The AI Assistant

Use the Agent tab to ask for edits, review risky actions, and undo a turn if the result isn't right.

Open the assistant

1. Choose View → AI Assistant Panel.
2. Select the Agent tab.

Drag the divider on the panel's left edge to resize it. Solar Sailer remembers the width and whether the panel was open.

Send a request

1. Type your request in the message box.
2. Press Enter to send it. Press Shift+Enter to add a new line.

Be direct and include names or times when they matter. For example, "Trim Camera A to 01:12, then move it to V2" gives the assistant less room to guess.

You can ask it to:

• Cut, trim, move, duplicate, disable, or delete clips and time ranges.
• Add media to the timeline by name and place it at a specific time.
• Change volume, fades, position, scale, rotation, opacity, and crop.
• Mute, solo, lock, hide, or show tracks.
• Create, move, or rename markers, including range markers.
• Link or unlink audio and video clips.
• Import media and read or write files on your computer.
• Correct transcript text.
• Answer questions about the timeline, transcripts, and AI tool results.
• Save the project or run an AI tool.

The assistant can't start a finished media export. When you're ready, use Export a Video or Audio File. For a Premiere handoff, use Export to Premiere Pro.

Locked tracks stay protected. Unlock a track before asking the assistant to change clips on it.

Attach files

You can attach a reference file or image in any of these ways:

1. Click Attach files and choose the files.
2. Drag files from Explorer onto the message box.
3. Paste an image from the clipboard.

Images are sent with the message so the assistant can inspect them. Claude Code and Codex CLI subscription models do not accept image attachments. Switch Chat model to Default (API keys) or remove the image before sending. Other files are attached by their location on your computer.

Each message can have up to 8 attachments. Each image can be up to 10 MB, with a 25 MB combined image limit.

Solar Sailer saves unfinished message text with the project. It doesn't save unfinished attachments, so you'll need to add those again after a restart.

Redirect or stop the assistant

Send a text-only follow-up while the assistant works if you need to correct or redirect it. The assistant reads it at the next break between actions. A follow-up with attachments waits for the next turn.

Click Stop to interrupt the run. The current action may finish before the assistant stops.

Choose an approval level

Use Approval mode in the Agent header, or open Edit → Preferences… and choose Agent.

• Always ask pauses before every action that can change the project, change files, or run code. Read-only actions don't ask.
• Auto approve lets approved project edits and read-only actions run automatically. It still asks for scripts, shell commands, unapproved edits, and changes outside the project. This is the default.
• Never ask lets every action run without approval. Use it only when you trust the request and every file location involved.

Review an approval

Before you approve, check the action, its values, and any warning that it reaches outside the current project. You can approve it, deny it with an optional reason, or change any editable values before approving.

Some folder approvals offer three choices:

• Once allows this action.
• Always lets the assistant run scripts and shell commands starting in that folder, and write files in it, without asking again. A script or shell command can still read, change, or delete files elsewhere, so review it before granting ongoing access.
• Deny blocks the action.

You can remove an ongoing folder approval under Edit → Preferences…, Agent, Approved folders.

Pay attention when an approval lists files that can't be restored. Revert turn won't bring those files back.

If you send a new instruction while approval is waiting, Solar Sailer denies the pending actions and follows the new instruction instead.

If the assistant asks a question, choose one of its options or type your own answer.

Use your Claude or ChatGPT subscription

The Agent uses API billing by default. If Claude Code or Codex CLI is installed and logged in on this computer, you can run Agent turns through your own subscription instead.

1. Open Edit → Preferences… and choose Agent.
2. Expand Use your own AI subscription.
3. Turn on Claude Code or Codex CLI. Read the consent screen, check its acknowledgement, and click Enable.
4. Choose a Chat model. You can click Test connection to spend one short message from your plan and check the setup.
5. Click Apply.

The model control in the Agent header also lets you switch between enabled choices. A subscription model shows your plan instead of an API cost when the turn has no separate API charge.

Solar Sailer uses the provider app already logged in on your computer. It does not read or store that log-in. If your plan reaches its usage limit, wait for the reset or switch the chat model. Solar Sailer does not silently move the turn to API billing.

Undo a whole turn

Click Revert turn after a turn to restore its timeline edits and checkpointed files. Later manual edits don't prevent a revert by themselves, but a change to the same item can create a conflict.

If Solar Sailer finds a conflict, it changes nothing. Revert clean subset restores the non-conflicting timeline edits only. It doesn't restore files.

If the timeline reverts but file restoration fails, use Retry file restore. You can also use Undo timeline revert to put the timeline back.

Solar Sailer keeps revert checkpoints for the 20 most recent turns. Ctrl+Z still undoes individual timeline edits, but it doesn't restore files written by the assistant.

Save or run an AI tool

Ask the assistant to save the open project. For Save As, include the full destination path in your request. It uses the same save behavior as the File menu.

You can also ask it to start an AI tool. You can manage that run from Background Tasks, and its review results appear in the Review tab. See Run an AI Tool.

Continue a project conversation

Each project keeps its own Agent conversation and unfinished message. Switching projects switches both, and they return when you reopen the project.

Use the Terminal tab

Terminal is a separate, direct Claude Code session. It requires Claude Code to be installed and logged in with your Anthropic account. If Solar Sailer can't find Claude Code, the tab opens PowerShell instead.

Use Agent when you want the approval controls and Revert turn described on this page. Work done through Terminal isn't part of the Agent conversation and can't be restored with Revert turn. Switching projects restarts the terminal session and clears its history.

To interrupt Claude Code, click in the terminal, clear any clip or terminal text selection, and press Ctrl+C. With clips or terminal text selected, Ctrl+C copies the selection instead.

Watch an Agentic Rough Cut

The Rough Cut tab appears while an Agentic Rough Cut session exists. It is a watch-only view of that run, separate from the Agent conversation and Terminal. You can't type into it.

See Build a Rough Cut.