AutoShort

Faceless explainer shorts with Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

You explain one thing per video and never appear on camera. Your AI assistant writes the script with you, AutoShort keeps the narration word for word, draws a picture for each scene and renders a 9:16 vertical short once you approve it.

Who it is for

  • People who explain one idea at a time (how a thing works, why something happens) and do not want to film themselves.
  • Small businesses that answer the same customer questions again and again and want each answer as a short.
  • Anyone who already uses Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI and prefers to write the script in the chat they already have open.

What AutoShort does for this

  • You and the assistant agree the script scene by scene (up to 12 scenes). autoshort_draft_video stores your narration word for word and the picture description for each scene. It is free and renders nothing.
  • autoshort_get_draft and autoshort_update_draft let you read the draft and change one scene's narration, picture or timing before you pay.
  • autoshort_estimate_cost prices the render for free. autoshort_render_draft then charges once, after your yes, and the video is a 9:16 short with burned-in captions.
  • For a repeating channel, autoshort_create_series makes a video on a schedule from a topic brief. Creating the series is free; each scheduled video is charged when it is made.
  • Niches that fit explainers include AI facts, psychology facts, personal finance and life hacks (autoshort_list_niches shows the live list). Ready examples are on the templates page.

Not connected yet? Follow the steps for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI on the MCP page.

Worked example

Worked example

Not run: costs credits

Why a phone battery holds less charge as it ages

Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Gemini CLI once AutoShort is connected. It is the library prompt One fact, one short with the bracketed parts filled in.

Use the AutoShort tools to make one faceless explainer short about why a phone battery holds less charge as it ages.
Write the script yourself, 8 to 10 short scenes, about 70 words in total. Rules:
- Scene 1 narration is at most 9 words and states the fact itself. No "Did you know" and no question.
- The visual of scene 1 is something already in motion, not a posed or wide establishing shot.
- Every scene has one concrete detail (a number, an object or a place) that you are sure is true. If you are not sure, leave it out.
Then: call autoshort_draft_video with scenes[] (narration and visual per scene, artStyle AUTOSHORTS). This is free. Show me the draft: scenes, estimated length, warnings.
Call autoshort_estimate_cost for the draft. Show me the price first and wait for my yes before any paid step.
After my yes call autoshort_render_draft once, then poll autoshort_get_video until it is COMPLETED or FAILED and give me the link.
Tools it triggers
  • autoshort_draft_video
  • autoshort_estimate_cost
  • autoshort_render_draft
  • autoshort_get_video
Estimated cost
40 credits (about $0.63 on the Starter plan, $0.80 at the $0.02-per-credit list rate). Ask for the price first: autoshort_estimate_cost quotes it for free.
What you get
  • A draft you can read and edit first (scenes, estimated length, warnings), then one vertical short of about 30 seconds with captions.
  • The narration is read exactly as written in the draft, so any sentence you want changed is changed before the render.
Test status
Draft + price quote run on 2026-10-29 (QA account, free tools only): 8-scene draft, 31.8 s estimated, no warnings, estimate_cost 40 credits, balance stayed 0. Render not run: costs credits.

What the output looks like

  • Pip, episode 1 "One Cup" (a stickman comedy, not an explainer)

    YouTube Shorts, channel @autoshort-org, 2026-10-28. AI-generated.

    How it was made: Our own faceless series, drawn in the STICKMAN art style with one fixed character. It is a character comedy, so it shows the faceless format, not an explainer script.

    Result: At the 2026-10-28 read, 3 hours after posting, it had 1 view on YouTube. The same episode reached 346 views on our Facebook page at 2.6 hours. Small numbers; our own views are not excluded.

We have no public explainer made with the exact prompt above yet. The only public faceless series of ours with measured numbers is Pip, a stickman comedy, shown here as a format example.

What it costs

40 credits (about $0.63 on the Starter plan, $0.80 at the $0.02-per-credit list rate). Ask for the price first: autoshort_estimate_cost quotes it for free.

One short is 40 credits. A weekly series is 40 credits for each video made.

See what things cost, pricing and the refund policy. Want to see a script first? The free script preview needs no account.

Limits, stated plainly

  • The narration is read exactly as you wrote it. Facts are your responsibility: ask the assistant to name its sources and check them before the draft, because the video will say whatever the draft says.
  • Image models draw text badly. Ask for pictures without writing, signs or labels, and put any words you need in the narration or the title.
  • A standard short has no on-screen presenter and no screen recording. The pictures are generated, not diagrams you control to the pixel.
  • Length is 8 to 90 seconds for a standard short, in 9:16 vertical. Longer explainers are long-form and are not covered on this page.
  • Our videos are AI-generated and should be labelled that way where the platform asks.

Frequently asked questions

Can the assistant pick facts for me?

It can draft them, but AutoShort does not check facts. The draft stores your narration verbatim, so read every sentence before you say yes. Asking the assistant to leave out any number it cannot source is a cheap safeguard.

Will my voice or my face be used?

No. The narration uses a synthetic voice from the options list (autoshort_list_options shows the voices for each language) and the pictures are generated. Nothing is cloned from you.

How much does one explainer short cost?

A standard short of up to 90 seconds is 40 credits with the default voice. Drafting the script is free, and autoshort_estimate_cost quotes the exact price before anything is charged. The credits are taken when you approve the render, and refunded automatically if the render fails for good.

Can I change one scene after it is rendered?

Yes. autoshort_revise_scene makes a new draft that copies every scene with one changed. The original video is untouched and the revision is only charged when you render it as a new video.

Can I make this a weekly series?

Yes. autoshort_create_series is free to create, and the scheduler charges 40 credits for each video it makes. You can pause and resume it. In a series AutoShort writes each script from your brief, so you review less per video than in a draft you write yourself.

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