Goals & Scope

Venturi is an editing-focused non-linear video editor (NLE) written in Rust. It does few things and aims to do them well: cutting, the transforms used while editing, correcting the color and finishing the sound in place.

System context

A single binary, vv-app, either opens the editor window or (vv-app mcp) runs a headless MCP server. In the window, the MCP server can also be enabled so an agent edits the same open project.

In scope

• Multi-track timeline: cut, trim, slip, split, ripple delete, link/unlink, markers, compound clips.
• Clip effects: transform, crop, opacity and blend mode, masks, filters (color correction, exposure, blur), transitions, titles, solid colours, adjustment clips.
• Color correction with wheels and auto balance, checked on GPU scopes; composition in 16-bit float, per-project precision.
• Keyframes on every parameter, with a curve editor.
• Clip speed (1%–10,000%), pitch-preserved fast playback.
• Audio: mixer with per-track and master gain/pan, effect chain (EQ, multiband compressor), voiceover recording, VAD-based silence removal.
• Proxies, waveforms, thumbnails generated in the background.
• Export to MP4 (H.264 + AAC); interchange with other NLEs via OpenTimelineIO.
• Control by AI agents through the built-in MCP server.

Out of scope

• Node editor or node-based compositor.
• Node-based grading and a 10-bit pipeline: media are decoded to 8 bits per channel. For that, grade in another NLE via OTIO.

Platforms

Linux first, on any architecture: developed and tested on Linux, not ported to it. Also runs on Apple Silicon Macs.

Compositing always runs on the GPU (wgpu: Vulkan on Linux, Metal on macOS). Every hardware path falls back to software.

Design targets

• Modest RAM/VRAM; 1080p is the reference resolution that sizes the cache budgets.
• Long-GOP sources (typically x264 H.264) must still scrub and play smoothly.
• Alpha software: the project file format is not yet stable.