---
title: When to use Tesseract vs invideo
description: Tesseract edits and renders on your computer and converts Premiere Pro and After Effects projects. invideo works online with generation and stock.
---
Use Tesseract when the edit must stay on your computer, or when you move projects to and from Premiere Pro or After Effects through its converter. Use invideo when the work is online, needs generated shots or stock, and more than one person or agent works on the same cut.

## The same brief in both tools

The brief: a 30 second vertical video from a folder of phone clips, with a preview before export. The editor finishes it in Premiere Pro.

In Tesseract, your agent edits the clips and renders a preview on your computer. You get an MP4 and an editable `.tsrct` project with your media and fonts. To get to Premiere Pro, a separate converter tool, `tsrct-conv`, turns the `.tsrct` project into a `.prproj` file. Its README marks that direction as partial and says some features may not convert exactly.

In invideo, your agent uploads the clips with `start_upload` and `add_media` and builds the cut on a timeline, on a branch from `timeline_history`. You watch the edit in the browser and change it by hand. The agent checks it with `capture`, then runs `export` with `format` `premiere` for an editable Premiere Pro project, or `video` for an MP4.

## At a glance

The rows below are the ones that change the choice for this job.

| | Tesseract | invideo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Where it runs | Edits and renders on your computer | In the cloud, in the browser |
| Editable timeline after the cut | An editable `.tsrct` project | Your agent rebuilds the edit's layers on a multi-track timeline from the project, which you and your agent share live |
| Generation | Not on its help page or README | Video, image, audio and 3D models through `generate` |
| Stock | Not on its help page or README | Stock video, images and music through `search_library` |
| Collaboration | Not on its help page or README | People and agents in one project, with branches |
| Agent access | Agent skills and a plugin; the agent runs its CLI | CLI and skills for terminal agents; MCP server for clients without a shell |
| Project files out | MP4 and `.tsrct`; Premiere Pro and After Effects through its converter | MP4, or a Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve project |
| Round trip in | Premiere Pro and After Effects projects through its converter | Media files, or a rebuild of a Tesseract edit by your agent |
| Offline | Local edit and render | Cloud only |

Checked on 29 October 2026 against the <a href="https://captions.ai/help/tesseract.md" target="_blank">Tesseract help page</a>, the <a href="https://github.com/mirage-hq/Tesseract" target="_blank">Tesseract README</a> and the <a href="https://github.com/mirage-hq/Tesseract-Converter" target="_blank">Tesseract Converter README</a>. The help page lists macOS and 64-bit Windows. The README also lists Linux.

The converter README gives one support level per direction.

| Adobe format | Into Tesseract | Out of Tesseract |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premiere Pro `.prproj` | Partial | Partial |
| After Effects `.aep` | Partial | Experimental |

## Use Tesseract when

Tesseract fits work that stays on your machine.

- The footage must not go to a cloud service.
- You need an edit and a render on your own computer.
- You start from a Premiere Pro or After Effects project and want your agent to work on it.
- You want to send the result back to After Effects, and accept that the converter marks this experimental.

## Use invideo when

invideo fits work that is shared and online.

- You need shots you do not have, from a video model or from stock.
- A person and an agent, or several agents, work on the same cut, and each round of changes is a branch.
- The reviewer opens the project URL in the browser, with nothing to install.
- You need a project file for Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve, as well as Premiere Pro.

Edits and exports are free. Generation and transcripts cost credits. Paid stock costs a small credit charge, or one of your workspace's iStock licenses. Your agent runs a dry run first and tells you the price before it spends anything.

## Use both

Generate and assemble online, then finish locally. The hand-off is a media file.

1. Make the missing shots and the rough cut in invideo.
2. Export the cut, or single shots, as MP4 with `export`.
3. Bring the files into Tesseract on your computer and finish the edit there.

Keep the `.tsrct` project after you share the MP4. Tesseract's help page gives the same advice.

The other way, your agent can rebuild a Tesseract edit on an invideo timeline as clips, text and keyframes, so a reviewer changes it in the browser. [Rebuild a composition as an editable timeline](/how-to/developers/composition-to-timeline) gives the steps.

## What Tesseract does better

Say it plainly: for local work and Adobe round trips, Tesseract does things invideo does not.

- It edits and renders on your computer.
- It reads Premiere Pro and After Effects projects through its converter.
- It writes an After Effects project, marked experimental.
- Its project file carries your media and fonts with it.

## Related

- [Use Tesseract with invideo](/integrations/tesseract)
- [Export to Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro](/how-to/export-to-premiere-resolve-final-cut)
- [Run several agents and a person in one project](/how-to/developers/several-agents-one-project)
- [Rebuild a composition as an editable timeline](/how-to/developers/composition-to-timeline)
- [AI video tools compared, including invideo](/compare/alternatives)
- [invideo for AI agents](/agents)