Frequently asked questions

What RoughCut produces

What exactly do I get out of RoughCut?

One file: a frame-accurate FCPXML timeline. Import it into Final Cut Pro and your rough cut appears, linked to your original footage. With the Pro annotated review timeline turned on, you get a second FCPXML as well, in which nothing is deleted and every decision is a colour-coded clip. RoughCut never re-renders or re-encodes your video — the edit is a set of cut decisions, not a new video file. See Export and import FCPXML.

Do I need Final Cut Pro?

You need an editor that imports FCPXML. RoughCut is built for Final Cut Pro; the exported file also imports into DaVinci Resolve. Premiere Pro requires XML conversion first. RoughCut exports an editable timeline. Preview the assembled edit and render the final movie in your target editor. See system requirements.

What kind of videos work best?

Talking-head, voice-driven recordings: tutorials, courses, vlogs, podcasts, and presentations to camera. That is what the editing pass is tuned for. Music-driven and multi-camera edits are not the target.

Which languages are supported?

English and Arabic are tuned and tested for both transcription and editing. The on-device model understands many more languages, so others often work, without an editing-quality guarantee. See system requirements.

Can I make a rough cut from just an audio file?

Yes. In New Rough Cut, drop a WAV, MP3 or M4A, or choose Browse Audio…, and Process creates an audio timeline you can import into Final Cut Pro, with the same cutting controls and the optional review timeline. If you also select a video, the audio is used for analysis and the timeline references the video. See Choose video and audio inputs.

Can I just transcribe without cutting?

Yes. Choose Transcribe Only in the sidebar. It exports SRT subtitles or plain text, needs no AI key, is never gated by purchase, and never consumes one of your included rough cuts. See Use Transcribe Only.

Keys, costs, and privacy

Why do I need my own API key?

The AI editing pass — removing retakes, false starts, and tangents — runs on OpenAI, Gemini or Claude under your own account. You bring the key, your provider bills you directly, and RoughCut has no servers in between. OpenAI is the default for new installations; Gemini and Claude are also available in Settings, and existing choices are preserved. See Choose OpenAI, Gemini or Claude.

What happens if I add no key at all?

RoughCut still removes silences and long pauses using on-device analysis only. You lose bad-take and tangent removal, nothing else. Turn Bad-take removal off for this mode.

How much does a video cost to process?

There is no fixed price per video. The model, transcript length, reasoning level and extra passes determine API usage; your provider bills your key at its published rates and RoughCut adds no markup. Help → API Costs in the app shows a dated example for the default model and links to current OpenAI, Gemini and Claude rates, and Choose Model & Estimate… in Settings estimates a job from assumptions you can edit — a planning figure, not a quote or a cap. On-device transcription has no API charge. Longer recordings cost more, and Second Look adds another call. See Choose OpenAI, Gemini or Claude.

What is the reasoning level?

Some OpenAI and Claude models let you choose how long the model thinks before it answers. Settings → Choose Model & Estimate… lists the levels your model supports. Default keeps RoughCut's tested setting. Higher levels are slower and cost more, and they do not always cut better, so compare on a recording you know. Gemini has no level control in RoughCut. See Choose a reasoning level.

Is my footage uploaded anywhere?

Your video is never uploaded. On-device transcription, the default, uploads nothing. The AI editing pass sends transcript text only. The single feature that sends audio is Pro Cloud transcription, and only for a job where you explicitly select it, and only to OpenAI under your own key. See Privacy and data flow.

Where are my API keys stored?

In the macOS Keychain, encrypted by the system — never in a settings file, never in an exported configuration. Each key is sent only to the provider it belongs to: OpenAI, Google or Anthropic.

Trial, purchase, and Pro

How does the free trial work?

Your first five completed rough cuts are included, with no account and no time limit, and every Pro feature is included in them — Smart Silence, Cloud transcription, Second Look, and the annotated review timeline. Failed and cancelled jobs do not count, and Transcribe Only never counts. After the five, a one-time purchase unlocks the core app forever and Pro becomes an optional subscription. See Trial, core unlock, and RoughCut Pro.

Will I be charged monthly?

Not for the app. The unlock is a one-time Mac App Store purchase and the core app is never a subscription. RoughCut Pro is a separate, optional subscription for convenience features, and the app works fully without it.

What does Pro add?

Smart Silence, Cloud transcription, Second Look, the annotated review timeline for Final Cut Pro, goal summarising, and future Pro features. All of them are included in your first five cuts. Everything core — the recording-environment presets, on-device transcription, bad-take removal, review, recompute, and export — works without Pro.

What is Smart Silence?

A Pro feature that measures your recording's actual noise floor and picks the silence threshold for you, instead of you choosing a preset or a dB value. The value it chose is shown on the finished job. The manual presets stay free. See recording environments.

What is Second Look?

A Pro feature that re-reads the footage that survived the first editing pass, where leftover retakes and false starts are easier to spot, and removes only high-confidence cases. Borderline proposals become review suggestions you apply with one click — never silent deletions. If it fails, your standard cut is untouched. See Second Look.

What is the annotated review timeline?

A Pro export where nothing is deleted. Alongside the cleaned cut, RoughCut writes a second FCPXML in which every decision stays on the Final Cut Pro timeline as a colour-coded clip — RC Retake, RC False Start, RC Tangent, RC Filler, RC Noise, RC Suggestion, and RC Silence if you ask for silences — named with its confidence, with the reason in its notes and a to-do marker. Search a role in the Timeline Index, select all, and press Delete to remove a whole category at once; delete every coloured clip and what remains is the cleaned cut, frame for frame. See Review every cut in Final Cut Pro.

How do I cancel Pro, or get a refund?

Subscriptions are managed in your App Store settings, and Apple handles billing, cancellation, and refunds. Use Apple's billing support for payment questions.

Working with cuts

Can I change what it decided to cut?

Yes. Every finished job lists every cut with its transcript, category, and confidence. Play any range to hear it, flip any decision, then click Recompute Cuts — the timeline is rebuilt without re-transcribing or calling the AI again. See Review the cut on the timeline.

Do I have to export again after recomputing?

Yes. A file you already exported does not update itself. RoughCut tells you so with Cut list recomputed — re-export the FCPXML. See Recompute.

How long does a job take?

Transcription is the longest measured stage. The AI stage that follows shows an animated indicator and the real elapsed time instead of a percentage, because the provider does not report one; longer recordings and extra passes can take several minutes there. RoughCut does not publish processing-time guarantees, because it depends on your Mac, the recording length, and which features are on. See Understand job progress.

Does RoughCut remember my settings?

Yes. New Rough Cut opens with the settings you used last time — recording environment, transcription source, the toggles, and the Fine-tune pickers — and says so under the controls. The media and the video goal are never remembered, and a Pro option is not pre-selected while Pro is unavailable to you. Click Reset to clear the media and go back to the defaults; the remembered settings are forgotten. See Create your first rough cut.

Final Cut says my media is offline after import.

The exported timeline references your original file where it was when the job ran. Do not move, rename, or delete it before importing. If you already did, use File → Relink Files in Final Cut Pro.

Final Cut Pro workflow

Can I send files straight from Final Cut Pro?

Yes, with a one-time share destination. When a file arrives RoughCut asks whether to transcribe it or make a rough cut — for audio files as well as video. See Send media from Final Cut Pro.

How do I get the transcript back as captions?

Export SRT from a finished transcription, then in Final Cut Pro choose File → Import → Captions. See Export SRT captions.

Setup and advanced

The model download is stuck — can I install it manually?

Yes. Use Copy download link in Settings → Models & Data, download the file in a browser, then use Import model file…. See Install the local speech model.

What is the Evaluation section for?

Since RoughCut 1.9.2 there is no Evaluation section in the App Store build — it is development-only, as are the golden-set folder picker and the Evals settings group. It was an optional power-user tool that measured how closely RoughCut's automatic cuts match reference edits you provide; everyday use never needed it. See Evaluate RoughCut against your own edits.

What is Langfuse and do I need it?

Optional third-party tracing, off by default and completely inert without your own keys. You do not need it for any editing feature. See Connect Langfuse tracing.

Where do I get help?

Start with Troubleshooting by symptom or the error reference. If neither resolves it, contact support.