SaneVideo for macOS

The Professional Video Recording & Editing App for macOS

SaneVideo is a native macOS video recording and editing app. No subscriptions. Local recording, editing, and export run on your Mac.

Last updated: 2026-10-17 Current direct release: 1.1.0

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Why SaneVideo?

Video editing shouldn't require a subscription, a PhD, or surrendering your privacy.

Most tools fall into two traps: bloated professionals that overwhelm everyday creators, or subscription services that rent you tools while harvesting your data. SaneVideo takes a different path.

	The Problem	The Sane Way
Power	Cloud-dependent, vendor-controlled	Your video, your Mac, your rules
Love	Built to extract (subscriptions, upsells)	Built to serve. No dark patterns.
Sound Mind	Feature bloat, cluttered interfaces	One thing done well. Calm UI.

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." — 2 Timothy 1:7

Local-First Video Workflow

SaneVideo is free, with 100% Transparent Code (PolyForm Shield). Setup stays. Every recording and edit tool stays unlocked. Donate only if you want to support it.

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Download

Download SaneVideo or clone the source. Current release: 1.1.0. The app is signed, notarized, and built for local screen, camera, and microphone recording without uploading your footage to SaneApps servers.

Support: GitHub Sponsors · Contribute: https://github.com/sane-apps/SaneVideo

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For Developers & AI Agents: DEVELOPMENT.md is the SOP (Single Source of Truth).

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✨ Features

Recording

• Full Screen Recording: Capture your entire screen in high resolution
• Window Recording: Select specific windows to record
• Camera Bubble: Your camera in a movable bubble over the screen, or full frame on its own; switch between them mid-take
• Microphone Capture: Record narration or meetings locally on your Mac
• Keyboard Controls: ⌥⌘R starts and stops recording from any app; ⌥⌘P pauses while recording

Editing

• Professional Timeline: Industry-standard timeline with:

  • Drag & drop video import from Finder
  • Scrubbing and precise frame navigation
  • Keyboard shortcuts (J-K-L for playback, Space for play/pause)
  • Split clips (⌘B), ripple delete, trim handles
  • Visual playhead with grid overlay

• Framing, Background and Effects: Crop and zoom, blur or replace the background behind you, and color effects (Noir, Sepia, Vignette and more) in the inspector

• Clean Up (one click, on your Mac):

  • Silence Removal: Cuts the pauses where nobody talks
  • Filler Words: Cuts "um", "uh" and stutters (Parakeet speech model, downloaded once)
  • Captions: On-device transcript; exports write a matching .srt for YouTube
  • Every cut can be undone

Export

• YouTube-ready Export: Matches your recording's size and frame rate
• Shorts, GIF, Thumbnail, Transcript PDF: From the Export menu
• Saved to Movies/SaneVideo/Exports: Revealed in Finder when done
• No Cloud Handoff: Export locally when the edit is ready

UI/UX Polish

• Native macOS Design:

  • SF Symbols throughout
  • Vibrancy and transparency effects
  • Proper dark mode support
  • Rounded corners and modern aesthetics

• Smooth Animations:

  • SwiftUI transitions
  • Pulsing recording indicator
  • Responsive hover states

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🎯 System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

• macOS 26 or later
• Apple Silicon (arm64) only - Intel Macs not supported
• 8GB RAM minimum (16GB recommended for 4K editing)
• About 600 MB of disk for the speech model, downloaded the first time you use Clean Up or captions

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🚀 Quick Start

First Run

1. Launch SaneVideo.app
2. Grant permissions when prompted:
   • Camera: For webcam recording
   • Microphone: For audio capture
   • Screen Recording: For screen capture

Recording

• Keyboard: ⌘N for a new recording; ⌥⌘R starts and stops from any app while the recorder is open
• Window: Click Record in the recorder bar at the bottom

Importing Videos

• Drag any video file onto the main window
• Or: Click Import button (⌘I)
• Or: File → Import Video

Editing

• Press Clean Up in the inspector to cut silences and filler words
• Trim and split on the timeline (⌘B splits at the playhead); every edit can be undone
• Browse projects, clips and the transcript in the left sidebar

Exporting

• Click Export (⌘E). The preset matches your recording.
• The file lands in Movies/SaneVideo/Exports, with a matching .srt when the project has captions.

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⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
⌥⌘R	Start / stop recording (any app, while the recorder is open)
⌥⌘P	Pause / resume (while recording)
⌘N	New Recording
⌘I	Import Video
Space	Play/Pause
←	Previous Frame
→	Next Frame
J	Play backward
K	Pause
L	Play forward
⌘B	Split Clip at Playhead
Delete	Delete Selected Clip

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🏗️ Architecture

See ARCHITECTURE.md.

Key Technologies: SwiftUI, AVFoundation, ScreenCaptureKit, Core Image, Vision, FluidAudio (Parakeet speech model)

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🔒 Privacy & Security

SaneVideo is designed with privacy first:

• App Sandbox enabled with minimal permissions
• Hardened Runtime for security
• Local processing: Recording, editing, speech recognition and export happen on your Mac
• No uploads: Your recordings never leave your Mac unless you share a file yourself
• Network use: update checks, anonymous aggregate app counts, and a one-time download of the speech model (about 600 MB)

Permissions Explained

• Camera: Only used when you explicitly start camera recording
• Microphone: Only active during recording sessions
• Screen Recording: Required for screen capture. macOS controls this in System Settings and may require restarting SaneVideo after approval.

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📁 File Storage

• Projects: ~/Movies/SaneVideo/Projects/
• Recordings: ~/Movies/SaneVideo/Recordings/
• Exports: ~/Movies/SaneVideo/Exports/ (plus Shorts/ for vertical clips)

All files remain on your local machine. No cloud storage required.

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⚠️ Refer to DEVELOPMENT.md for the authoritative build workflow.

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🛠️ Developer Notes (Build/Test)

• Build environment: Requires macOS + Xcode (the test runner uses xcodebuild). Linux environments can’t run the full verification workflow.
• One command workflow: Use ./scripts/SaneMaster.rb verify (don’t run raw xcodebuild).
• Test assets live in Tests/Assets/ (e.g., test_video.mp4, test_silence.mp4).

🎨 Design Philosophy

Built on the three pillars of Power, Love, and Sound Mind:

• Power (Agency): Native macOS, on-device processing, no lock-in. You control your tools.
• Love (Service): Solves real problems for real creators. No dark patterns, no extraction.
• Sound Mind (Clarity): Clean interface, one-click Clean Up, calm experience. Reduces noise.

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Current Scope

• ✅ Screen + Camera Recording
• ✅ Timeline Editing
• ✅ Clean Up (silence and filler-word removal)
• ✅ Captions, transcript and .srt export
• ✅ Export, Shorts, GIF and thumbnails

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📄 License

PolyForm Shield 1.0.0 — free for any use except building a competing product. See LICENSE

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🙏 Credits

Built with passion for the macOS creator community.

Technologies:

• SwiftUI (Apple)
• AVFoundation (Apple)
• Metal (Apple)
• Core Image (Apple)
• ScreenCaptureKit (Apple)

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📞 Support

For issues or questions:

• Check the built-in Help menu
• Use Settings → About → Report a Bug to copy diagnostics for support
• Review keyboard shortcuts (above)
• Ensure all permissions are granted in System Settings → Privacy & Security
• Email hi@saneapps.com for private reports

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Keep your head. Stay Sane.

Built for a Sound Mind | Local-First Video Workflow | 0% Fear

Third-Party Notices

Third-party attributions are documented in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.