CUTROOM on Mac

Mac Beta · Apple Silicon and Intel · macOS 15 or later

  1. Extract the entire Mac ZIP. If you downloaded the combined Windows/Mac ZIP, open its mac folder first. Keep the launcher and App folder together in a writable location, such as Documents.
  2. Double-click START CUTROOM.command. Terminal shows setup progress and opens the editor in your browser.
  3. On the first run, review the listed downloads and type yes to install them. This may take several minutes. Keep Terminal open until setup finishes.

The runtime is installed in App/.venv. Setup does not download AI models. Once setup is complete, launching CUTROOM and editing local media work offline; models need to be installed before using their AI features offline.

If macOS blocks the launcher

This beta launcher is a shell script and is not a notarized Mac application. If you trust this download, try Control-click → Open. If your macOS version does not offer that option, use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway for this launcher after attempting to open it. See Apple’s instructions for opening an app from an unidentified developer.

If the archive utility did not preserve executable permissions, open Terminal, type /bin/bash (including the space), drag START CUTROOM.command from Finder into Terminal, and press Return. Dragging the file safely fills in its path, including spaces.

If Python or FFmpeg is missing

The launcher can install dependencies through an existing Homebrew installation after you approve. It never installs Homebrew itself or requests administrator access.

If you do not have Homebrew, follow the instructions on its official website. Then open Terminal and run:

brew install python@3.12 ffmpeg@7

Double-click the CUTROOM launcher again. FFmpeg 7 includes the libass subtitles filter, H.264 encoder, and AAC encoder that CUTROOM checks before starting. CUTROOM discovers its private Homebrew location without changing global links.

This beta also checks the rendering options it needs. FFmpeg 9 removed some of them, so a newer FFmpeg installation may be incompatible. The launcher uses ffmpeg@7 when installed and asks before installing it when needed. If you set custom FFmpeg paths, an incompatible override must be corrected or unset before starting.

Existing native Python 3.11 or 3.12 installations from python.org also work. Python 3.13 and later are not supported by this beta. Advanced users may set CUTROOM_PYTHON, CUTROOM_FFMPEG, and CUTROOM_FFPROBE to full executable paths before starting from Terminal.

Optional local AI

Install Ollama for Mac and place it in Applications for local AI editing. CUTROOM finds its application binary automatically. Choose models in CUTROOM when you are ready; model downloads can be large. Transcription currently runs on the Mac CPU and can take time on long videos. Manual editing does not require Ollama.

Stopping, moving, and troubleshooting

Keep the Terminal window open while using CUTROOM. Press Control-C in that window to stop its server. CUTROOM does not stop an Ollama service used by other apps.

If setup fails, the Terminal window keeps the error visible. Check your internet connection and free disk space, then run the launcher again. Repairs require approval before downloading packages. Your projects live in App/data by default; keep that folder when updating or moving the package.

If you move CUTROOM and its Python environment no longer works, close CUTROOM, rename App/.venv to .venv-old, and run the launcher to create a new environment. Your project files stay in App/data.