How to Add Captions and Subtitles with Claude
Add captions to videos using Claude and ToolRouter. Auto-transcribe and burn in subtitles with AI.
Tool
Claude handles the full captioning workflow -- transcription, review, and burn-in -- as a multi-step conversation in your terminal. Review the auto-generated transcript, ask Claude to correct specific terms, choose your caption styling, and produce the final captioned video through iterative dialogue. This end-to-end approach ensures accuracy before permanent caption embedding.
Connect ToolRouter to Claude
1Go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
2Enter the details below and click Add
Name
ToolRouterURL
https://api.toolrouter.com/mcp3Done — works on Claude chat, desktop, and mobile
Steps
Once connected (see setup above), use the Video Editor tool:
- Start with transcription: "Transcribe this video and generate captions"
- Claude runs transcribe_video and returns the timestamped transcript
- Burn in the captions: "Add these captions to the video with white text on a semi-transparent black bar"
- Claude uses edit_footage to embed the captions directly into the video
Example Prompt
Try this with Claude using the Video Editor tool
Transcribe this interview video and add burned-in captions. Use bold white text with a dark background strip at the bottom. Make the text large enough for mobile viewing.
Tips
- Ask Claude to review and correct the transcription before burning in captions
- Specify caption styling to match your brand — font, color, position, size
- Generate both embedded captions and a separate SRT file for platform uploads