> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://academy.shade.inc/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://academy.shade.inc/guides/automations/turn-long-videos-into-social-clips-with-opus-clip.md).

# Turn long videos into social clips with Opus Clip

Send long-form video to Opus Clip automatically, and save the short clips it generates back into your drive.

**Outcome:** every podcast, interview, or webinar recording dropped into a folder comes back as a set of short vertical clips in your drive, ready to review.

**Who it's for:** social and content teams that cut short clips out of long-form recordings.

**Time:** about 15 minutes to build. Each run takes as long as Opus Clip needs to process the video.

## Before you start

* Build [Your first automation](/guides/automations/your-first-automation.md) first if you haven't used the automation editor.
* Have an Opus Clip account with API access. In **Settings > Integrate > Integrations**, open **Opus Clip** and connect it with your API key.
* Create two folders, for example `Long-form` for the source videos and `Clips` for the results.

## How it works

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  T["Asset Uploaded (Long-form)"] --> G["Generate Clips with Opus Clip"]
  G --> S["Save Files to Drive (Clips)"]
```

## Steps

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Trigger on uploads to the long-form folder

Create an automation named `Make social clips`. Choose **Asset Uploaded** and set **Upload location** to `Long-form`.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Generate the clips

Add **Generate Clips with Opus Clip**:

* **Video:** the uploaded asset from the trigger.
* **Curation model:** **ClipBasic** suits talking-head recordings such as podcasts and interviews. **ClipAnything** works with any footage and follows a prompt.
* **Custom prompt** (ClipAnything only): for example `the most surprising moments` or `every product demo`.
* **Max clip length:** in seconds. 60 to 90 suits most platforms.
* **Aspect ratio:** **portrait** for Reels, Shorts, and TikTok, **square** or **landscape** for everything else.
  {% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Save the clips into your drive

Add **Save Files to Drive**. Shade suggests this step after the Opus Clip step and fills in **Source URLs** with the clip links. If you add it yourself, set **Source URLs** to the Opus Clip step's clip URLs. Set **Destination folder** to `Clips`, or a subfolder named after the source video.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Save, activate, and test

Click **Save**, then **Activate**. Upload a short recording to `Long-form` and watch the run in **Runs**. Each Opus Clip stage shows up while it works, from finding highlights to rendering and uploading.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
Save the clips outside the watched folder. If clips land back in `Long-form`, they start the automation again.
{% endhint %}

## Variations

* **Review before posting:** add **Add to Collection** after saving, to put new clips into a "Clips to review" collection for your social lead.
* **Re-fetch an old project:** **Fetch Clips from Opus Clip Project** pulls the clips from a project that already finished, using its Opus Clip project ID.

## Related guides

* [Publish to YouTube or Vimeo after approval](/guides/automations/publish-to-youtube-or-vimeo-after-approval.md)
* [Build a searchable archive](/guides/search-ai-and-archives/build-a-searchable-archive.md)
* [Your first automation](/guides/automations/your-first-automation.md)


---

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