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ChatCut MVP Setup Guide

Prerequisites

  • Premiere Pro 23.0.0 or higher
  • Node.js 16+ and npm
  • Python 3.8+
  • UXP Developer Tools
  • Google Gemini API Key (free tier available)

Step 1: Get Your Gemini API Key

  1. Go to https://ai.google.dev/
  2. Click "Get API Key" → "Create API key in new project"
  3. Copy your API key (starts with AIza...)

Step 2: Backend Setup

# Navigate to backend directory
cd backend

# Install Python dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Create .env file with your API key
echo "GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here" > .env
# On Windows PowerShell:
# New-Item -Path .env -ItemType File -Value "GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here"

# Start the backend server
python main.py

You should see:

============================================================
ChatCut Backend Starting...
============================================================
Server: http://localhost:3001
Docs: http://localhost:3001/docs
Health: http://localhost:3001/health
============================================================
✓ Gemini service initialized successfully

Leave this terminal running!

Step 3: Frontend Setup

Open a new terminal:

# Navigate to frontend directory
cd frontend

# Install dependencies (if you haven't already)
npm install

# Build the plugin
npm run watch

You should see:

webpack 4.47.0
Built at: ...
    Asset       Size
index.html  199 bytes
  index.js    2.5 MiB

Leave this terminal running! It will auto-rebuild when you change code.

Step 4: Load Plugin into Premiere Pro

  1. Launch Premiere Pro (version 23.0.0+)

  2. Open UXP Developer Tools

  3. Add the Plugin:

    • Click "Add Plugin..."
    • Navigate to: D:\ChatCut\frontend\dist\manifest.json
    • Select it and click "Open"

  4. Load the Plugin:

    • Find "ChatCut" in the plugin list
    • Click the ••• button → "Load"

  5. Open the Panel in Premiere Pro:

    • In Premiere Pro, go to: Window → Extensions → ChatCut
    • The panel should appear!

Step 5: Test the MVP

Test 1: Check Backend Connection

  1. Look at the bottom of the ChatCut panel
  2. You should see: Backend: ✓ Connected
  3. If not, make sure the Python server is running on localhost:3001

Test 2: Get Timeline Selection

  1. In Premiere Pro, open a sequence with video clips
  2. Set In and Out points on your timeline (press I and O)
  3. In the ChatCut panel, click "Get Current Selection"
  4. You should see the duration displayed

Test 3: Process a Prompt

  1. In the ChatCut panel, type a prompt:

    • "make this black and white"
    • "blur this clip"
    • "zoom in 150%"

  2. Click "Process Prompt"

  3. You should see:

    • AI Interpretation card with effect details
    • Confidence score
    • Description of what will happen

  4. (Effect application is coming in Phase 3)

Troubleshooting

Backend won't start

Error: GEMINI_API_KEY not found

  • Make sure you created the .env file in the backend directory
  • Check that the file contains: GEMINI_API_KEY=your_actual_key

Error: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'google'

  • Run: pip install google-genai

Frontend won't build

Error: Invalid Version: npm:acorn-with-stage3

  • Delete package-lock.json and node_modules
  • Run npm install again
  • (We already fixed this earlier!)

Plugin won't load

Error: "No applications are connected"

  • Make sure Premiere Pro is running
  • Restart UXP Developer Tools
  • Try unloading and reloading the plugin

Panel doesn't appear

  • In Premiere Pro: Window → Extensions → ChatCut
  • Check UXP Developer Tools for error messages

Backend connection fails

Error: "Backend not connected" banner in panel

Development Workflow

Making Frontend Changes

  1. Edit files in frontend/src/
  2. Webpack will auto-rebuild (if npm run watch is running)
  3. In UXP Developer Tools, click ••• → "Reload"
  4. Panel updates automatically!

Making Backend Changes

  1. Edit files in backend/
  2. Stop the server (Ctrl+C)
  3. Restart: python main.py
  4. No need to reload the frontend

Debugging

Frontend:

  • In UXP Developer Tools, click ••• → "Debug"
  • Opens Chrome DevTools
  • Check Console for errors

Backend:

  • Watch the terminal where python main.py is running
  • All requests are logged there

API Endpoints

Once running, you can test the backend directly:

Example API Call

# Test prompt processing (requires Gemini API key)
curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/api/process-prompt \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"prompt": "make this black and white"}'

What's Working in This MVP

✅ Frontend panel loads in Premiere Pro ✅ Timeline selection detection ✅ Backend API connection ✅ Gemini AI prompt processing ✅ Effect mapping (Black & White, Blur, Transform) ✅ Confidence scoring ✅ Error handling

What's NOT Working Yet

❌ Actually applying effects to timeline (Phase 3) ❌ Multi-track support ❌ Undo functionality ❌ AI video generation (out of scope for MVP)

Next Steps

See plan.md for the full roadmap!

Current Phase: Phase 2 Complete ✓ Next Phase: Phase 3 - Effect Application

Getting Help

Ready to ship this MVP! 🚀