Install the video tools

In this lesson

Know what each free tool does
Install them all with one message
Check the setup worked

Tool	What it does
Homebrew (Mac) / winget (Windows)	Installs the other tools.
Node.js	The engine Remotion runs on.
Remotion	Makes moving text, logos, shapes and animations.
ffmpeg	Cuts, joins and resizes videos, adds music, takes still pictures out of a video, cleans audio.
Python + Pillow	Small helper programs that draw graphics on video frames.

Copy and paste into Claude Code

I am not technical. Please set up this computer so you can make videos for me.

First, check which of these tools are already installed. Then install only the ones that are missing:
1. Homebrew (only if this is a Mac). On Windows, use winget instead.
2. Node.js (the LTS version)
3. Remotion: make a new Remotion starter project in a folder called "studio"
4. ffmpeg
5. Python 3
6. Pillow (the Python library)

Before each step, tell me in one simple sentence what you are about to do.
If I need to type my password or click something, stop and tell me exactly what to do.

When everything works, make a 5-second test video, 1080 x 1920, black background, white word "Hello", saved as out/hello.mp4.

Example screen. Claude asks before it installs anything. For this setup, Allow is safe.

Example screen. At the end, Claude makes a test video so you know the tools work.

If a password box appears

On a Mac, installing Homebrew asks for your Mac password in a Terminal window. Type it there; the letters won't show. Never type passwords into the chat.

Remember this

The free video toolkit

Key takeaway

One message installs everything. It takes 10 to 30 minutes, once.