Video Chapters

A macOS app for adding chapter sidebars to your videos — with customizable themes, multi-clip timelines, and frame-accurate trimming.

Check out the app

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Watch the demo to see how it works

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Inspiration

The idea came from watching YC interviews where chapter navigation appears as a sidebar overlay on the video — making it easy for viewers to jump between topics.

Features

• Multi-clip timelines — Import and arrange multiple video files into a single sequence
• Frame-accurate trimming — Set precise in/out points with keyboard shortcuts (I/O keys)
• Chapter sections — Add titled chapters with start times that sync across your timeline
• Customizable sidebar themes — Four presets (Classic, Light, Midnight, Warm) or fully custom colors
• Overlay or side-by-side — Render the sidebar on top of the video or as a separate column
• Multiple export codecs — H.264, HEVC, ProRes 422 with configurable quality
• Project library — Manage multiple projects with auto-save

Tech Stack

• SwiftUI + AVFoundation
• macOS 14.0+ (Sonoma)
• Core Graphics rendering pipeline for sidebar compositing

Building from Source

1. Clone the repo
2. Open VideoChapters.xcodeproj in Xcode 16+
3. Build and run (Cmd+R)

For the AI testing pipeline (optional):

1. Copy tools/config.env.example to tools/config.env
2. Add your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
3. Run ./tools/run-pipeline.sh

License

MIT