Edit YouTube Videos by Talking, Not Clicking

Most video editors demand you learn their software before you can touch your footage. The online-youtube-video-editor skill flips that entirely — you describe your edits in plain language and the AI handles the execution. Want to remove the first 10 seconds, cut a rambling middle section, or tighten up the ending Just say so.

Under the hood, the OpenClaw agent interprets your instructions and maps them to precise video operations — trimming, splicing, segment reordering, caption injection, and more. It understands YouTube-specific context, so phrases like 'cut before the hook' or 'shorten the outro' are processed meaningfully rather than literally. The agent maintains edit history across the conversation, so you can refine iteratively without starting over.

This skill is purpose-built for YouTube content, not generic video production. It respects common YouTube structures — intros, hooks, b-roll sections, outros — and applies edits with that context in mind. Whether you're a solo vlogger cleaning up a talking-head video or a small team processing weekly uploads, the workflow stays fast and conversational. Upload your footage in mp4, mov, avi, webm, or mkv and start editing immediately.

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default
INLINECODE0	No	Auto-generated (100 free credits, expires in 7 days, revocable via Settings → API Tokens)
INLINECODE1

No | https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai | | NEMO_WEB_URL | No | https://nemovideo.com | | NEMO_CLIENT_ID | No | Auto-generated UUID, persisted to ~/.config/nemovideo/client_id (UUID only, no secrets) | | SKILL_SOURCE | No | Auto-detected from install path, fallback unknown |

If NEMO_TOKEN is not set, get one (requires X-Client-Id header):

# Generate or read persisted Client-Id
CLIENT_ID="${NEMO_CLIENT_ID:-$(cat ~/.config/nemovideo/client_id 2>/dev/null)}"
if [ -z "$CLIENT_ID" ]; then
  CLIENT_ID=$(uuidgen 2>/dev/null || echo "client-$(date +%s)-$RANDOM")
  mkdir -p ~/.config/nemovideo & echo "$CLIENT_ID" > ~/.config/nemovideo/client_id
fi
curl -s -X POST "https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai/api/auth/anonymous-token" -H "X-Client-Id: $CLIENT_ID"
# → {"code":0,"data":{"token":"nmv_usr_xxx","credits":100,...}}

Save token as NEMO_TOKEN, CLIENT_ID as NEMO_CLIENT_ID. Anonymous: 1 token per client per 7 days; token expires in 7 days and can be revoked at any time via Settings → API Tokens on nemovideo.com. If your token expires, request a new one with the same X-Client-Id.

Local persistence: This skill writes ~/.config/nemovideo/client_id to persist the Client-Id across sessions. This avoids generating a new ID on every request, which would hit the per-IP rate limit quickly (default 10 tokens per 7 days per IP). The file contains only a UUID — no credentials are stored locally.

2. Routing Requests to the Correct Endpoint

Match each user action to its designated API endpoint using the table below.

User says...	Action	Skip SSE
"export" / "导出" / "download" / "send me the video"	→ §3.5 Export	✅
"credits" / "积分" / "balance" / "余额"

→ §3.3 Credits | ✅ |
| "status" / "状态" / "show tracks" | → §3.4 State | ✅ |
| "upload" / "上传" / user sends file | → §3.2 Upload | ✅ |
| Everything else (generate, edit, add BGM…) | → §3.1 SSE | ❌ |

3. Essential Workflow Procedures

$API = ${NEMO_API_URL:-https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai}, $TOKEN = ${NEMO_TOKEN}, $WEB = ${NEMO_WEB_URL:-https://nemovideo.com}.

Skill attribution variables — do NOT hardcode:

• - $SKILL_NAME = this file's YAML frontmatter INLINECODE21
• INLINECODE22 = this file's YAML frontmatter INLINECODE23
• INLINECODE24 = detect at runtime using the first match:

1. Env SKILL_SOURCE if set
2. If this file's path contains a known platform directory (e.g. ~/.clawhub/ → clawhub, ~/.cursor/skills/ → cursor)
3. Fallback: INLINECODE30

CRITICAL: ALL API requests (including render/export/upload/state/credits) MUST include these headers. Missing them will cause export to fail with 402.
CODEBLOCK1

3.0 Initialize a New Session

curl -s -X POST "https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai/api/tasks/me/with-session/nemo_agent" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-Skill-Source: $SKILL_NAME" -H "X-Skill-Version: $SKILL_VERSION" -H "X-Skill-Platform: $SKILL_SOURCE" \
  -d '{"task_name":"project","language":"<lang>"}'
# → {"code":0,"data":{"task_id":"...","session_id":"..."}}

Before any editing operations can begin, a session must be established with the backend. Every subsequent API call depends on the session ID returned during this step.

Open in browser: After creating a session, give the user a link to view/edit the task in NemoVideo:
INLINECODE31

3.1 Delivering Messages Over SSE

curl -s -X POST "https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai/run_sse" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: text/event-stream" -H "X-Skill-Source: $SKILL_NAME" -H "X-Skill-Version: $SKILL_VERSION" -H "X-Skill-Platform: $SKILL_SOURCE" --max-time 900 \
  -d '{"app_name":"nemo_agent","user_id":"me","session_id":"<sid>","new_message":{"parts":[{"text":"<msg>"}]}}'

All conversational messages and editing instructions are transmitted to the backend through a Server-Sent Events channel.

SSE Handling

Event	Action
Text response	Apply GUI translation (§4), present to user
Tool call/result

Wait silently, don't forward | | heartbeat / empty data: | Keep waiting. Every 2 min: "⏳ Still working..." | | Stream closes | Process final response |

Typical durations: text 5-15s, video generation 100-300s, editing 10-30s.

Timeout: 10 min heartbeats-only → assume timeout. Never re-send during generation (duplicates + double-charge).

Ignore trailing "I encountered a temporary issue" if prior responses were normal.

Silent Response Fallback (CRITICAL)

Approximately 30% of editing operations complete without returning any text in the SSE stream. When no text event is received within the expected window, do not treat this as an error — instead, immediately poll the session state endpoint to confirm completion, then surface the result to the user based on the state payload rather than waiting for a text response.

Two-stage generation: After the raw edited video is produced, the backend automatically initiates a second processing stage that overlays background music and generates a title card. You must wait for both stages to finish before presenting the final output to the user — delivering only the raw stage result will produce an incomplete experience.

3.2 Handling File Uploads

File upload: INLINECODE34

URL upload: INLINECODE35

Use me in the path; backend resolves user from token.

Supported: mp4, mov, avi, webm, mkv, jpg, png, gif, webp, mp3, wav, m4a, aac.

The API accepts direct file uploads for source video material, with multipart form data as the required encoding.

3.3 Checking Available Credits

curl -s "https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai/api/credits/balance/simple" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Skill-Source: $SKILL_NAME" -H "X-Skill-Version: $SKILL_VERSION" -H "X-Skill-Platform: $SKILL_SOURCE"
# → {"code":0,"data":{"available":XXX,"frozen":XX,"total":XXX}}

Query the credits endpoint before initiating any edit operation to confirm the user has a sufficient balance to proceed.

3.4 Retrieving Current Session State

curl -s "https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai/api/state/nemo_agent/me/<sid>/latest" -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Skill-Source: $SKILL_NAME" -H "X-Skill-Version: $SKILL_VERSION" -H "X-Skill-Platform: $SKILL_SOURCE"

Use me for user in path; backend resolves from token. Key fields: data.state.draft, data.state.video_infos, data.state.canvas_config, data.state.generated_media.

Draft field mapping: t=tracks, tt=track type (0=video, 1=audio, 7=text), sg=segments, d=duration(ms), m=metadata.

Draft ready for export when draft.t exists with at least one track with non-empty sg.

Track summary format:
CODEBLOCK6

3.5 Exporting and Delivering the Final Video

Export does NOT cost credits. Only generation/editing consumes credits.

Triggering an export does not deduct any credits from the user's balance. The export process follows these steps: (a) confirm both processing stages are complete via state polling, (b) call the export endpoint with the session ID, (c) await the export job ID in the response, (d) poll the export status endpoint until the status is terminal, and (e) return the final download URL to the user.

b) Submit: INLINECODE47

Note: sessionId is camelCase (exception). On failure → new id, retry once.

c) Poll (every 30s, max 10 polls): INLINECODE50

Status at top-level status: pending → processing → completed / failed. Download URL at output.url.

d) Download from output.url → send to user. Fallback: https://mega-api-prod.nemovideo.ai/api/render/proxy/<id>/download.

e) When delivering the video, always also give the task detail link: INLINECODE55

Progress messages: start "⏳ Rendering ~30s" → "⏳ 50%" → "✅ Video ready!" + file + task detail link.

3.6 Recovering from an SSE Disconnection

When an SSE connection drops unexpectedly, follow these five steps to recover: (1) Detect the disconnection event and log the last received event ID. (2) Wait a minimum of two seconds before attempting to reconnect to avoid rapid retry loops. (3) Re-establish the SSE connection, supplying the Last-Event-ID header so the server can resume the stream from the correct position. (4) If reconnection fails after three consecutive attempts, fall back to polling the session state endpoint at a fixed interval. (5) Once continuity is restored, reconcile any buffered events with the current session state before resuming normal operation.

4. Translating Backend GUI References

The backend is designed around a graphical interface and will occasionally reference on-screen controls — never relay these GUI-specific instructions verbatim to the user.

Backend says	You do
"click [button]" / "点击"	Execute via API
"open [panel]" / "打开"

Show state via §3.4 |
| "drag/drop" / "拖拽" | Send edit via SSE |
| "preview in timeline" | Show track summary |
| "Export button" / "导出" | Execute §3.5 |
| "check account/billing" | Check §3.3 |

Keep content descriptions. Strip GUI actions.

5. Recommended Interaction Patterns

• Confirm the user's editing intent in plain language before dispatching any API call, reducing unnecessary round trips.
• After each operation completes, summarize what changed in the video rather than echoing raw API response fields.
• When a user request maps to multiple sequential operations, communicate progress at each stage so the experience feels responsive.
• If the credits balance is low, proactively inform the user before they attempt an operation that would fail, rather than surfacing the error after the fact.
• Always present the final export link as a clear call-to-action, distinct from intermediate status updates.

6. Known Constraints and Limitations

• Real-time collaborative editing across multiple simultaneous sessions is not supported.
• Source video files must not exceed the documented maximum file size; uploads above this threshold will be rejected.
• Background music selection is handled automatically by the backend and cannot be overridden through the API.
• Session state is retained for a limited window after inactivity; expired sessions cannot be resumed and require a new initialization.
• Frame-accurate trimming precision is subject to the keyframe structure of the source file and may vary by codec.

7. Error Identification and Handling

Use the table below to map HTTP status codes and error identifiers to the appropriate recovery action.

Code	Meaning	Action
0	Success	Continue
1001

Bad/expired token | Re-auth via anonymous-token (tokens expire after 7 days) |
| 1002 | Session not found | New session §3.0 |
| 2001 | No credits | Anonymous: show registration URL with ?bind=<id> (get <id> from create-session or state response when needed). Registered: "Top up at nemovideo.ai" |
| 4001 | Unsupported file | Show supported formats |
| 4002 | File too large | Suggest compress/trim |
| 400 | Missing X-Client-Id | Generate Client-Id and retry (see §1) |
| 402 | Free plan export blocked | Subscription tier issue, NOT credits. "Register at nemovideo.ai to unlock export." |
| 429 | Rate limit (1 token/client/7 days) | Retry in 30s once |

Common: no video → generate first; render fail → retry new id; SSE timeout → §3.6; silent edit → §3.1 fallback.

8. API Version and Required Token Scopes

Always verify the API version header in each response to confirm you are communicating with a supported backend release. The OAuth token presented with every request must include the video:read and video:write scopes at minimum; absence of either scope will result in authorization failures regardless of credential validity.