WannaCut is a free, open-core desktop video editor built for modern creators who want professional-grade tools without the price tag or the bloat. Powered by a Tauri 2 / Rust backend and a React 19 / TypeScript frontend, it delivers a snappy, lightweight experience on both Linux and Windows. Under the hood, a Three.js (WebGL) render engine drives the real-time canvas preview, while a bundled FFmpeg binary handles all media processing and export — no external dependencies required. Whether you are a content creator, a social media manager, or a hobbyist filmmaker, WannaCut gives you a timeline-first editing experience that feels right at home alongside paid tools like CapCut or DaVinci Resolve.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ter-9001/WannaCut/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Key Features
Multi-Track Timeline
A resizable, vertically scrollable timeline with dynamic track management, magnetic snapping, and box-selection for working with dozens of clips at once.
Keyframe Animation
Animate Volume, Opacity, Speed, Position, Zoom, and 3D Rotation per clip. Non-speed keyframes automatically sync with speed ramp time distortion.
Effects & Transitions
Drag-and-drop video effects (Glitch RGB, Camera Shake, Blur) and audio effects (Microphone, Alien) directly onto clips. Fade-in and fade-out handles are built into every clip edge.
YouTube Downloader
Paste any public video URL into the built-in downloader to fetch media straight into your active project — no third-party tool needed.
Smart Export Engine
Native FFmpeg rendering pipeline with a real-time progress bar, three-phase render feedback, and one-click export to MP4.
100-Step Undo History
A robust undo/redo stack protects up to 100 steps of your creative process. Automatic backup history logs let you restore any previous project state.
Audio Waveforms
Visual audio waveforms are rendered directly on audio clips in the timeline so you can sync cuts to beats by eye.
Text & Fonts
Add animated text clips with custom fonts loaded from your settings folder. Style size, colour, background, and a glow/shine effect per clip.
Technology Stack
WannaCut is built on a deliberately lean, modern stack chosen for performance and cross-platform portability.| Layer | Technology | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Desktop shell | Tauri 2 (Rust) | Native window, file system, FFmpeg IPC, GPU detection |
| UI framework | React 19 + TypeScript | Component tree, state management, timeline rendering |
| Canvas renderer | Three.js 0.183 (WebGL) | Real-time preview compositing |
| Media processing | FFmpeg (bundled binary) | Decode, encode, thumbnail generation, export |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS 4 | Utility-first design system |
| Animation | Framer Motion 12 | UI transitions, clip drag-and-drop feedback |
| Audio | Tone.js 15 | Web Audio playback engine |
License
WannaCut is open-core software released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3). You are free to use, modify, and distribute the software under the terms of that license. Commercial closed-source forks are not permitted without a separate agreement. See theLICENSE file in the repository for the full text.
Ready to get started? Install WannaCut on your machine and create your first project.
Installation
Download and install WannaCut on Linux or Windows.
Quickstart
Create a project and export your first video in under 10 minutes.