The AI Chat panel brings an AI assistant directly into the Project Editor. Ask questions about your timeline, request edits, or brainstorm ideas — all without leaving ScreenKite or opening a terminal. The chat session has full access to the same MCP tools used by external agents, so it can read project state, apply cuts, and set scene layouts just like Claude Code or Codex would.
Opening the Chat Panel
Click the Chat button in the top toolbar to open the panel.
Chat button in the top toolbar in its inactive state — unfilled bubble icon, no green dot badge
When the panel is open, the button switches to a filled icon and a green status dot appears once the chat server is running.
Chat button in the top toolbar in its active/panel-open state — filled bubble icon with green dot badge
The panel slides in from the left edge of the preview area. Its default width is 360 pt, and both the open/closed state and the panel width persist across sessions via AppStorage (chatPanel.visible and chatPanel.width).
Toolbar Button Context Menu
Right-click or Control-click the Chat button to access the context menu:
| State | Menu items |
|---|---|
| Signed out | Sign In |
| Panel hidden | Show Chat |
| Panel visible | Hide Chat |
The primary click action matches the most relevant item: it opens a sign-in prompt when an account is required, or toggles the panel when you are already signed in.
Installing the Chat Module
The first time you open the chat panel on a fresh install, ScreenKite may need to download the chat runtime. The panel shows a progress overlay while this happens. The editor remains fully usable during the download.
Install states (in order):
- Preparing Chat... — checking whether a compatible runtime is already present
- Downloading Chat... — fetching the signed runtime archive from the ScreenKite update server
- Verifying Chat... — confirming SHA-256 checksums and code signature
- Installing Chat... — moving the verified runtime into place
Once the runtime is installed it is reused on every subsequent launch; the download runs at most once per app build.
Using the Chat Panel
Once the server is running (green dot on the Chat button), the panel loads an embedded web view. You can:
- Ask questions about your project — "How long is the current timeline?" or "Which tracks have audio?"
- Request edits — "Cut the first three seconds." or "Add a scene layout from 10s to 20s."
- Brainstorm — "Suggest a structure for a two-minute product demo."
The assistant reads live project state through ScreenKite's MCP tools before answering, so its answers reflect the actual timeline rather than a stale snapshot.
You can also drag files from Finder directly onto the chat panel to attach them to a message.
Relationship to Agent CLI and MCP
The Chat panel and the external agent workflow use the same underlying MCP server. The difference is who drives it:
| Chat panel | External agent (CLI/MCP) | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | In-app panel | Terminal / agent process |
| Good for | Conversational edits, quick questions | Automated pipelines, batch operations, custom scripts |
| Setup required | Sign in | Sign in + CLI install |
| Uses MCP tools | Yes | Yes |
Use the Chat panel for interactive, conversational work. Use an external agent when you want repeatable, scriptable workflows or need to chain many operations together. See Agentic Video Editing for the CLI and MCP setup.
Resizing and Hiding
Drag the vertical divider between the chat panel and the preview area to resize the panel. The width is clamped between 300 pt (minimum) and 520 pt (maximum) and is saved automatically.
To hide the panel, click the Chat button again, or right-click it and choose Hide Chat. The panel state and width are restored the next time you open a project.