What it never shows:** the pictures and voice notes themselves, credits, costs, or who made the film.

## The KitCut mark (Free only)

- **Free films carry a small mark:** "made with kitcut.ai" in the bottom-right corner, for the whole film.
- **Free films end with a 3-second closing:** the last frame as a snapshot, the KitCut logo, "Make your own film" and kitcut.ai, with a chime and a spoken "Make yours at KitCut AI".
- **Standard and Pro films carry neither.**
- **The terms ask** that the mark and closing on a Free film be left in place.

## Sharing and using a film

- **Share** the page's address; it works as soon as the film is asked for.
- **Commercial use** of the films is allowed ([Terms](https://kitcut.ai/terms)).
- **Download:** the website has no download button. An assistant gives two addresses from `get_film`: the web copy for watching (`video_url`) and the full-quality file for editing or uploading (`download_url`).
- **YouTube:** a finished film can be published to the person's own channel ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md)).

## Not possible yet

- **Editing a finished film,** or making a changed version of it. Make a new film: its characters, look, voice and music can come back ([Characters and projects](https://kitcut.ai/docs/characters-and-projects.md)).
- **Deleting a film yourself.** Write to hello@kitcut.ai.
- **Vertical, square or other shapes.** Films are 16:9 only.
- **While the film-making service is offline,** a film's page may say it can't be shown right now; the gallery still lists films from their copies online.

---

# Characters and projects

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/characters-and-projects

KitCut remembers the characters Claude draws, so a later film can bring them back: the same fox, the same look, voice and music. There are two ways to use this.
- **An account's own characters** come back in the person's next films made on the home page or through an assistant.
- **A project in the Studio** (kitcut.ai/studio) keeps a separate set for one series, with its own brief and pictures.

## Characters that come back

- **What is kept:**
  - After a film is finished, each character Claude drew as a reusable cast member is kept, with a small picture of it.
  - A changed character is kept as a new version; the last 5 versions are kept.
  - A failed or stopped film keeps nothing.
- **What a new film starts with:**
  - up to 24 characters, the most recently used first;
  - the 5 most recent films (their script, narration, music and look), which Claude may read.
- **Bringing one back:** name it in the idea, e.g. "the same fox as last time" or "Pip and Mo visit the sea". Whether a film continues a series is Claude's decision. A continuation keeps the cast, the look, the voice and the music unless the idea says otherwise.
- **Only drawn characters are kept.**
  - Characters in the painted look are painted fresh each time, so they may look different between films.
  - To keep a painted character close, describe it the same way every time.
- **Who has characters:** signed-in accounts only. Each account's characters are its own; nobody else's films can use them.
- **Seeing and forgetting them:** through an AI assistant, with `list_characters` and `forget_character` ([Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)). A forgotten character is left out of new films. The website has no page for the account's own characters; a project's characters are on its Cast tab.

## Projects (the Studio)

![The Studio at kitcut.ai/studio: a list of projects, each a card with its name, look and episode count, with a red circle around the New project button.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/studio.webp "The Studio lists the account's projects; New project starts a series.")

A project is a series. Every film made in it is an episode and uses the project's own characters and pictures, not the account's.

| Setting | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| Name | up to 80 characters |
| Brief | up to 2,000 characters: the series' premise, audience, tone and rules. Claude reads it for every episode. |
| Look | hand-drawn or painted |
| Default length | from 5 seconds, in steps of 5 seconds, up to the plan's longest film |
| Bring in my characters | on by default. The project starts with the characters from the account's films made outside projects. |
| Projects per account | 20 open, 100 in all (archived ones included) |
| Pictures per project | 6: PNG, JPEG or WebP |

![A project's page with its tabs - Episodes, Cast, Pictures and Settings - showing the Cast tab with the series' characters, with a red circle around the tabs.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/project-cast.webp "A project's Cast tab: the characters its episodes share.")

**A project's page has four tabs:**
- **Episodes:** make a new episode (an idea, the look and a length, like on the home page) and see the earlier ones.
- **Cast:** the project's characters, each with its picture, description, how many episodes it appeared in, and its version. A character can be removed.
- **Pictures:** pictures every episode can use, such as a logo, a product or a character sheet.
  - Each picture has a name (lowercase letters, digits and `_`).
  - Claude sees it as `pic_<name>` and can show it in any episode.
  - A picture an episode doesn't use is left out of that episode's render.
- **Settings:** the name, brief, look and default length; archive or restore the project.

**How episodes work:**
- **An episode is an ordinary film:** the same credits, lengths, limits and film page. See [Making a film](https://kitcut.ai/docs/making-a-film.md).
- **One film at a time per account,** across all projects and the home page.
- **Episodes are public** like other films made on the website, and can appear in the gallery. The brief can show in an episode's making log.
- **Episodes take no attachments of their own.** Use the project's Pictures tab.

**Other rules:**
- **Archive and restore only; projects can't be deleted.** Restoring is refused when 20 projects are already open.
- **The Cast and Pictures tabs need the film-making service online.** Episodes are listed even when it is offline.
- **Projects are on every plan,** Free included.
- **Assistants can't use projects:** films made through an assistant use the account's own characters.

---

# Publishing to YouTube

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube

A finished film can be published straight to the person's own YouTube channel from its page, with a title, a description and a privacy setting. Publishing uses no credits.

> **Access is limited for now.**
> - Publishing is being opened in stages. Until an account has it, the pricing page shows "Coming soon" and the film page has no Publish button.
> - Until Google finishes verifying KitCut:
>   - at most 100 accounts can connect a channel;
>   - Google shows a warning that the app is not verified yet;
>   - YouTube keeps uploaded videos private until its API audit passes. The page then says YouTube is keeping the video private for now, and the video shows as Private.

![The Publish to YouTube dialog on a film's page: channel choice, title, description, privacy and the made-for-kids box, with a red circle around the privacy options.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/youtube-dialog.webp "The publish dialog: the channel, title, description, privacy and made for kids.")

## Connecting a channel

- **On the account page,** under YouTube, choose **Connect YouTube** and pick the channel in Google's window.
- **Each connection is one channel.** Add more with **Connect another channel**, or with **+ Add another channel** in the publish dialog.
- **KitCut asks Google for two permissions:** uploading videos, and reading the channel's name and picture.
- **Disconnecting** removes the channel from KitCut and withdraws its permission at Google.
- **A connection that stops working** shows "Connect again".

![The YouTube section of the account page, listing connected channels with Disconnect buttons, with a red circle around Connect another channel.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/account-youtube.webp "Channels are connected and disconnected on the account page.")

## Publishing a film

Only the person who made the film can publish it, and only once it is finished.

| Field | Rules |
| --- | --- |
| Channel | any connected channel |
| Title | required, up to 100 characters. The idea is suggested. |
| Description | up to 5,000 bytes. Suggested: the idea (when short) and "Made with KitCut, the Claude video maker: https://kitcut.ai". |
| Privacy | public, unlisted or private. The page remembers the last choice. |
| Made for kids | a checkbox, as YouTube requires |

- **A progress bar** runs while the video is sent. It then shows "Watch on YouTube" once YouTube has it.
- **Publishing the same film to the same channel twice** warns first that it would make a second copy.
- **Limit:** 20 publishes per account per day.

## Not possible

- Scheduling a publish, choosing a thumbnail, adding to a playlist, or publishing as a Short (films are 16:9).
- Changing or deleting the video on YouTube from KitCut. Use YouTube Studio.
- Publishing from an AI assistant. Publishing is on the film's page only.

---

# Plans and credits

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/plans-and-credits

KitCut is paid for in credits: one credit is one second of film. Every film uses at least 30 credits. Free accounts get 30 seconds of film a month. Standard and Pro are monthly subscriptions that give more minutes; Pro also makes films up to 8 minutes and makes them first when the service is busy.

| Plan | Price a month | Film a month | Longest film | Frame rate | Made first when busy | KitCut mark |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 30 seconds | 1 minute | 30 fps | no | yes |
| Standard | $12 to $319 | 2 to 60 minutes | 1 minute | 60 fps | no | no |
| Pro | $45 to $849 | 10 to 240 minutes | 8 minutes | 60 fps | yes | no |

**Free in practice:** a month's free credits (30) make one film of up to 30 seconds. Free films can be up to 1 minute, but a longer one needs bonus credits on top.

![The pricing page's three plan cards - Free, Standard and Pro - with a red frame around the Pro card.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/pricing.webp "kitcut.ai/pricing: pick a plan, then the minutes a month.")

**All plans make the same films with the same tools:** both looks, pictures and voice notes, characters that come back, projects, and a page for every film. Plans differ only in:
- how much film you get a month;
- how long one film can be;
- priority;
- the KitCut mark.

## Paid plans, by the minute

| Plan | Minutes a month | Price a month | Price a minute |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Standard | 2 | $12 | $6.00 |
| Standard | 5 | $29 | $5.80 |
| Standard | 10 | $56 | $5.60 |
| Standard | 20 | $109 | $5.45 |
| Standard | 40 | $215 | $5.38 |
| Standard | 60 | $319 | $5.32 |
| Pro | 10 | $45 | $4.50 |
| Pro | 20 | $85 | $4.25 |
| Pro | 40 | $159 | $3.98 |
| Pro | 80 | $299 | $3.74 |
| Pro | 120 | $439 | $3.66 |
| Pro | 240 | $849 | $3.54 |

Prices are in US dollars, billed monthly in advance by Stripe. Promotion codes are accepted at checkout.

## How credits work

- **Cost:** a film uses its length in seconds, and at least 30. A 45-second film uses 45 credits; a 10-second film uses 30.
- **Held, then charged:**
  - When a film is asked for, its credits are held (taken from the balance).
  - They are charged only when the film is finished.
- **Given back automatically** when a film fails, is stopped, is interrupted, or is refused.
- **A film with no result after 6 hours,** plus 45 seconds for every second of film, has its credits given back.
- **Order:** credits are spent from the batch that expires soonest.
- **Too few credits:** a film that needs more than the balance is refused before it starts ("This film needs m:ss of credit and you have m:ss").

## When credits arrive and expire

| Plan | When credits arrive | When they expire |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | 30 seconds every month, on the day of the month the account was made. They appear the first time the account is used in that month. | at the end of that month; they don't carry over |
| Standard, Pro | the plan's minutes, each time a monthly payment goes through | at the end of that billing month; they don't carry over |
| Bonus credits (given by KitCut) | when given | when stated; by default never |
| Invitation bonus ([Invite friends](https://kitcut.ai/docs/invite-friends.md)) | when an invited friend's first film is finished, or they subscribe | after 365 days (a subscriber's first-month boost: at the end of that paid month) |

A refund of credits whose batch has already expired arrives as a new batch that lasts to the end of the current month.

## Changing plans

- **Moving up** (a bigger plan or more minutes) applies at once. The difference is charged for the rest of the month, and the extra minutes are added in proportion.
- **Moving down or cancelling** takes effect at the end of the billing month. Credits already received stay until they expire.
- **When a subscription ends,** the account is on Free again, with a new free month from that day.
- **A failed payment** keeps the plan while Stripe retries.
- **Where to do it:**
  - change plans on the [pricing page](https://kitcut.ai/pricing);
  - update the card, see invoices, or cancel under **Manage billing** on the account page (Stripe's billing portal).
- **Refunds:** payments are not refunded, except where the law requires it.

![The account page's credit and plan cards: credits left, the plan with its minutes and longest film, and the billing month, with a red circle around the credits left.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/account-credits.webp "The account page shows the balance, what is held for a film being made, and what expires at renewal.")

## Priority (Pro)

- When other films are waiting, Pro films are made first at every step that waits.
- Films on the same plan are served first come, first served.
- Priority doesn't make a film faster once its turn comes.

## Inside AI assistants

Assistants connected to KitCut never show prices or plans, and never offer upgrades ([Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)). An assistant can report the balance and the longest film the plan allows.

---

# Invite friends

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/invite-friends

Every KitCut account has an invite link. When a friend joins through it and their first film is finished, **you each get 2 minutes of film.** If the friend subscribes to Standard or Pro, you also get a one-time bonus as big as their plan (up to 10 minutes), and they get 50% more minutes in their first month.

## What you and a friend get

| When | Your friend gets | You get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Their first film is finished (or they subscribe before making one) | 2:00 of film | 2:00 of film, for up to 20 friends |
| They subscribe to Standard or Pro | 50% more minutes in their first paid month, up to 10 minutes more, if they subscribe within 30 days of joining | once, as many minutes as their plan gives a month, up to 10 minutes; it arrives 14 days after their first payment |

**Examples:**
- **A friend who makes a film and stays on Free:** you each get 2:00.
- **A friend who subscribes to Standard with 5 minutes a month:**
  - they get 2:00 plus 2:30 more in their first month;
  - you get 2:00 plus 5:00.
- **A friend on Pro with 20 minutes a month:**
  - they get 2:00 plus 10:00;
  - you get 2:00 plus 10:00.

## Your link

- **Where it is:** in the **Invite friends** section of your [account page](https://kitcut.ai/docs/account.md), with **Copy link** and buttons to share it on X, WhatsApp or by email (and the phone's own share sheet, on a phone). The account menu and the Studio's sidebar both link to it.
- **Sharing a film shares your invitation:** the **Share** button under a finished film copies the film's link with your invitation in it, and films you publish to YouTube carry your link in their description.
![The account page's Invite friends section: the two offers (2:00 for you and your friend when their first film is done, up to 10:00 when a friend subscribes), the invite link with a red circle around Copy link, buttons to share on X, WhatsApp and by email, the counts (link opened, joined, made a film, subscribed, earned, on the way), and a table of friends with what each earned.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/account-invite.webp "kitcut.ai/account#invite: your link, how to share it, and what each friend earned you.")

- **What a friend sees:** the link looks like `kitcut.ai/i/abc2def`. It opens KitCut with a note that you invited them, showing your first name if you signed up with Google, or "A friend". Your email address is never shown.

![The top of KitCut's home page opened from an invite link, with a red circle around the note: Sam invited you. Sign up free and make your first film: you both get 2:00 more film. A Sign up free button sits beside it.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/invite-welcome.webp "A friend who opens your link is greeted by your first name.")

- **How long it counts:** a friend must sign up within 30 days of opening your link. If they open several people's links, the last one counts.

## When the credits arrive

- **The 2:00 for each of you** arrive the moment the friend's first film is finished, or when they first pay, if that comes first. A film that fails or is stopped does not count. You both get an email.
- **The bonus for a friend who subscribes** arrives 14 days after their first payment, if their plan is still set to renew then. If they cancel before that, there is no bonus. It lands the first time you or your friend opens KitCut after that day, and you get an email.
- **Where you see it:** the **Invite friends** section lists each friend and what they earned you:
  - "Waiting for their first film";
  - "+2:00 for you";
  - "Subscribed: +m:ss on" a date;
  - "Plan cancelled: no bonus".
- **How long they last:** invitation credits appear under **Credits received** as "Invitation bonus" and last 365 days. The first-month boost lasts that paid month, like plan credits.
- **Order:** credits are spent soonest-expiring first, so your monthly credits are used before invitation credits.

## Rules

- **New accounts only:** someone who already has a KitCut account cannot join through a link.
- **No self-invites:** another address of yours (including Gmail's dots and `+` aliases) earns nothing, and neither does a disposable email address.
- **A check by hand:** a friend who signs up from the same network or browser as you is checked before either of you is paid; it usually takes a day or two.
- **The 20-friend limit** is only on your 2:00. Friends past it still get theirs, and the bonus for friends who subscribe has no limit.
- **Refunds:** if a payment is refunded or disputed, what it earned (for either of you) is taken back.
- **Not money:** invitation credits have no cash value and cannot be transferred or exchanged. KitCut may change or end invitations; credits already received are kept until they expire. See the [terms](https://kitcut.ai/terms).
- **Only on kitcut.ai:** AI assistants connected to KitCut do not offer invitations.

---

# Your account

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/account

A KitCut account is needed to make films, and to connect YouTube channels or AI assistants; watching films needs none. Accounts have no password. People sign in with Google, or with a one-time link sent by email, and Google and email sign-in for the same address reach the same account.

## Signing in

| Way | How it works |
| --- | --- |
| Google | Google's account chooser. The Google account's email must be verified. |
| Email link | A link sent from hello@kitcut.ai. It works once and lasts 30 minutes. Up to 5 links per address and 10 per network per day. |
| 6-digit code | Only when connecting an AI assistant: the same email carries a code, which lasts 30 minutes and stops working after 5 wrong tries. |

- **Staying signed in:** 90 days on the same browser.
- **Signing out:** the **Sign out** button in the header on the home and pricing pages, or the account menu (your picture, top right) on the account page and in the Studio.
- **Age:** people under 13 may not use KitCut.

## The account page

The account page shares the Studio's layout: the bar with the credits left and the account menu, and a sidebar with **All projects**, **Account and credits** and your projects.

![The account page at kitcut.ai/account: credits left, the plan and the billing month at the top, then Invite friends with the invite link, with a red circle around the plan card.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/account.webp "kitcut.ai/account: credits, plan, films, YouTube, assistants and credit history.")

- **Credits left:** the balance, the amount held for a film being made, and the amount that expires unused at renewal.
- **Plan:**
  - the plan and its minutes a month;
  - the longest film;
  - priority on Pro;
  - renewal or end date.
  - Buttons: **See plans** / **Change plan**, and **Manage billing** (paid plans, Stripe's portal).
- **Your films:** the latest 50, each with its picture, idea (linked to its page), date, length and credits, and its status:
  - **Charged:** finished;
  - **Being made;**
  - **Refunded,** with the reason.
- **YouTube:** the connected channels ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md)). Shown only for accounts that have publishing.
- **Invite friends:** your invite link with Copy and share buttons, how many people opened it, joined, made a film and subscribed, what it has earned you, and each friend's status. See [Invite friends](https://kitcut.ai/docs/invite-friends.md).
- **Connected assistants:** each AI app connected to the account, when it was connected and last used, with Disconnect. Shown when there is at least one.
- **Credits received:** each batch (monthly free credits, plan credits, bonus credits, invitation bonuses, refunds), with its period, and what was used and what is left.

## Emails

- **KitCut sends people sign-in emails** (the link, or the code), and **notes about invitations:** a friend joined through your link, made their first film, or subscribed, and a bonus arrived.
- **There are no newsletters,** and no "your film is ready" email; the film's page shows when it is ready.
- **Payment receipts and invoices** come from Stripe.

## Your data

- **Kept while the account exists:** the account, its films and what they were made from, and roughly where you were (city, region, country) when you signed up and when you last signed in or asked for a film. The IP address itself is not kept.
- **Unused uploads** are deleted after 24 hours. See the [privacy policy](https://kitcut.ai/privacy).
- **A copy of your data, a correction, or closing the account and deleting its films:** write to hello@kitcut.ai from the account's email address. Answers come within 30 days.
- **There are no buttons yet** to delete the account or a film, or to change the account's email.

---

# Assistants (MCP)

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants

KitCut is an MCP server at `https://kitcut.ai/mcp`, so an AI assistant can make films from a chat. The person signs in to KitCut once. The assistant can then:
- start films;
- follow them;
- pass pictures and voice notes;
- bring back characters;
- report the credit balance.

Films made this way are the same films, with the same credits and limits, as on the website ([Making a film](https://kitcut.ai/docs/making-a-film.md)).

![The connect page at kitcut.ai/connect: the server address with a Copy button, and setup steps for Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Grok and other apps, with a red circle around the address.](https://kitcut.ai/docs/img/connect.webp "kitcut.ai/connect has the address and the steps for each app.")

## Connecting

| App | How |
| --- | --- |
| Claude (web, desktop, mobile) | Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. Name it KitCut, paste `https://kitcut.ai/mcp`, press Connect, sign in, press Allow. On Team and Enterprise plans an owner adds it first. |
| Claude Code | `claude mcp add --transport http kitcut https://kitcut.ai/mcp`, then `/mcp`, pick kitcut and sign in. |
| ChatGPT | Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode → Create app with `https://kitcut.ai/mcp` and OAuth; sign in and press Allow. |
| Grok | grok.com → Connectors → New connector → Custom; paste the address, choose OAuth, sign in. |
| Meta AI and other MCP clients | Any client that connects to remote MCP servers with OAuth: add the address and sign in. |

## Sign-in and connection

- **Transport:** Streamable HTTP. Every request needs a token, including listing the tools.
- **Sign-in:** OAuth 2.1 with PKCE (S256), and one scope, `films`.
  - The person signs in on KitCut's own page (Google, or a 6-digit code by email) and presses Allow. The assistant never sees the sign-in.
  - Apps register with a Client ID Metadata Document or by Dynamic Client Registration.
- **Tokens:**
  - An access token lasts 1 hour.
  - A refresh token lasts 30 days from its last use and is replaced every time it is used.
  - Reusing an old refresh token disconnects the app.
- **Disconnecting:** on the account page under "Connected assistants". The app's tokens stop working at once.
- **What KitCut receives:** only what the assistant sends on the person's behalf: the idea, the length and look, and pictures or voice notes. It never receives the conversation.

## The tools

| Tool | What it does | Inputs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `make_film` | Start an animated film from an idea. Returns at once with the film's id and link; the film takes about 8-30 minutes to make, longer for films past a minute (the answer gives an estimate), so follow it with get_film. Uses credits: one per second of film, at least 30. Add pictures by public https link (picture_urls), as files attached in ChatGPT (pictures), or by upload_ids (from open_film_maker or get_upload_link). The film is link-only unless public is true. | `idea` (string, up to 12,000 characters); `seconds` (number, 5 to 480, in steps of 5, default 30); `look` (string, one of "drawn", "painted", default "drawn"); `picture_urls` (list, at most 6); `voice_note_urls` (list, at most 3); `pictures` (list, at most 6); `upload_ids` (list, at most 9); `public` (boolean, default false) |
| `get_film` | Where one of the person's films stands: waiting, being made (and what Claude is doing), done (with the film's link and its MP4), or not finished (and whether its credits came back). wait_seconds (up to 50) waits for news before answering. | `id` (string, required); `wait_seconds` (number, 0 to 50, default 0) |
| `list_my_films` | The person's latest films, newest first: idea, look, length, status, link, whether it is public, and how its credits ended. | `limit` (number, 1 to 50, default 10) |
| `stop_film` | Stop one of the person's films while it is waiting or being made. Its credits come back. It cannot be resumed. | `id` (string, required) |
| `set_film_public` | public true: one of the person's finished films may appear in the public KitCut gallery and in search. public false: link-only again (anyone with the link can still watch it). | `id` (string, required); `public` (boolean, required) |
| `get_credits` | The person's KitCut credit: seconds of film left, the longest film their plan makes, and when credits renew. One credit is one second; every film uses at least 30. | none |
| `get_upload_link` | A link the person opens on any device (phone or computer) to add pictures and voice notes for their next film, plus a put_url an agent with a shell can upload files to (curl -T file put_url). Then list_uploads gives their upload ids for make_film. Uploads keep for a day. | none |
| `list_uploads` | Pictures and voice notes the person added in the last day that no film has used yet: their ids (for make_film upload_ids), kind, size, and a voice note's words. | none |
| `list_characters` | The characters the person's earlier films made, kept for a series: name, what they are, and how many films they were in. Name one in make_film's idea to bring them back. | none |
| `forget_character` | Leave one recurring character out of the person's next films. Films already made keep it. | `name` (string, required) |
| `browse_films` | Recent public films made with KitCut, for ideas: what each was asked for, its look and length, its link and its MP4. | `limit` (number, 1 to 12, default 6) |
| `open_film_maker` | Show the KitCut film maker in the chat: the person types or edits the idea, drops in pictures, picks the length and look, and starts the film there. Use it when they want to add pictures from their device. Hosts without a film player: use get_upload_link instead. | `idea` (string, up to 12,000 characters); `seconds` (number, 5 to 480, in steps of 5); `look` (string, one of "drawn", "painted") |
| `film_progress` (the in-chat film maker only) | The film player's own poll: a film's status and its new events since a point. | `id` (string, required); `since` (number, 0 to 9007199254740991, default 0) |
| `start_upload` (the in-chat film maker only) | The film player's own upload address for pictures the person drops in. | none |

## Rules the tools follow

- **Films are link-only by default.** A film made through an assistant stays out of the gallery and search engines, unless the person asks for it to be public (`public: true`, or `set_film_public` later).
- **Nothing is sold in the chat.** The tools never show prices or plans, and never link to them. A film longer than the plan allows is refused with the plan's own longest length and no upsell.
- **Ask before spending.** The server asks the assistant to confirm the idea, length and look before starting a film when the person hasn't said them.
- **Never claim a film is ready early.** A film takes minutes to hours ([How a film is made](https://kitcut.ai/docs/how-films-are-made.md#how-long-it-takes)). The assistant gives the film's link at once and checks on it with `get_film`.

## Pictures and voice notes from a chat

- **`picture_urls`:** public https links to pictures.
  - At most 6 links.
  - Each link must answer within 15 seconds with at most 3 redirects.
  - Each picture may be up to 8 MB.
  - Private network addresses are refused.
- **Files attached in ChatGPT:** pictures only, passed by ChatGPT.
- **`upload_ids`:** uploads made in the in-chat film maker (`open_film_maker`), or on an upload page (`get_upload_link`).
  - The upload page works on any device and takes up to 12 files for 30 minutes.
  - It also gives an address for `curl -T`.
- **Claude can't pass a picture pasted into the chat** to a tool. Use the in-chat film maker or an upload link instead.
- **Voice notes:** by link (`voice_note_urls`) or an upload page. The in-chat film maker has no recorder.
- **Limits:** the per-film limits are the website's: 6 pictures and 3 voice notes ([Limits](https://kitcut.ai/docs/limits.md)).

## Not available through assistants

- Projects in the Studio (films made through an assistant use the account's own characters).
- Publishing to YouTube.
- Plans, payments and account settings.
- Deleting a film.

---

# Limits

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/limits

Every number on this page comes from KitCut's code when the docs are built. The same numbers are at [limits.json](https://kitcut.ai/docs/limits.json), for programs.

On Free, a month's credits (30) make one film of up to 30 seconds; the longest Free film (1 minute) needs bonus credits.

| Limit | Value | Applies to |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Film length | 5 seconds to 8 minutes, in steps of 5 seconds | all plans; the longest depends on the plan |
| Longest film on Free | 1 minute | plan |
| Longest film on Standard | 1 minute | plan |
| Longest film on Pro | 8 minutes | plan |
| Credits a film uses | its length in seconds, at least 30 | all plans |
| Free credits | 30 seconds of film a month | Free |
| Idea (typed text) | 3 to 12,000 characters; may be empty when there are pictures or voice notes | per film |
| Looks | hand-drawn, painted | per film |
| Films being made at once | 1 | per account |
| Films asked for per day | 5 | per account, failed ones included |
| Films waiting for a turn | 5 | the whole service |
| Pictures | 6 per film; jpeg, png, webp | per film |
| Voice notes | 3 per film, up to 3 minutes each | per film |
| Upload size through kitcut.ai | 4.4 MB | per file |
| Uploads per day | 60 files or 120 MB | per account |
| Unused uploads kept | 24 hours | per upload |
| Characters a new film starts with | up to 24, the most recently used | per account or project |
| Earlier films a new film may look at | 5 | per account or project |
| Versions kept of a character | 5 | per character |
| Projects | 20 open, 100 in all (archived included) | per account |
| Project name / brief | 80 / 2,000 characters | per project |
| Project pictures | 6 | per project |
| YouTube publishes | 20 per day | per account |
| Video | 1920x1080, H.264 (MP4) | every film |
| Frame rate on Free | 30 frames a second | plan |
| Frame rate on Standard | 60 frames a second | plan |
| Frame rate on Pro | 60 frames a second | plan |

## By film length

What a film of each length gets while it is made:
- **Claude's working time.** Waiting in the queue does not count against it.
- **The most paintings** a painted film may use, repaints included.
- **The most narration sentences.**

| Film length | Claude's working time | Paintings (painted look) | Narration sentences |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 10 seconds | 20 minutes | 8 | 6 |
| 30 seconds | 23 minutes | 8 | 12 |
| 1 minute | 31 minutes | 8 | 12 |
| 2 minutes | 46 minutes | 12 | 24 |
| 4 minutes | 76 minutes | 12 | 48 |
| 8 minutes | 136 minutes | 24 | 96 |

## What happens at a limit

| Limit reached | What the person sees |
| --- | --- |
| Film longer than the plan allows | The length can't be picked; the slider's track is locked past the plan's longest film. Through an assistant: "Films on this plan can be up to …". |
| Not enough credits | "Not enough credits" on the button; the film is not started and nothing is taken. |
| A film is already being made | The new film is refused until the first is finished. |
| 5 films today | New films are refused until the next day. |
| Too many films waiting | "The queue is full"; try again in a few minutes. |
| The day's capacity is used | "The studio has made all the films it can today"; try again tomorrow. No credits are taken. |
| Idea too long | The page shows how many characters to cut. |
| More than 6 pictures or 3 voice notes | The buttons stop adding more. |
| A voice note reaches 3:00 | Recording stops and the note is attached. |

---

# What KitCut doesn't do

Updated 2026-09-27. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/not-supported

KitCut makes animated films, drawn or painted, with narration and music, from an idea. This page lists what it doesn't do, so nobody is promised it. "Not yet" marks things that may come later; the rest are outside what KitCut is.

## The picture

- **No camera footage or video clips.** A film can't be made from, or include, a video someone uploads. Pictures are the only visual material a film takes, and they are shown as still images, not animated.
- **No video-generation model.** Films are drawn or painted and animated in code, not generated as video. Photorealistic motion of real people is not possible.
- **16:9 only.** No vertical (9:16) or square films; a film can't be made directly as a TikTok, Reel or Short. Not yet.
- **No choosing a drawing style from a list.** There are two looks; inside them Claude chooses the style, which the idea can steer in words ([Looks](https://kitcut.ai/docs/looks.md)).
- **The painter takes no reference picture.** A painted scene can't copy a person's photo or keep a character exactly the same between paintings.
- **No lettering inside paintings.** Words appear drawn on top of them.
- **On-screen text in Latin and Cyrillic alphabets only.** No Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi or Thai script on screen.

## The sound

- **No songs or sung vocals.** The music is instrumental, played on sampled instruments.
- **No choosing a voice or a music track from a list.** Describe the voice or the music in the idea, and Claude picks.
- **No uploading your own music or voice-over.** A voice note is written out as text for Claude to read; the recording is never used in the film's sound.
- **No cloned voices.** The narrator is one of the voice model's own voices. A line the voice model refuses to read is read by a backup voice (ElevenLabs), which sounds a little different.

## Length and timing

- **At most 8 minutes,** and only on Pro. Standard and Free go to 1 minute.
- **The length is fixed before the film is made,** in steps of 5 seconds; Claude times the film to it.
- **No guaranteed delivery time.** A film takes minutes to hours depending on its length and the queue ([How a film is made](https://kitcut.ai/docs/how-films-are-made.md#how-long-it-takes)).

## After a film is made

- **No editing a finished film,** and no "change this scene" or re-render of the same film. Make a new film; its characters, look, voice and music can come back. Not yet.
- **No download button on the website.** An assistant can give the full-quality file's address (`download_url`). Not yet.
- **No deleting a film or an account from the website.** Write to hello@kitcut.ai. Not yet.
- **No making a website film link-only from the website.** Only an assistant's `set_film_public` switches it. Not yet.
- **No subtitles in the website's player.** The video file carries them, off by default. Not yet.

## Everything else

- **No questions back.** Claude doesn't ask the person anything while it works; it decides, and says in its notes what it left out.
- **No web research.** Claude doesn't look anything up; the film is made from the idea and its attachments.
- **No team or shared accounts.** An account is one person's, and so are its characters and projects.
- **No film-ready email or other notifications.** The film's page shows progress.
- **No public API** other than the MCP server for AI assistants ([Assistants](https://kitcut.ai/docs/assistants.md)).
- **YouTube is the only place a film can be published to** from KitCut, and that is limited for now ([Publishing to YouTube](https://kitcut.ai/docs/youtube.md)).

---

# Changes

Updated 2026-09-28. Web page: https://kitcut.ai/docs/changes

What changed in KitCut, newest first. Dates are UTC.

## 2026-09-28

- **One header on every page:** the home page, pricing, the docs, connect, privacy and terms share one header and footer at one width, so the logo and the account links no longer move when you go from page to page. The header shows the same links everywhere: Pricing, Studio, your account and Sign out (or Sign in).
- **Invite friends:** every account has an invite link. When a friend joins through it and their first film is finished, you each get 2 minutes of film; when a friend subscribes, you also get a bonus as big as their plan (up to 10 minutes) and they get 50% more minutes in their first month. See [Invite friends](https://kitcut.ai/docs/invite-friends.md).
- **KitCut now runs behind Cloudflare,** and an account keeps roughly where it signs in from (city, region, country; never the IP address). See the [privacy policy](https://kitcut.ai/privacy).
- **The length slider starts at 30 seconds** (was 10). A film uses at least 30 credits however short it is, so 30 seconds is what the credits already buy.
- **The account page has the Studio's look:** the same bar and account menu, a sidebar with your projects, and a picture beside each film.
- **Frame rate by plan:** Free films are now made at 30 frames a second; Standard and Pro films stay at 60, for smoother motion. Every film is still 1920x1080.
- **Lighter videos:** every film now plays from a web copy of about 5 megabits a second (an 8-minute film is about 300 MB instead of 2.2 GB), so films start and skip ahead quickly. The full-quality file is kept for downloads and YouTube.
- **Films fit who they are for:** Claude first decides who a film is for and its mood, and makes it look professionally made for that audience. A documentary, a hospital explainer or a staff announcement no longer comes out looking like a children's cartoon; a bedtime story still looks like one. KitCut's instructions to Claude no longer prescribe any style, so the look is Claude's choice for each film, or yours in the idea.

## 2026-09-27

- **A backup voice:** a narration line Gemini refuses to read (its content filter can block a name or a topic) is read by ElevenLabs instead of being reworded. The rest of the narration stays Gemini's.
- **Long films get room to work:** more narration recordings (16 for an 8-minute film) and drum parts as long as the film.
- **The gallery lists every finished public film,** not only the newest 12.
- **Every film gets a lighter web copy** that its page plays; assistants also give the full-quality file to download.
- **These docs,** including [How KitCut compares](https://kitcut.ai/docs/compared.md), with [llms.txt](https://kitcut.ai/llms.txt), [llms-full.txt](https://kitcut.ai/llms-full.txt) and [limits.json](https://kitcut.ai/docs/limits.json).
- **Pro films can be up to 8 minutes** (were 2). Standard stays at 1 minute; Free is up to 1 minute, and a month's free credits make one 30-second film.
- **Ideas can be up to 12,000 characters** (were 4,000).
- **A long film's credits are held longer** (6 hours plus 45 seconds per second of film), so a long film that waited in the queue is still charged correctly.
- **Painted films between 2 and 4 minutes get at least 12 paintings.**
- **Publishing to YouTube:** a finished film can be sent to your own channel. Access is limited for now.
- **Assistants:** KitCut's MCP server at `https://kitcut.ai/mcp` works with Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Meta AI and other MCP clients. Films made there are link-only by default.
- **Projects in the Studio** (kitcut.ai/studio): a series with its own brief, characters and pictures.
- **Privacy policy and terms** published.

## 2026-09-26

- **kitcut.ai opened:** accounts (Google or email link), credits, the Free, Standard and Pro plans, the account page and pricing.
- **Pictures and voice notes** can be added to an idea.
- **Every film uses at least 30 credits** (was 10).
- **Characters that come back:** Claude keeps the characters it draws for the same person's later films.