# Cut Silences

Agent 1 of the video editing pipeline.

- Repository: https://github.com/nateherkai/herk-edit-kit (2482 stars)
- Category: AI and agents
- License: see repository
- Last updated: 2026-10-14
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill cut-silences -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill cut-silences -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill cut-silences -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add nateherkai/herk-edit-kit --skill cut-silences -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Agent 1 of the video editing pipeline. Removes silences and dead air from a talking-head recording. Use when asked to cut silences, trim pauses, remove dead air / gaps, or tighten the pacing of a raw video, given a word-level transcript. Produces an edit list (EDL), a re-timed transcript for downstream agents, and optionally the cut video via ffmpeg. Does NOT cut mistakes, repeats, or false starts, that is the cut-mistakes agent.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Cut Silences (Pipeline Agent 1)

First step of the automated edit. Takes a raw recording + its word-level transcript and removes **only silence**: dead air before the first word and after the last word, plus inter-word pauses longer than a threshold (trimmed down to a natural breath, never a hard zero-gap). It leaves the speaker's words untouched, false starts, retakes, and stutters are the **cut-mistakes** agent's job (Agent 2).

This agent is deterministic and transcript-driven, so its output (`*.silence-transcript.json`) feeds cleanly into the next agents and the beat-sync validator.

## When to use

- "cut the silences", "trim the pauses", "remove dead air", "tighten the pacing"
- As the first stage of the master edit workflow, right after transcription.

## Prerequisites

A word-level transcript JSON. Either the ElevenLabs Scribe shape
(`{ words: [{ text, start, end, type }], audio_duration_secs }`) or a generic
`{ words: [{ text, start, end }] }`. Generate one with the workspace transcriber:

```bash
node scripts/transcribe-elevenlabs.mjs path/to/raw.mp4    # -> path/to/raw.json
```

## Usage

```bash
# 1) Plan only, compute the cut, write EDL + re-timed transcript (no video touched)
node .agents/skills/cut-silences/scripts/cut-silences.mjs <transcript.json> \
  --out-dir video-projects/<slug>/assets

# 2) With a video, also write the ffmpeg command (still does not render yet)
node .agents/skills/cut-silences/scripts/cut-silences.mjs <transcript.json> \
  --video video-projects/<slug>/assets/raw.mp4 --out-dir video-projects/<slug>/assets

# 3) Render the cut video (local ffmpeg, re-encode, A/V kept in sync)
#    add --apply to actually run ffmpeg
node .agents/skills/cut-silences/scripts/cut-silences.mjs <transcript.json> \
  --video video-projects/<slug>/assets/raw.mp4 --apply \
  --output video-projects/<slug>/assets/edited-silenced.mp4
```

### Options

The rest: https://github.com/nateherkai/herk-edit-kit/blob/HEAD/.agents/skills/cut-silences/SKILL.md