A Claude Workflow for Sourcing and Adding B-Roll to Your Timeline

Your base cut is ready, but the B-roll folder still holds dozens of clips. You need to find the action that matches each explanation, pick the clearest part of the clip, and fit it over the right words. If you’re missing a shot, you need to find a replacement. Even after choosing a clip, you still need to decide when it appears, how it’s framed and when to return to the speaker, without disturbing the edit you already like.

Claude can help carry out that visual pass. However, it needs to be connected to a compatible video editor through MCP. The connection exposes editing tools, so it can search your recordings, source stock, generate supporting visuals and place them on an editable timeline.

You can choose any editor with a compatible MCP connection for this, but if you want a free option, invideo Editor’s MCP connection gives Claude access to a professional, frame-accurate multitrack timeline. Its full manual editing suite stays available throughout, so you can make your own creative choices in the same project and continue with Claude from those changes.

Ordinary editing through invideo MCP does not consume invideo credits. Stock sourcing by the invideo agent and generating new images, video or audio use invideo credits. Claude’s plan and usage allowance apply separately.

In this guide, we’ll use a four-minute clip from a bicycle repair workshop to demonstrate how to get Claude to add appropriate B-roll and turn it into a step-by-step instruction guide. The mechanic’s narration, dialogue, captions and music are already edited in a project called “Bicycle Repair Guide.” We also have workshop recordings of checking wheels, arranging tools and handling repaired bikes. The goal is to show the work behind her explanations and keep her personal anecdotes present. The prompts and timings are illustrative examples you can adapt to your recordings.

Connect Claude to the editing tools

Open invideo’s connection page and select Claude. In Claude on the web or in Claude Desktop, open Customize → Connectors → + Add → Add custom connector. Name it “invideo” and enter https://mcp.invideo.io/mcp as the server URL.

Complete the connection and sign in with your invideo account when prompted. Enable invideo in the editing conversation through the composer’s + menu and Connectors. For Team or Enterprise, an authorised owner must first add the connector for the organisation. Claude’s custom-connector instructions cover the account-specific steps.

The Claude tab shows the MCP server URL and invideo sign-in step. Keep the editor open alongside Claude to watch and play the edit.

Give the existing edit a visual brief

Share the project link and name the timeline. Upload additional footage directly in invideo Editor; use Claude Desktop if you want Claude to import local files for you. If your edit is in another application, you can import a compatible XML project with its source media. A rendered video is useful as a reference, but it does not preserve the separate main footage, captions and music layers from the original project.

Set the context before requesting placements:

The illustration identifies the step-by-step guide, the available recordings and the narration, step order and anecdotes to preserve.

Claude can read the current timeline, including manual edits. Explain the intention behind a choice it cannot infer, such as keeping the mechanic on screen during a personal recollection. You can ask for a duplicate timeline first if you want to compare an alternative visual treatment.

Find the passages that need a picture

Instead of adding a cutaway every few seconds, give Claude a job that starts with the explanation. It can search spoken content and visual action in the connected project, so you do not need to identify every filename or time range first. Semantic footage search is useful when a folder contains many similar shots.

For this guide, let the discovery pass compare each narrated instruction with what the workshop recordings actually show:

Review “Bicycle Repair Guide” and our uploaded workshop footage. Find the steps where seeing an action would make the mechanic’s instructions clearer. Suggest matching shots in the same order as her explanation, starting with the wheel-checking step. Return the current timeline location, a matching clip, the clearest part to use and any visual gap. Keep her personal anecdotes mainly on her face. Do not change the timeline yet.

The useful result is a small placement plan: a spoken passage, a shot that answers it and a reason to use that shot. “Wheel close-up” is too broad if it only shows a parked bike. Here, we want the mechanic turning the wheel while checking its movement.

Review the suggested source ranges. If the recording does not contain the named action, ask Claude to flag that gap. You can film a pickup or choose a different real shot; stock and generation have other roles in this guide.

Turn a source selection into a timed insert

Once the candidate works, Claude can place it above the mechanic’s main footage and trim it against the explanation. Describe the visible beginning and end of the action as well as the words that cue it:

In “Bicycle Repair Guide,” use our clearest take of the mechanic slowly turning the wheel on the stand while checking the rim’s movement. Start the upper B-roll shot at “we turn it slowly,” show the checking action, and return to her face before she starts the customer story. Keep her narration continuous. Mute the insert’s source audio and preserve the base cuts, captions and music. Frame the wheel rim, her hand and the stand pointer clearly.

Illustration: the wheel-checking shot on V2 covers the mechanic’s main footage on V1, while the mechanic’s narration on A1 and music on A2 continue. The playhead shows the close-up in the programme viewer.

The source range and timeline range answer different questions. The source range selects the useful action from the recording. The timeline range decides which spoken passage it covers. Moving the insert later changes the second; choosing an earlier frame within that insert changes the first.

For a separate creator example, see Chris Ajtony’s demonstration at 09:26.

The screen recording on V2 covers the presenter footage on V1 while his dialogue continues on A1.

Play the section before, during and after the B-roll with sound. Show the action as the mechanic explains it, then return to her face for the next instruction or personal anecdote. Existing captions may need a position adjustment over the new picture; keep their wording and timing unless you want those changed too.

Fill a general visual gap with stock

Source search finds what you recorded. Stock sourcing brings a stock asset into the project. Claude can do both through the connected Editor, but tell it which you intend and where the new shot belongs.

Suppose the opening mentions everyday city journeys and your shoot stayed inside the workshop. A general cycling shot can establish that context:

Source a stock shot of an adult commuter cycling along a calm city street in daylight for the opening line about everyday journeys. Choose an ordinary city bike and an unobtrusive background, without prominent logos or landmark buildings. Place it over that line, mute its source audio and return to our mechanic before she begins the first instruction. Keep the opening narration and music unchanged. Use stock footage, not a generated clip.

Illustration: the stock commuter shot establishes city cycling over the opening dialogue. The workshop itself is shown with the project’s recorded footage.

Stock is useful for that general setting. The actual workshop, its customers and the work the mechanic describes are better served by your recordings. Do not present an unrelated workshop as hers. If viewers could mistake the generic cycling shot for a particular customer’s journey, use a different placement or make the context clear.

Check the stock clip between its neighbours. A restrained daylight shot may fit this guide better than a dramatic racing montage. You can refine framing and colour manually, or ask Claude to choose another asset while keeping the placement.

Make an illustrative insert for an abstract idea

Some lines describe an idea rather than an action you can photograph. Claude can request new images or video through invideo Editor and place them in the project. Image generation creates a new asset; it is separate from searching recorded footage or stock.

Our mechanic says, “A repair keeps the next journey possible.” A brief illustrated loop can make that idea visible without pretending to show a particular repair outcome:

Generate a simple 16:9 editorial illustration on a cream background: three connected scenes in a gentle loop, showing a bicycle at a repair stand, the bicycle being ridden, and the bicycle returning to a workshop. Use flat teal and rust shapes, no numbers and no generated text. Add “Repair and ride” as a separate editable title. Place the image over “a repair keeps the next journey possible,” hold through that thought, then return to our real workshop footage. Keep the dialogue, captions and music timing unchanged. Make the artwork visibly illustrative.

Illustration: the generated artwork sits on V2, with “Repair and ride” on a separate title layer above it. The main footage and narration remain underneath.

Keep the message no more specific than the mechanic’s explanation supports. The loop explains an idea; it is not a record of the workshop’s results. For a separate Editor example of supporting-image layers, see Matt Penny’s demonstration at 05:03.

Generation uses invideo credits. Review the first image before developing more assets. If you want a gentle move across it, ask Claude to animate the image clip with editable keyframes while keeping the title readable.

If you created B-roll elsewhere, upload those assets into the project before asking Claude to place them. Jhon Vargas’s B-roll passage at 16:32 shows downloaded clips before his instructions to place them above the original dialogue.

The generated artwork is one image clip. Its internal scenes do not become separate editable objects. The title stays independently editable because it is a text layer. Our mixed-media editing guide explains how to build a treatment from separate footage, images and graphics when you want more control.

Ask for precise edits while preserving the approved story

A useful second pass may change the emphasis rather than the number of shots. Suppose the wheel-checking insert is technically relevant but holds too long, covering the mechanic’s expression as she starts recalling a customer.

Use current-edit timing and a content reference together. These example times refer to “Bicycle Repair Guide,” not the source recording:

The illustration specifies the shot, its start and end, and the picture and sound to preserve.

This revision changes the visual selection and exit, keeping the instructions and overall pace intact. Play from before the checking line into the customer recollection. Make sure the hand and wheel action remain understandable and that returning to her face feels natural.

In a separate creator example, BMF MEDIA’s revision at 04:50 shows opening-revision notes beside an editable timeline. His later discussion also describes moving B-roll to match a spoken reference.

You can choose the exact source in-point, trim the overlay, adjust its colour or shape its movement yourself. The full manual suite is part of directing the guide, including decisions you prefer to make by eye. Claude rereads the updated timeline before continuing. If you manually hold the mechanic’s reaction longer, tell it to preserve that choice in the next pass.

Watch the visual pass in context and export

Review the full guide once the inserts are in place. Check that each demonstrated action matches the instruction being spoken and that the steps remain in order. Give her personal anecdotes room on screen. Listen for doubled audio, read captions over each new background, and inspect the joins into and out of B-roll.

Then name the finished timeline:

Export the current “Bicycle Repair Guide” timeline as a finished 16:9 H.264 MP4. Preserve the current picture, dialogue, captions, titles and music. Keep the editable timeline available for further revisions.

The H.264 · MP4 export view lets you export the entire timeline and choose resolution, frame rate, quality and loudness.

You can export manually too. Open the rendered MP4 and check the new passages, captions, sound and ending before sharing it. For an editable handoff, name the destination application separately when requesting project export.

This workflow is useful when you already have the narration and step order and want help doing the visual work around it. You decide when to show evidence, when to introduce a general scene and when an illustration makes the idea clearer. Claude carries out the search and placements on a timeline you can keep shaping. For a broader workflow from raw footage, see our complete guide to editing videos with Claude.

Frequently asked questions

Can Claude find B-roll without my timestamps?

Yes. In a compatible connected editor, describe the spoken passage or visual action you need. Claude can search footage and return source references or place the selection. Clear filenames help, but you do not need to locate every shot yourself.

Can I add B-roll to an edit I have already started?

Yes. Share the invideo Editor project link and timeline name, then explain the new visuals and approved elements to preserve. You can also import a compatible XML project and its source media from another editor to continue with editable layers.

How do I keep the mechanic’s narration under the B-roll?

Ask Claude to place the insert above the mechanic’s main footage, preserve the narration track and mute the insert’s source audio. If you want workshop sounds as well, request them explicitly on a separate layer and balance them below the voice. Check the mix in playback.

Does sourcing or generating B-roll use invideo credits?

Footage analysis and ordinary timeline editing through invideo MCP do not consume invideo credits. Stock sourcing by the invideo agent uses invideo credits, as does generating new images, video or audio. Claude’s plan and usage allowance apply separately.

Can I change generated B-roll and other layers manually?

Yes. You can trim, replace, reframe and animate image or video clips, and edit separate titles and graphics with the full manual suite. Details baked into a generated image require a revised image or separate elements. Claude can continue from your updated timeline; bring the project link, approved choices and remaining work if you start a new conversation.