# Build brief — a focused alternative to BlitzReels > **Verdict:** Not faithfully · **Buildability:** 31/100 · **Category:** Audio Video > **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/blitzreels > Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from BlitzReels. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting. ## Context **BlitzReels** — Turns recordings into clips with a full NLE, API, CLI, and agent integrations. It currently costs $25/mo. A toy clip finder is a one-session build. A credible BlitzReels replacement is not: the product combines reliable long-video ingestion, timestamp-accurate AI selection, smart reframing, a complete nonlinear editor, browser preview and export parity, public API and CLI contracts, agent integrations, storage, and render orchestration. Its founder reports that the production system took a year even with prior Remotion experience and paid templates. This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of BlitzReels that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest. ## What you are building Import one long video, transcribe it, rank clip candidates, let the user adjust boundaries and captions, then export a 9:16 MP4. - Transcribe supplied recordings, cut them on a timeline, and export finished files. - A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states. ## Requirements ### Functional - Node.js 22. - FFmpeg and ffprobe. - Local disk space for source and rendered media. ### Data and integrations - OpenAI API key in .env. Each of these needs a real account, credential, or quota. Set them up before writing feature code. ### Non-functional - Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support. - Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle. - Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down. - Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it. ## Implementation brief Build the closest honest personal substitute for BlitzReels in an empty repository. Use exactly Node.js 22, TypeScript, React, Remotion, SQLite, FFmpeg, and the OpenAI API. Run as a single-user local web app with one documented command. The core loop is import one user-owned long video, transcribe it, rank five clip candidates, edit one, and export 9:16 MP4. Preserve the original file and store projects, transcripts, candidates, and edits in SQLite. Use ffprobe for duration and stream metadata before accepting a file. Extract audio with FFmpeg and transcribe it with word timestamps. Ask a text model for five 30 to 90 second candidates with exact boundaries, titles, hooks, and reasons. Reject overlapping or out-of-range candidates and show the model output as suggestions, never facts. Let the user adjust in and out points, edit caption text, and preview the vertical composition. Use a static center crop with a manual horizontal offset; do not claim subject tracking. Render burned captions from verified word timings with one readable style. Export through Remotion to a new file and never overwrite source media. Show import, probing, transcription, analysis, preview, rendering, success, and recoverable failure states. Persist job state so an interrupted transcription or render can be retried safely. Put the OpenAI key in .env, ship .env.example, and never log secrets or transcript contents. Add safe filenames, upload size limits, input validation, and explicit local data deletion. Write focused tests for time-range validation, candidate overlap, caption grouping, and project persistence. Add one end-to-end smoke test using a tiny generated video fixture. Create a README with setup, FFmpeg installation, architecture, data location, costs, backup, and limitations. Deliberately exclude smart reframing, B-roll generation, voice isolation, silence cleanup, and a complete multitrack NLE. Deliberately exclude the public API, CLI, agent integrations, accounts, teams, cloud rendering, share pages, and social publishing. Do not call this a BlitzReels clone; label it a narrow local clip finder and exporter. Run the tests and a real sample render before finishing, then report the exact commands and output path. ## Delivery standard - Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code. - Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data. - Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations. - Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states. - Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data. - Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details. - Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey. - Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations. ## Acceptance criteria - [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example. - [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable. - [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state. - [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control. - [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures. - [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified. ## Non-goals Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them: - Reliable ingestion and recovery for large or malformed recordings. - Production-tuned clip selection and timestamp alignment. - Subject-aware speaker and screen reframing. - Complete NLE, caption styles, paid templates, and keyframed timeline editing. - Public API, CLI, agent integrations, cloud rendering, retries, and share workflows. ## What you still own after launch - Secure credentials, rotate secrets, and handle provider rate limits. - Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates. - Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change. - Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss. ## Risk **Operational risk.** The code is achievable; dependable data, integrations, and ongoing operations are the real cost. Editorial confidence in this assessment: high. No reviewed project implementation is linked yet. ## Prior art Working open-source software you can read, fork, or borrow from before starting: - [auto-editor](https://github.com/WyattBlue/auto-editor) — Open-source command-line video and audio editor for automatic cuts - [Kdenlive](https://github.com/KDE/kdenlive) — Mature open-source nonlinear video editor --- Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/blitzreels