Instagram has released a standalone video editing application for macOS, allowing users to integrate their preferred AI agents into the video assembly process. The new desktop version of the Edits app features a full multi-track timeline, keyboard shortcuts, and precise tools for color grading and audio waveforms.
Matthew Simari, Instagram’s head of product management for Edits, told The Verge that the release includes an MCP for all tools within the desktop app. Simari stated, “One of the things we’re releasing with Edits Desktop is a MCP for all the tools within Edits Desktop. You can use any agent you want, you can use Muse — we would love you to — but really any agent you want of [your] choice, to edit, tweak, work with your video.”
The expansion to macOS follows "heavy" requests from creators for a desktop version and Instagram's push into longform, widescreen content. While the mobile version of Edits launched last year and received an AI "creative assistant" in September to provide feedback based on account metrics, the desktop version allows users to "go back and forth from agentic to manual editing."
Simari provided an example of a creator using Meta’s Muse agent to access the Edits MCP to create a rough cut of a video from a downloads folder. He explained that the agent would "do the tool calls, make that rough cut for you, and then you can open that project file in Edits to continue editing."
Meta is also "expanding Edits to support multiple aspect ratios" and plans to add watermark-free 4K exports. The desktop app supports keyboard shortcuts that can be "carried over from another editor" and provides access to Instagram’s audio library and direct publishing. Additionally, users can access audio and text styles previously saved in the mobile app.
Currently, the desktop app is only available on macOS, not on Windows or Linux. Users are also unable to edit the same project across both mobile and desktop platforms at this time. Meta stated it is working on cross-platform editing and intends to update the desktop app on a weekly basis.
