# Takes

> Takes is a free Mac app for recording talking-head videos. You read your script off a teleprompter and star the best take. Claude Code, running on your own Claude plan, writes the script, sketches a storyboard, cuts the edit and drafts the posts for LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Shorts, Reels and TikTok. The code is public.

- Made by Marvin Aziz. Free; the code is public on GitHub (marvtub/takes-public).
- Made for creators, not developers: no coding needed. After one install line everything happens in the app, and you ask the chat in plain words ("make this a 60-second vertical clip").
- Private by design: no account, no usage data, videos stay in folders on your Mac. The AI works through your own Claude account.
- Actively made: Marvin records his own videos with Takes every day, and new versions ship several times a week.
- Needs a Mac with Apple silicon, macOS 15 or later, and a paid Claude plan (Pro or Max) for Claude Code. Takes adds no API key and no bill of its own.
- Install: `curl -fsSL gettakes.app/install | bash`. It installs Takes, ffmpeg and Claude Code, signs you in to Claude and opens the app. The same line updates Takes. A .dmg is also available; Apple has not notarized Takes yet, so the .dmg asks for one click on Open Anyway the first time. The install script is 85 lines and readable at gettakes.app/install.
- The library is plain folders in ~/Movies/Takes: one folder per project, one per video. Scripts are Markdown, takes are .mov files, edits sit in an edits folder.
- Claude Code reads and writes the same folders through the takes MCP server, so you can also use it from any terminal ("storyboard my next Takes video", "cut my last take").

## How it works

- Storyboard: Claude writes the script and sketches every shot. Each shot shows its line, how to film it and a Record button.
- Record: a teleprompter sits beside the camera and scrolls as you talk. Pick an opening hook, read a variant, star the keeper. Camera and screen record as two synced files.
- Edit: ask the built-in chat the way you would ask an editor, for example "cut my keeper into a vertical short, no silences". Comment on a frame and Takes fixes it in a new version; the fix is saved as a rule in your style, so the next edit starts there.
- Post: one draft per platform, previewed the way that platform shows it, with variants, opening hooks, version history and a schedule.

## Links

- [Takes home page](https://gettakes.app/): what Takes does, with screenshots and the FAQ
- [Download the .dmg](https://gettakes.app/download): the latest release for Apple silicon
- [Install script](https://gettakes.app/install): the script behind the one-line install
- [Source code](https://github.com/marvtub/takes-public): the public repo, releases and README
- [Discussions](https://github.com/marvtub/takes-public/discussions): questions and feedback