Getting started
Agent28 is a desktop video editor with an AI agent built into it. This page takes you from download to a first project. Everything below uses the labels you will see on screen.
Install and sign in
- Download the build that matches your machine. There are three: Apple Silicon Mac, Intel Mac, and Windows x64, and the two Mac builds are not interchangeable. The prerequisites page tells you which one you need and what each requires. Agent28 is available in beta. Get the available builds from the home page.
- Open Agent28. The sign-in screen has two buttons: Continue in browser and Continue with Google. There is no password field in the app itself.
- Continue in browser opens
app.agent28.comin your default browser, where you sign in or create an account. When that finishes, the browser hands the session back to the desktop app and the button reads “Waiting for browser sign-in…” until it does.
Tip: If the browser finishes but the app is still waiting, check that you do not have a second copy of Agent28 installed. macOS can route the return trip to whichever copy it finds first.
First-run setup
The first time you sign in on a machine with no projects, Agent28 asks a few questions so it can pick sensible defaults. The steps, in order:
| Step | What it asks | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Who are you? | One role, e.g. Content creator, Freelance editor, Agency / studio. | Pick one or Skip for now |
| What do you edit? | Formats you make: Shorts & Reels, Long-form YouTube, Podcast clips, Product demos… | Pick any or Skip for now |
| Where does it get posted? | Platforms: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, client work… | Pick any or Skip for now |
| What should Agent28 take off your plate? | Jobs for the agent, grouped as Visuals, Cutting & pacing, Media & sound, Repurpose & deliver, Workflow. | Pick any or Skip for now |
| Congrats, you're in early | Two cards: bring your own ChatGPT / Claude or API keys (free), or a plan with AI credits included. | Nothing required |
| Join the community | Discord, X, Instagram. Each follow adds bonus AI tokens to your account. | Nothing required |
Your answers are stored on this machine and in your account when you click Create your first project on the last step. If you quit before that, nothing is saved and the setup runs again next time.
Choose how AI runs
Every AI feature in Agent28 needs a model behind it. You have three options, and you can combine them.
| Option | Where to set it up | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Agent28 AI (managed) | Nothing to set up. Included with Plus, Pro, and Studio. | Metered in AI tokens against your monthly allowance. Free has no managed tokens. |
| Your own API keys | Settings → API Keys. Providers: OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, Kimi, ElevenLabs. Keys are stored in your system keychain. | Billed by the provider. Never metered by Agent28, on any plan. |
| AI apps (ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code) | Settings → AI apps. The switch Allow AI apps to edit is on by default; the apps on your computer appear as Linked. | Runs on the ChatGPT or Claude subscription you already have. Free on every Agent28 plan. |
Managed AI and your own keys both drive the in-app chat. If you have a paid plan and keys, the plan allowance is used first; once it runs out the app switches to your keys. Details are in Plans & AI options.
Create a project
- On the home screen click Create project. The tile next to it, Style Studio, studies another video's editing style and is covered under Motion graphics.
- Choose format: Vertical short or Landscape long form.
- Choose editing mode:
- Step-by-step AI editing creates an empty project named “New project”, opens the editor, and sets the chat to Plan mode. You import media yourself and ask for edits one at a time. This is the mode to start with.
- Autonomous editing (marked Beta) asks for the video type, your footage, and which AI features to run, then runs the whole pipeline in the chat panel after the editor opens.
Every wizard step and everything Autonomous mode does is documented in Projects & the editor.
The editor in one minute
- Left rail: Media, Captions, Motion Graphics, Sounds, Text, Stickers, Effects, Transitions, Zoom, Depth, Settings. Media is selected when a project opens.
- Center: the preview. Below it, the timeline.
- Right: the chat panel, titled “28”, is open by default. Selecting anything on the timeline replaces it with that element's properties; the Chat button in the header brings the chat back.
- Projects save themselves. Edits are written to local storage less than a second after you make them, and while the preview is playing the save waits until you stop.
Where to go next
- Chat & your first edit — the four chat modes, attachments, approving plans, and reverting a turn.
- Enable AI apps — if you want ChatGPT, Claude, or Claude Code to drive the editor.
- Captions & transcription — engines, templates, and the transcript editor.
- Exporting — formats, quality, and where the file goes.