The Selects Agent is the chat panel in your timeline. Describe the edit you want and it builds a draft, then keep chatting to refine it.
How you word that first message shapes what you get back. For phrasing that works, see How to write prompts for AI editing in Selects.
Note: Chat to edit is in Beta, so expect some rough edges. It is free to use while the Beta runs.
Start the edit
When your first analysis finishes, Selects asks How should we start the edit? and shows what it found: your files, your speakers, and the total duration. Pick one of three ways to begin, then click [Continue].
[Create a stringout]: appends all your raw files in order with topic markers. Selects builds this for you straight away, without going through chat.
[Create an assembly cut]: trims the unnecessary parts. This one opens the chat panel with the request already sent.
[I have a script]: paste a script and Selects matches your footage to it. This also opens the chat panel with the request already sent.
[Create an assembly cut] is selected when the dialog opens. To skip the whole thing and build your draft by hand, click [Skip]. See Start from Scratch: Creating a Draft Manually.
This dialog appears once per project, right after the first analysis. After that, open the chat panel whenever you want to start something new.
Build a draft in chat
To build a draft in chat, tell the agent what you want. Your draft appears in the timeline when it is ready, and you can keep chatting to refine it.
An empty chat gives you two shortcuts, or you can ignore them and type your own direction:
[View chat guide] opens How to write prompts for AI editing in Selects in your browser.
[Create an assembly cut] sends that request straight to the agent.
Once you have a draft, you can also review it by leaving notes on it as you watch and sending them to chat in one batch. See Review a draft with comments.
What you can ask for
What you can ask for covers six kinds of work. You do not pick between them, you just describe what you want and Selects uses the right one.
Assemble and cut: put your sources on a draft, then shape them into a finished edit. Ask for a storyline, a target length, or a highlight pass.
Pacing and speech flow: silences, pauses, dead air, filler words, repeated words, and jump cuts. Ask qualitatively with gentle, normal, tight, or jump cut, or give exact timings and it follows those instead.
Cut to a script: give it your script and it matches each line to what was actually recorded, on the take you meant, in script order.
Picture-led edits: find and assemble by what is on screen, including subjects, actions, expressions, locations, and shot order. Useful for montages, shot lists, and B-roll.
Clean up blurry or shaky shots: clears the bad stretches off a draft, using what analysis already detected rather than re-scanning your footage.
Organize your footage: sorts your sources into Main and B-roll folders, or any layout you name. It only moves what is already there, so nothing is created or deleted.
Note: On multicam footage, a blur cleanup switches to a clean angle showing the same person rather than cutting the moment out. It only removes footage when there is one camera, or when no other angle is clean there.
Tip: You can attach a screenshot of a folder layout from another editor or from Finder and ask Selects to match it. It reads the folder names and file placement from the image, and tells you anything it could not match.
Attach a script or an image
You can attach a script or an image to any message. Click the paperclip in the chat input, or drag the file straight onto the composer.
Scripts: .txt, .md, .docx, .pdf, and .srt. One script per message, and attaching a new one replaces the last.
Images: PNG, JPEG, GIF, and WebP.
Files must be under 10 MB, and scripts must be under 45,000 characters, not counting timestamps. You can also paste a script straight into the input. Long pastes turn into an attachment chip showing the first line and the character count.
If a file is empty, an unsupported type, or unreadable, Selects tells you which so you can fix it. Scanned or image-only documents cannot be read as scripts.
Point the agent at a specific draft or folder
To point the agent at something specific, type @ in the chat input and pick it from the list. You can mention a [Draft], a [Synced timeline], or a [Folder]. It saves describing which draft you mean when a project has several.
Choose a model
To choose a model, click the model name at the bottom right of the chat input. The menu groups models by who pays for the conversation.
[Use Selects credit]: these models are billed to your Selects credits. The rate next to each one shows how quickly it uses them, so you can trade capability for cost.
[Claude]: chat using your own Claude subscription instead, without spending Selects credits. See Use your own Claude subscription below.
[Remaining credits] sits in the same menu. Hover it to see your current balance without leaving the chat.
Tip: [Connect MCP] sits at the top of this menu. It lets you drive Selects from your own AI agent instead of this chat. See Connect Selects to your AI agent with the Selects MCP.
Use your own Claude subscription
If you already pay for Claude Pro or Max, you can connect that subscription and chat in Selects without spending Selects credits on the conversation. Selects runs the model against your Claude plan instead.
This is usually the cheaper way to chat, because a flat monthly Claude plan costs less per message than the paid API access behind the Selects models.
Connect your subscription
Click the model name at the bottom right of the chat input.
Under [Claude], click [Reuse your Claude Pro or Max subscription].
Read the [Connect with Claude Subscription] dialog, then click [Connect].
Sign in to Claude in the browser window that opens and approve the connection.
Return to Selects when you see Claude connected in your browser.
Once connected, the [Claude] section lists the Claude models you can chat with. None of them show a credit rate, because none of them use Selects credits.
Note: This needs a paid Claude Pro or Max subscription. A free Claude account will not work, and Selects cannot check your plan before you sign in, so an unsupported plan shows a connection error rather than a message about your plan.
Switch back, or disconnect
Picking a model from [Use Selects credit] switches that conversation back to Selects credits. It does not sign you out, so you can move between the two whenever you like.
To sign out completely, click [Disconnect] on the right of the [Claude] heading. That deletes the saved connection, and you would need to sign in again to use it.
Your Claude sign-in is stored encrypted on your own computer. It is never sent to Selects servers, and the model runs on your machine against your own account.
While the agent is working
While the agent is working, timeline editing is locked for a moment and Selects shows you its progress. The send button turns into a stop button, so click that to cancel.
Manage your chats
You can keep several chats going per project, so you never have to clear one to start another.
[New chat] starts an extra chat alongside the ones you already have.
The back arrow at the top of the panel opens your chat list for this project. Pick any chat to carry on where you left off.
Credits
Chatting with the Selects Agent uses credits when you pick a model under [Use Selects credit]. How fast they go depends on the model you pick.
Note: Chat to edit is currently in Beta, so chatting with the Selects models is free at the moment. We will update this article when that changes.
Chatting on a connected Claude subscription does not use Selects credits. Your Claude plan covers the conversation instead.
Analyzing your footage always uses credits, on either option. See How AI analysis works in Selects and Selects App: Plans and Pricing.
Not sure which setup fits you? See Which AI setup should you use in Selects?
FAQs
Does chatting with the Selects Agent use credits?
Chatting uses Selects credits when you pick a model under [Use Selects credit], though it is free at the moment while chat to edit is in Beta. If you connect your own Claude subscription, chatting does not use Selects credits. Analyzing your footage uses credits either way.
Do I need a Claude subscription to use chat in Selects?
No. A Claude subscription is optional. Selects includes its own models under [Use Selects credit], so you can chat and build drafts without paying for anything else.
Why does it say my Claude subscription hit a rate limit?
The message "Claude subscription rate limit reached" means you have hit the usage limit on your own Claude plan, not a Selects limit. Wait for your Claude limit to reset, switch to a lighter Claude model, or pick a model under [Use Selects credit] to keep working.
Nothing happened when I tried to connect my Claude subscription. What now?
If the browser window closed without connecting, or you left it open too long, the attempt times out quietly after two minutes, and the menu still shows [Reuse your Claude Pro or Max subscription]. Open the menu and click it again to start over. If you see "Claude connection expired" later on, click [Disconnect] first, then connect again.