Export

Export only when the user asks for a render, download, or final standalone deliverable. A review checkpoint normally stays as an editable ChatCut timeline. To check your own work, use preview_timeline for the picture and a format:"audio" export to hear sound; never make a full-resolution export for a self-check (see verification).

Use submit_export with the current tool schema. Confirm the target timeline, range, resolution, codec, and format from project state and user intent; do not guess a non-active timeline. Give each export a short, distinctive name. Record every returned renderId and expectedFilename.

Video and audio render locally by default: omit renderMode, and the connected ChatCut editor tab renders the timeline on the user's device. Open the project through the browser handoff in the plugin basics skill, activate the requested timeline, and keep that tab open until delivery finishes. If no capable editor is connected, resolve the reported browser or timeline issue and retry locally; there is no automatic cloud retry. Media the editor can already read needs no upload for a local export.

Use track_export for browser and cloud export status; do not use generation/transcription track_progress. Pass the returned renderId, or use the latest-render option for the latest project export. A wait call is a single status read; honor its check-back interval. If submission timed out or its acknowledgement is uncertain, check the latest export before resubmitting so the same export does not start twice.

Delivery

A completed browser export (source:"browser") has no downloadUrl: the rendering tab hands the file to that browser's downloads. Completion does not prove the file was saved, so deliver it only after finding it.

1. Look in the user's downloads folder (usually ~/Downloads) for expectedFilename, allowing a browser suffix such as (1) before the extension. Without expectedFilename, look for the completed track_export entry's name (the submitted name plus .mp4, .webm, or .mp3) and take the newest match modified after you submitted. Search for that name only; do not list or read other files there. If you cannot read files on the user's computer, give the user the file name instead.
2. Found: give the user the path and concise render metadata. In Claude Code, also provide a local-file preview link; in Codex, show the local file through its normal file delivery. If the user asked for a specific folder, copy the file there.
3. Not found: follow the result's deliveryGuidance when present, asking the user for the one step that matches the browser that rendered it, then look again:
   • Chrome: allow "Download multiple files" from the prompt in the address bar (once; the site stays allowed), then click Download again in the editor's Export queue.
   • Claude desktop Browser pane or WorkBuddy: click Save in the save dialog; it defaults to Downloads.
   • Codex in-app browser: click Download again in the editor's Export queue.
   • Otherwise: ask where the browser saved the file.

If reading the downloads folder needs the user's approval (a macOS privacy prompt or a host permission prompt), tell them you are looking there for the exported file. If the status says the export was written to a file the user picked, that file is the delivery. Do not skip these steps to switch to cloud, and never use cloud just to get a link or to check your own work.

If the user says they cannot complete the local step (opening the editor, or the download step above), or it still fails after they tried, explain the local blocker in one sentence and ask whether to export in the cloud; after they agree, export with renderMode:"cloud" and deliver its downloadUrl. Do not offer cloud before the user has had that chance. Only when cloud cannot do it either (for example 4K, media that exists only on the user's computer and cannot be uploaded, or a refused or failed cloud render), tell the user that ChatCut Desktop renders on their computer. Once open, Desktop connects itself to Codex, Claude Code, and WorkBuddy; in Codex, the ChatCut Desktop plugin's connect-chatcut-desktop skill covers installing it.

A completed result with a downloadUrl (cloud video/audio, subtitles, XML): use the host's normal file/link delivery. If the user asked for a specific local path, download it there yourself. In Claude Code, download it to that path or a collision-safe local path and provide the path and a local-file preview link.

Queued or running exports are not delivered. Report any warnings and their effect on the output.

Other Formats

Subtitle and NLE XML exports use the corresponding submit_export format and can complete synchronously with a URL/path; report warnings about unsupported or dropped elements. An archive runs through the editor's bundle pipeline and may return no renderId; then check its progress in the editor rather than promising track_export support. For transparent Motion Graphic delivery, use the dedicated MG export tool exposed by the current manifest and track the returned render ids.

Cloud Rendering

Use renderMode:"cloud" only when the user asks for it, or as the fallback above after the user agrees. If a cloud render is blocked by media that is not remotely readable, use asset-import when the user permits upload, or report the blocker; do not flatten or substitute the edit locally without user intent.