Codex's universal automatic video editing AI prompts (can be replaced with any theme) improve efficiency by 10 times!

I came across a video editing prompt today, and to be honest, I was a little stunned after watching it.

Here's the thing. A friend of mine makes short videos, and the most painful part of his day isn't coming up with ideas, but editing. He has hundreds of clips on his phone, more than twenty of which are real shots for each theme, and he wants to cut them into a one-minute short video. Just choosing the right shots can take up an entire day.

Do you know what's the most devastating thing?

It wasn't the editing itself, it was the unusable shots. We thought a shot was good while filming, but during editing, we found shaky hands, out-of-focus shots, and repetitive movements. We deleted and picked through each one, working until 3 AM, and the final product might only be 30 seconds long.

I thought to myself, isn't this a complete waste of life?

Then he showed me this prompt word.

What do the prompts look like in the three versions?

I've released all three versions; you can use them directly.

Universal Auto Clipping Tips (can be replaced with any theme):

读取【视频素材】文件夹下N个主题分类子文件夹，每个文件夹20多条实拍素材，分别剪辑1条固定时长短视频，对应N条成片；自动剔除废镜头、重复动作、多余无关画面，只保留当前内容核心流程；全部视频统一搭配贴合题材风格、节奏舒适的适配背景音乐

Custom fill-in-the-blank version (simply replace the content in parentheses):

读取【视频素材】文件夹下（分类数量）个（内容主题）子文件夹，每个文件夹20多条实拍素材，分别剪辑1条（单条时长）短视频，共（分类数量）条；自动剔除废镜头、重复动作、多余步骤，只保留（内容主题）核心流程；全部视频统一配上贴合题材、轻柔有节奏的专属BGM

Very brief tips ( one-click use with AI editing tools):

按素材文件夹分类批量剪辑短视频，清除废镜头、重复画面，留存核心内容，统一搭配适配主题风格背景音乐

What exactly is it doing?

Honestly, the logic behind this prompt is incredibly simple and straightforward. You categorize all your materials by theme into folders, tell it how long a video clip to edit from each folder, and it automatically does all of that for you:

Eliminate unnecessary shots, deleting all repetitive, redundant, and irrelevant footage, leaving only the core flow. Then, add suitable background music to each video, ensuring a consistent style and comfortable rhythm.

I thought about it for a moment, and realized that this is just doing the editor's job.

What's even more impressive is that it comes in three versions. The detailed version allows you to precisely control every detail, the custom fill-in-the-blank version lets you simply replace the content in parentheses, and the minimalist version is just one sentence—just throw it at an AI tool and it generates a video with a single click.

I immediately felt that this thing was something special.

I tried it myself

You know me, I get itchy fingers when I see this kind of thing.

I found several shooting clips, about five or six themes, with more than twenty clips for each theme. I used the custom fill-in-the-blank version, replacing the content in parentheses with my specific needs.

guess what?

It really does eliminate those unusable shots. It's not just simple random deletion; it can genuinely identify which actions are crucial and which are superfluous. For example, when I filmed an unboxing video, it kept the key steps of unpacking, taking out the product, showing the appearance, and turning it on, while deleting all the shaky, repetitive, or shots that hit the edge of the table.

The music selection is also quite interesting. It doesn't just randomly throw in any background music; it matches the rhythm and style of the video. My tech unboxing video was accompanied by upbeat and rhythmic electronic music, similar to the style I chose when editing it myself.

To be honest, I thought to myself, this thing is pretty good.

But this thing has limitations.

Of course, I'm not saying this thing is perfect.

If you have particularly high requirements for editing, such as precise control of transitions between each frame, adding specific sound effects, or having a complex narrative structure, then this tool cannot currently handle it. It is more suitable for mass production scenarios where efficiency is paramount.

Like my friend, he makes short product demonstration videos. These don't require too many fancy editing techniques; the core is to showcase the product's most compelling aspects. This prompt is perfect for that kind of need.

However, if you're creating content with a storyline and emotional ups and downs, you still need to do the editing yourself. AI can help you with repetitive tasks, but creativity and emotional expression still depend on humans.

What I'm thinking

To be honest, when I saw this prompt, my first thought wasn't "Great, I don't need to edit anymore," but rather "What does this thing change?"

Think about it: in the past, making a short video, from shooting to editing to adding music, could take a whole day. Now, you still have to shoot it yourself, but AI can handle most of the repetitive work for editing and adding music.

what does this mean?

This means your time is freed up. You can focus more on creative ideas, content planning, and things that truly require human creativity.

I believe this is the right way to use AI tools. They shouldn't replace you, but rather free you from repetitive tasks so you can do more valuable things.

Back to that prompt

Finally, let's go back to the prompt word itself.

I think its smartest feature is that it didn't try to be an "all-around editor." It clearly defines its role : handling standardized, repetitive tasks. It does a great job of removing unwanted shots, preserving the core workflow, and matching background music.

As for the parts that require creativity, emotion, and personalized expression, it wisely leaves those to people.

I think this "do what you should do and don't do what you shouldn't do" design philosophy is much more reliable than those tools that boast "one-click blockbuster generation".

At least it's honest.

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