How to Create AI Videos with Claude Code + Remotion

What is Remotion?

Remotion is a free tool that creates videos using code. But you don't need to know how to code. Claude writes all of it for you.

Normally, making a video means learning CapCut, Premiere Pro, or After Effects. With Remotion + Claude Code, you describe what you want in plain English, and Claude builds an animated video from scratch. Text animations, transitions, charts, overlays, captions. All created automatically.

I use it to create all my short-form content. Reels, TikToks, explainer videos. I describe the video, Claude builds it, I preview it, tweak anything I want, and export. The whole process takes minutes.

What You Can Create

Here are six types of video you can make. All from a text prompt. No camera needed.

Install Remotion

Two steps. Takes about two minutes. You need Claude Code installed first (if you haven't done that yet, grab my setup guide at reallyusefulai.co/guides).

Step 1: Install the Remotion skill. Open your workspace in VS Code, open the terminal (the text panel at the bottom -- go to Terminal > New Terminal if you don't see it), and run:

What this does: It downloads the Remotion skill from Remotion's official page on GitHub (a website where developers share code). A "skill" here is a set of instructions that teaches Claude Code how to write Remotion code correctly. Without it, Claude can still try, but with the skill installed, it knows the right way to build videos.

• 2Restart Claude Code. Close your current Claude Code session and start a new one. Type claude in the terminal. When it starts, it should detect the Remotion skill automatically.

Your First Video (Copy-Paste Prompt)

Let's make a 30-second animated explainer. Copy this prompt, paste it into Claude Code, and change the topic to whatever you want.

What happens next:

• 1Claude writes a script. It presents a scene-by-scene plan with headlines, visuals, and timing. You can give feedback or approve it.
• 2Claude builds the video. This takes 2 to 5 minutes for a 30-second video. You'll see files being created in your sidebar.
• 3Remotion Studio opens. A preview window launches in your browser at localhost:3000. You can scrub through the video frame by frame, check every scene, and see how it looks.
• 4Give feedback. Don't like the colours? Say "make it darker." Text too small? Say "make the headlines bigger." Want a different animation? Just describe what you want. Claude edits and you preview again.

The Remotion Studio (Preview + Export)

Remotion Studio is where you watch your video and save the final file. It opens in your web browser automatically.

How to open it: Claude usually launches it for you. If it doesn't, run this in your terminal:

It opens at localhost:3000 in your browser. Here's what you'll see:

• 1Left sidebar: A list of all the videos in your project. If you've made multiple videos, they all show up here. Click one to watch it.
• 2Main area: The video preview. You can see the current frame. Drag the timeline bar at the bottom to move through the video and check every moment.
• 3Right sidebar: Settings you can change visually. If Claude set up the video with editable options (like colours, text, or timing), you can tweak them here with sliders and colour pickers.
• 4Render button: In the bottom-right corner. Click it to save your final video file. Choose your format (MP4 is the default), click Render, and wait for it to finish. A 30-second video typically takes 30-60 seconds to render.

6 Video Types With Copy-Paste Prompts

Each prompt is ready to use. Change the bits in [brackets]. All produce vertical 9:16 videos for Reels and TikTok.

1. Educational Explainer (no footage needed)

2. Product Demo from a URL (Claude scrapes the website)

3. Talking Head with Overlays (use your own video)

4. Data Visualisation (from a CSV or described data)

5. Google Reviews Testimonial (Claude pulls the reviews)

6. AI Voiceover Explainer (no recording needed)

Add Your Own Footage

This is how I make most of my content. I film a quick talking head on my phone, then Claude adds everything else: titles, captions, graphics, transitions.

• 1Film yourself. Use your phone. Vertical (portrait mode). Doesn't need to be fancy. Just talk to the camera about your topic. 30 to 60 seconds is ideal.
• 2Move the video file into your project. Copy the file into the public/ folder inside your Remotion project. This is where Remotion looks for media files. Rename it to something simple like my-video.mp4.
• 3Tell Claude what to do with it:

What Claude does: It pulls out the audio, runs it through a transcription tool called Whisper (free, built by OpenAI) to figure out what you're saying and when, then builds animated overlays timed to your speech. Captions appear word by word. Graphics pop up when you mention key points. It positions captions so they don't cover your face.

Built-in Extras You Should Know About

Remotion has a lot more packed in than most people realise. Here are the features worth knowing about.

• 1Sound effects. Remotion comes with built-in sound effects: whoosh, whip, ding, page turn, shutter click, mouse click, and more. Just tell Claude "add a whoosh sound when the title appears" and it knows exactly how to do it.
• 2Google Fonts. Every Google Font is available. Say "use the Poppins font" or "use a bold serif font" and Claude will load it. No downloading or installing fonts manually.
• 3Transitions between scenes. Fade, slide, wipe, flip, clock wipe. Tell Claude which transition you want between scenes, or let it choose. They're built into the Remotion skill.
• 4Auto-generated captions. If you provide a video or audio file, Claude can transcribe it and create perfectly timed captions. No need to type them out manually.
• 5Charts and graphs. Animated bar charts, pie charts, line graphs, doughnut charts. Give Claude your numbers and it builds animated data visualisations. Great for industry stats and reports.
• 6Light leak effects. Cinematic light leak overlays that give your video a polished, professional feel. Just say "add light leak effects" and Claude layers them in.
• 73D elements. Remotion supports a 3D graphics library called Three.js, which means Claude can add 3D rotating objects, product spins, or abstract 3D backgrounds to your videos. You don't need to know anything about 3D -- just describe what you want.
• 8Live web screenshots. If you have the Claude browser extension, Claude can visit any website, take a screenshot, and drop it straight into your video. Tell it "visit [URL] and take a screenshot for the demo scene" and it grabs a real, current image of the site. No need to screenshot anything yourself.
• 9Lottie animations. If you have Lottie animation files (these are lightweight animation files, common in design tools like LottieFiles), Remotion can use them directly in your video.

Tips, Templates, and Publishing

Things I've learned from making videos with Remotion every week.

• 1Start short. 30-second videos build in 2 to 3 minutes. Longer videos take longer and are harder to get right. Start with 30 seconds for social media and work up from there once you're comfortable.
• 2Always ask for the script first. Don't let Claude build the video straight away. Ask it to write and present the script first. Review it. Give feedback. Then say "go ahead and build it." This saves a lot of back-and-forth.
• 3Use the self-review loop. After Claude builds a video, add this to your prompt: "Take a screenshot every 5 seconds. Review each screenshot. Fix any issues with text being cut off, animations looking wrong, or spacing that feels off." Claude catches things you'd miss.
• 4Iterate the design, not the content. Get the content right first (script, structure, key points). Then iterate on the visual design: colours, fonts, animation speed, layout. Trying to change both at once is slower.
• 5Build one reusable template. This is where you save the most time long-term. Spend time getting one video looking exactly how you want it: your colours, your fonts, your caption style, your intro and outro. Then tell Claude: "Save this as a template so we can reuse the same style for future videos." Once Claude knows your brand, every video after that takes a fraction of the time.
• 6Publish straight to social media. If you use Blotato for scheduling, you can install the Blotato MCP server (a plugin that connects Claude Code to Blotato) and post directly from Claude Code. Just say "schedule this video to Instagram in 30 minutes." Claude uploads the video, writes the caption, and schedules it. You never leave VS Code.
• 7Let Claude fact-check itself. If your video mentions stats, tools, or links, tell Claude: "Go through this video and verify every stat, link, and claim is accurate. Fix anything that's wrong." Claude will check each one and correct any errors before you publish.
• 8Use voice dictation for feedback. Instead of typing "make the title bigger and change the background to dark blue", just say it out loud. On Mac, press Fn twice. On Windows, press Windows + H. Faster than typing, especially for design feedback.

Formats, Sizes, and Exporting

Quick reference for dimensions and export formats.

Dimensions (tell Claude which one you want):

• 9:161080 x 1920 -- Vertical. Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts. This is what I use for almost everything.
• 16:91920 x 1080 -- Horizontal. YouTube videos, presentations, webinars.
• 1:11080 x 1080 -- Square. LinkedIn posts, Twitter/X videos.

Export formats:

• 1MP4 (H.264) -- The default. Works everywhere. Use this unless you have a specific reason not to.
• 2WebM -- Smaller file size. Good if you need to keep files small. Also supports transparent backgrounds.
• 3ProRes -- Very high quality but large files. Use this only if you need to import into another video editor like Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.
• 4GIF -- Animated GIFs. Good for short loops, thumbnails, or social previews.
• 5Still image (PNG) -- Export a single frame as an image. Great for thumbnails or social cards.

To export: Either click the Render button in Remotion Studio, or just tell Claude: "Render the video as an MP4." The file appears in your project's out/ folder.