Editing with Klyssa

Getting started

Klyssa is a local-first video editor. Your media and projects stay on your machine — nothing is uploaded and you don't need an account to start editing.

You can use Klyssa two ways: the desktop app (macOS today, with Linux and Windows coming) for full, FFmpeg-powered export, or the browser demo to try the editor instantly. A few heavier tools — reverse, freeze frame, stabilization, captions, and final export — run only in the desktop app, since they rely on bundled FFmpeg.

The window is split into the media panel (left), the preview (center), the inspector (right), and the timeline (bottom).

Importing media

Click Import in the media panel to add video, images, or audio, or drag files in. Imported clips show in your library with a thumbnail and duration.

Adding to the timeline

• Click an asset (or press Enter) to append it to the end of its track.
• Drag an asset onto the timeline to drop it at a specific spot.
• Use the insert (,) and overwrite (.) actions on the asset card — or the keyboard — to place the selected asset at the playhead.

For large or 4K sources, Klyssa can generate a 720p proxy so scrubbing stays smooth; your export still uses the full-quality original.

Timeline editing

The timeline is multi-track, with typed lanes for video, overlays, text, and audio. Drag clips to move them, drag their edges to trim.

Core moves

• Split a clip at the playhead with S, or toggle the blade tool with B.
• Snapping aligns edges and the playhead; the magnetic timelineripples later clips so gaps don't open.
• Reverse and freeze framelive in the Inspector's Clip tools (and the clip's right-click menu). Reverse re-renders the clip backwards; freeze frame holds the current frame as a still.
• Cropa clip from the Inspector's Crop section — the kept region is reframed to fill the canvas.

Animate position, scale, rotation, opacity, and color with keyframes, and drag the transform handles right on the preview.

Text & captions

Press T to add a text clip, then style it in the Inspector — font, size, alignment, outline, background, and shadow.

Captions are generated on-device with Whisper: Klyssa transcribes your audio locally and drops editable caption clips on the timeline. You can also export an SRT or VTT sidecar.

Effects & color

The effect library offers 14 stackable cinematic looks — B&W, Vintage, Cinematic, Vignette, Glow, Film Grain, Chromatic Aberration and more. Stack, reorder, and tune them per clip; the preview always matches the export.

• Color: brightness, contrast, saturation, white balance (temperature/tint), plus grayscale and sepia.
• Transitions: crossfade/dissolve plus motion transitions (slide, push, wipe, iris, zoom).
• Stabilization: smooth camera shake with a two-pass analysis (desktop).
• Compositing: blend modes, chroma/luma key, and a blurred background fill for verticals.

AI tools

AI in Klyssa is something you direct. Much of it runs on-device (captions, background removal); the rest is pay-as-you-go — top up Klyssa credits or plug in your own provider key. There is never a subscription.

• AI assistant — edit your timeline with natural language; it acts through tool-calls.
• Generation— images/stickers, voiceover, and music & sound effects, placed straight into your project.
• Background removal — real-time, on-device segmentation via ONNX + WebGPU.
• Silence removal and Auto-Shorts — trim dead air and turn long recordings into vertical highlights.

Exporting

Open the export dialog to render your project. Klyssa exports WebM (VP9/Opus) by default and offers hardware-accelerated H.264, with clean 1080p presets and no watermark.

• Export a specific timeline range, or an optimized animated GIF.
• Export with transparency (ProRes 4444 / VP9) for overlays.
• Normalize loudness to ~-14 LUFS for TikTok, Reels, and Shorts.

Export runs in the desktop app, powered by bundled FFmpeg. Because the preview pipeline mirrors the export filtergraph, what you see is what you get.

Keyboard shortcuts

The essentials — press ? in the app for the full list.

FAQ

Do I need an account?

No. You can download and edit with zero sign-up. An account is only needed for optional Klyssa AI credits.

Is my footage uploaded anywhere?

No. Klyssa edits files where they live on your disk. On-device AI stays local; only the optional cloud AI features send the specific request you make.

Is there a watermark or export limit?

No watermark and no locked resolution. What you make is yours.

Which platforms are supported?

The desktop app launches on macOS, with Linux on the way and Windows to follow. A browser demo is available to try the editor now.