MontikThis guide uses Montik, the editor we make. You can also do it by hand in Montik, with the same result and without Claude.
1. Connect Claude to Montik
In Claude, open Customize > Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste this URL. Sign in to Montik and choose Allow.
https://studio.montik.app/mcpThis works on any Claude plan. Using Claude Code or Cursor? See the MCP setup.
2. Add your video
Upload it to a Montik project in your browser, or give Claude a public link to the file. Then keep the project open, because each change appears on the timeline as Claude makes it.
3. Ask for the subtitles
Tell Claude what you want, including the look:
Transcribe this video and add karaoke subtitles. Keep them short, three or four words at a time.
Mention names and product terms, because a transcript only spells them right if it knows them:
The speaker is talking about Halo, a squalane serum. Spell those correctly.
Montik transcribes in more than 60 languages, with a timestamp on each word. If the video mixes languages, say which ones.
4. Choose a style
Montik’s subtitle presets include these, and you can ask for any of them by name:
- Karaoke: bold uppercase text with a thick outline, highlighting each word in yellow as it’s spoken.
- Boxed: dark text on a white box, which stays readable over busy footage.
- TikTok: white text on a dark rounded box.
- Neon: cyan text with a blue outline.
You can also set how many words appear at a time, whether they’re uppercase, and how high they sit. If your project has a brand kit, subtitles follow its fonts and colours unless you ask for something else.
5. Add subtitles last
Finish the cut first. Subtitles follow the words on the timeline, so if you change the edit afterwards, ask Claude to generate them again. That replaces the old subtitle track with one that matches the new cut.
6. Check them
Ask Claude to check the edit. Montik’s edit check flags subtitles that go by too fast to read, and text that sits under the TikTok, Reels or Shorts buttons. Claude can also render frames to look at its own work.
Then read them yourself. Transcription still gets words wrong, especially names, and you’ll catch things a check won’t.
On vertical video, keep text out of the top 14% and bottom 35% of the frame, where platform buttons and captions usually sit. Montik draws those safe areas on the preview.
Common questions
Can I get an SRT file instead?
Not today. Montik draws subtitles into the video and exports an MP4, so there’s no separate subtitle file. That suits short ads, because they look the same everywhere they play.
Do I need Claude for this?
No. In Montik you can generate subtitles from the transcript by hand. Claude is useful when you’d rather describe the result, or when subtitles are one step in a bigger edit.
What does it cost?
You can start free. The Free plan gives a workspace 30 minutes of transcription and 5 exports a month, and paid plans start at $19 a month.
