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Make a video like a reference: paste a TikTok, Reel, Short or X link and copy its edit
PandaStudio 2.1.47 and later can copy the edit of any video you like. On Home, click Copy a style, the first tile under Start from a proven edit, and paste a YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or X link (or upload the file), or paste the link in the What do you want to make today? box and click Copy its style. Add your footage, and the AI rebuilds the reference's graphics, transitions, captions and pacing on your video.
The reference is fetched on your Mac, never through a third-party server, and sampled end to end: overview frames of the whole video, motion close-ups around every cut, and short audio excerpts. Your own AI model then reads it and builds a setup screen: what the edit does, every graphic, transition and camera move it will rebuild, and up to five things it needs from you (your footage, plus a logo, a screen recording, a product photo or a line of text when the reference uses one). Upload each, type it, or leave it to the AI. Make my video hands the job to the AI: it learns the style (and can save it as a recipe you reuse), rebuilds each element with PandaStudio's own graphics and effects, checks each one side by side with the reference and scores it before your content goes in, then shows you the preview. The reference is only a style guide. Its footage, face, voice, words and logos never go into your video: PandaStudio refuses to use the reference file (or a copy of it) as media, and won't export a project that does. Proven edits from real creators are ready-made: under Start from a proven edit on Home, each creator card (their video, name and views) is a recipe you run straight on your footage, no fetching needed. To keep a style for later without making a video now, choose Just save the style on the setup screen: the AI studies the reference and saves its editing style as a recipe in your recipes. References can be up to 30 minutes long.
In the app
- 1On Home, scroll to Start from a proven edit. If the style you want is already a card there, click it and Use: it's a ready recipe. Otherwise click Copy a style, the first tile in the list. A style you started and didn't finish waits under Pick up where you left off.
- 2Paste a YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or X video link and click Use. Or click Upload for an MP4, MOV or WebM.
- 3Wait while PandaStudio fetches and studies the video. The first time, it also downloads its download engine.
- 4On the setup screen, check What the AI will rebuild, then fill Your material: choose your footage (or pick an existing project), and upload, type or leave each other item to the AI.
- 5Choose the style: Learn it from the video, and tick Save the style as a recipe to reuse it.
- 6Click Make my video. The AI works in the chat and shows you the preview when it's done; nothing is exported until you ask.
- 7To only keep the style as a recipe, choose Just save the style on the setup screen, name the recipe and click Save the recipe. Nothing is edited now.
Ask the AI
Open the AI chat in the editor and say any of these. The agent does the edits for you.
CLI & MCP
Every capability is a verb, reachable from the terminal or from an MCP agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Continue, Claude Desktop).
pandastudio reference.prepare --url='https://www.tiktok.com/@creator/video/7312345678901234567'
Async: job.wait gives the reference id. Also --file=/abs/video.mp4 or --galleryId (reference.gallery). Private or sign-in-only videos fail with a clear message; upload the file instead.
pandastudio reference.analyze --id=$REF
The setup: rebuild list and up to 5 slots, read by your own AI model.
pandastudio reference.render --id=$REF --slots='{"footage":{"mode":"files","paths":["/Users/me/take.mp4"]}}'Returns the instruction the AI follows: rebuild, compare with reference.compare, score with reference.score, then your content. With --mode=save --recipeTitle='Fast cuts' it only studies the reference and saves its style as a recipe.