What the DepCut Mac App Adds to the Browser Editor

DepCut is a video editor that runs in the browser at depcut.com, and you can edit with nothing installed. The Mac app has one job: it lets that page use your Mac's hardware. It runs from the menu bar with no windows and no account of its own, and you sign in to DepCut in the browser as usual.

What the app provides

• A local engine. The app starts a small server on your Mac and keeps it running. The editor uses it for local disk storage of projects and library files, for the encoder bundled with the app (ffmpeg), and for on-device speech.
• Screen recording. Record Screen in the menu bar captures a display, a window or a region.
• Updates. The menu bar menu checks for new versions and installs them.

What changes in the editor

Where new projects go. With the app running, a picker beside New project lets you choose On this Mac or Cloud. Its tooltip spells out the scope: all projects and media will be stored on this Mac, or on the Cloud. The choice sticks in that browser, and each project card carries a badge for where it lives.

Exports. A project stored on your Mac exports through the app's encoder, and the finished file goes to the project's exports folder on disk. Finished exports and media tiles gain Show in Finder.

Dictation. The Dictate microphone in prompt boxes turns speech to text on your Mac while the app runs. The words appear live as you talk, and the speech is processed on the machine.

Moving a project. In the editor of a project on your Mac, the Cloud button in the top bar opens Move to Cloud. It copies the project and its media to the cloud, then removes the project from this Mac. Exports rendered on the Mac stay behind. The projects home offers Move to Cloud and Move to this Mac in a project's menu when both homes are available.

What works without the app

Cloud projects open and edit as normal, and so do exports of cloud projects, subtitles and AI generation. AI generation and hosted transcription run on DepCut's servers and spend account credits, whichever home the project has. Local storage decides where your files sit, and the credits follow the work.

When the app is closed

Projects stored on your Mac stay in your project list, marked with where they live, but they are read-only while the app is away. Opening one shows a message: "This is a local project — it lives on this Mac. Open the DepCut app and it opens here." A red banner at the top of the page says DepCut can't reach the app, with a How to fix this link.

Start the app and the page keeps checking until it answers. The banner clears and the project loads. If your browser still needs your permission, the dialog behind How to fix this has a Connect button. Local projects belong to the Mac user, so each DepCut account that signs in on that Mac sees them.

See the picker

Open DepCut with the Mac app running, and check the picker beside New project to see On this Mac next to Cloud.