---
title: Make a gaming montage from your clips
description: A gaming montage from your Fortnite, Valorant or Minecraft clips: the best plays cut on the beat, slow-mo kills, freeze frames, glitches and callouts.
---
You get a gaming montage, also called a highlight reel, frag movie or edit, from your own clips. Your best kills, clutches and funny moments are cut on the beat of a song. The big plays get slow motion, a freeze frame, a shake or a glitch, and a text callout like "ACE" or "1v4 CLUTCH".
Use invideo for this when you have long recordings and no time to scrub them: your agent finds the loud moments, cuts them on the beat, and you can still move any clip after on the timeline.
## Quickest path
Set up your agent first with [invideo for AI agents](/agents). Then give it this prompt.
```text
Make a Valorant montage from my clips in ./clips. Find the kills and
the clutch moments, cut them on the beat of a hard trap song, slow down
each final kill, add a shake on the big hits and "ACE" when I get one.
16:9 for YouTube. Show me the moments you picked before you cut.
```
In a chat app, you drag your clips into the project's Media panel in invideo. In a terminal, you name the folder and the agent uploads it.
## What you need
Short clips are faster to read than a whole stream, but both work.
- **Your clips.** MP4 or MOV from OBS Studio, the Xbox Game Bar, ShadowPlay, a console capture, or a Twitch download.
- **The game sound.** Keep it in the recording. The agent finds the action by its sound.
- **The song.** A track from stock music, or your own file if you have the rights. Copyrighted songs can get the video muted on YouTube or TikTok.
- **The callouts.** The words to show: "ACE", "CLUTCH", your name, your channel.
- **The shape.** 16:9 for YouTube, 9:16 for TikTok and Shorts.
## Steps
Your agent edits on a branch and tells you what changed at each step.
For each big recording, the agent calls `start_upload`, sends the bytes, then calls `add_media` with the `upload_id`. It runs `media` with `audio.onsets` and `audio.content` on each clip's sequence URL: shots, kill sounds and a loud voice show up as hits and loud spans. It runs `video.sceneSplit` to find cuts in a long stream, and looks at each moment with `video.frames`. Expected result: a sequence URL for each clip, and a list of moments with times.
The agent searches `stock_music` with `search_library`, for example "hard trap" or "phonk". You pick from the previews. It runs `audio.beats` on the song for the beats, and `audio.markers` for the drop and the phrases. Expected result: a list of beat times and the time of the drop.
The agent makes a timeline with `new_timeline` and a branch with `timeline_history`. It places each moment with `place_media`, then moves each cut onto a beat with `trim_clip`. The best play goes on the drop. Expected result: every cut on a beat.
The agent uses `retime` on the big plays. Kind `section` with a `speed` below 1 slows the kill. Kind `freeze` holds the frame at `at_f` for `duration_f` frames. While the speed is changed, that part of the clip's sound is silent, so the agent adds a hit sound over it. Expected result: slow motion and freeze frames on the plays you asked for.
The agent adds transitions at the cuts with `add_transition`, for example `shake_zoom`, `glitch` or `flash`. It adds effects to clips with `add_effect`, for example `pixel_glitch`, `wiggle` for camera shake, or `beat_rock` for color bursts. Expected result: the hits feel bigger.
The agent adds each callout with `add_text` on the frame of the play, bold and centered, and pops it in with `set_keyframes` on `opacity`. For a hit sound under it, the agent runs `find_models` with "impact sound effect" and reads its pick with `get_model`: a `prompt` and a `duration` within the range `get_model` gives. A good pick is `elevenlabs_sfx`. Your agent can search for others with `find_models`. It calls `generate` with `dry_run: true` and tells you the price. For a price of 1 credit or more it waits for your yes. Then it calls `generate` with `max_credits` set to that price and an `idempotency_key`. Expected result: a callout on each big play, and a sequence URL for the hit sound, which the agent reads with `read`.
The agent runs `capture` at each callout, a few cuts and the end, and `check_timeline`. It runs `audio.loudness` on the song and the game sound. Then it runs `export` with `format` video. Expected result: an export card with status `completed`.
The same job from a terminal:
```bash
invideo project new --title "Valorant montage"
invideo agent register --name
export INVIDEO_AS=
invideo edit new --name "Montage v1" --fps 60
invideo asset upload ./clips/*.mp4
invideo media audio.onsets
invideo media audio.content
invideo media video.frames --at 61,62,63 --out ./look
invideo library search --library stock_music \
--query "hard trap"
invideo asset add --stock
invideo media audio.beats
invideo gen models --query "impact sound effect"
invideo gen model --model elevenlabs_sfx
invideo gen run --model elevenlabs_sfx --dry-run \
-i prompt="deep bass impact hit" -i duration=3
invideo gen run --model elevenlabs_sfx --max-credits \
--idempotency-key hit-1 -i prompt="deep bass impact hit" -i duration=3
invideo status --wait
invideo edit show --json
invideo branch new --name montage-v1 --token
invideo edit show --json
invideo edit change --timeline T1 \
--token --operations @ops.json
invideo edit capture --at 4,12.5,30 --out ./frames
invideo edit check
invideo edit export --format video --quality 1080 --json
invideo status --wait
invideo notebook show --out ./out
```
Where each value comes from:
- `` is the name you choose in `invideo agent register`. `INVIDEO_AS` passes it to every later command.
- `` comes from `invideo project new`, and `` from `invideo edit new`.
- `` is the `url` that `invideo asset upload ` returns for each clip, a `…/notebook/seq-N.M` URL. For `audio.beats` it is the song's, the `url` that `invideo asset add` returns.
- `` is a stock result's id from `invideo library search`.
- `` is a notebook page of the project, listed by `invideo notebook show `. `` is the dry run's `.estimated_credits`. `` is the `url` the paid run returns.
- `` comes from `invideo edit show ` for the branch command. `` is the `.branch_url` that `invideo branch new` returns. For `edit change`, `` is read again with `invideo edit show `.
- `@ops.json` reads a bare JSON list of ops, the `operations` list of the call below.
- `` is `.sequences[0]` of the export result. `invideo status` waits but saves nothing. `invideo notebook show` saves the video as `./out/export.mp4`, and the agent renames it.
The key MCP call slows a kill, freezes the last frame, adds a shake at the next cut and the callout. This is the full call. `` is the branch URL that `timeline_history` returns, and `` comes from `get_timeline` on it. `c4` and `c5` are clip ids from `get_timeline`. At 60 fps, the kill runs from frame 720 to frame 780.
```json
{
"url": "",
"timeline_id": "T1",
"expected_state_token": "",
"operations": [
{ "op": "retime", "clip": "c4", "kind": "section",
"from_f": 720, "to_f": 780, "speed": 0.4 },
{ "op": "retime", "clip": "c4", "kind": "freeze",
"at_f": 870, "duration_f": 30 },
{ "op": "add_transition", "left_clip": "c4", "right_clip": "c5",
"type": "shake_zoom", "in_f": 6, "out_f": 6 },
{ "op": "add_text", "track": "V2", "start_f": 870, "end_f": 930,
"text": "ACE",
"style": { "font_size": 160, "font_weight": 800,
"align": "center", "stroke": true } }
]
}
```
A `retime` changes the clip's length, and later clips move. The agent reads the timeline again with `get_timeline` before it adds more cuts after it.
## Cost and time
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.
- **Costs credits:** a paid stock song and any sound effect from `elevenlabs_sfx`.
- **Tool ops:** `audio.onsets`, `audio.content`, `audio.beats`, `audio.markers`, `audio.loudness`, `video.sceneSplit`, `video.frames`. The dry run shows its price before anything starts.
- **Free:** uploads, the cuts, `retime`, the effects, the callouts and the export.
A montage from a folder of short clips takes the agent a few minutes. A long stream takes longer to read. See [Credits and what they cost](/account/credits) for prices.
## If something goes wrong
Most problems come from clips with music under the game, or effects that hide the play.
| Symptom | Fix |
| --- | --- |
| `get_model` or `generate` refuses the model as not found | Models retire. Run `find_models` with the job in words, use the best match, and tell the person which model you used. |
| Exit code 6, or `status` is `held` | A safety review, not a refusal. Wait, then run `invideo status --wait` again. Do not resend. If it ends `failed`, change the input the review flagged. |
| `invideo status --wait` ends and the folder is empty | `status` does not download. Run `invideo notebook show --out `. |
| The agent picked the wrong moments | Give it the times, or the words of the kill feed. It looks with `video.frames` and picks again. |
| Your in-game music hides the shots | `audio.onsets` hears the music too. Turn off game music when you record, or pick by frames. |
| The sound drops out in the slow motion | That is how `retime` works. Add a hit sound or a whoosh over that part. |
| `retime` refused | The clip loops, and `retime` refuses looping clips. Make a slow-motion file with `media` `video.changeSpeed` instead. |
| A link download fails | Upload the file with `start_upload`, then `add_media` with the `upload_id`. |
| A clip has no sound | `audio.onsets` finds nothing. The agent picks the moments with `video.frames` only, and tells you. |
| `trim_clip` refused as stale | The edge moved. Read with `get_timeline` and send the trim with the new `from_f`. |
| Too many effects | Ask for effects on the top plays only, and plain cuts between. |
| CLI exit 3 | The timeline changed since your read. Run `invideo edit show` and rebuild. |
| Avoid: sending more cuts after a `retime` without a read | Instead: read with `get_timeline` first. Later clips have moved. |
## Prompts to try
Each prompt is a real variation of the job.
```text
Make a 9:16 Fortnite montage for TikTok from ./fortnite. Fast cuts on
every beat, a flash on each elimination, and my name at the end.
```
```text
Cut a Minecraft build timelapse from my long recording: speed up
the building, keep the reveal at normal speed, calm music under it.
```
```text
Find the five funniest moments in my Twitch VOD, where chat and I
laugh the loudest, and make a short montage with meme callouts.
```
## When to use something else
invideo does not record your game or download Twitch VODs. Record with OBS Studio or your console, and download VODs from your Twitch dashboard. Then bring the files in.
invideo has no face cam crop that follows you. Place your face cam by hand with `set_position` and `set_zoom`.
## Related
- [Make a sports highlight reel, including college recruiting videos](/how-to/personal/sports-highlight-reel)
- [Make a book trailer or a game trailer](/how-to/creators/book-or-game-trailer)
- [Make a trend edit like CapCut: slow-mo, meme, freeze frame](/how-to/personal/trend-edit)
- [Make Reels and Shorts from your footage: hook, captions, transitions, sound effects](/how-to/creators/reels-and-shorts-from-your-footage)
- [Add music and sound effects that clear rights](/how-to/creators/music-and-sound-effects)