Install Tesseract in the ChatGPT desktop app, let it set up the free engine, cut a first video from your own clip and change one part without a redo.
Swipe or tap Next · checked on 2026-10-31
Not technical? Start here. Copy this prompt into ChatGPT or Claude and it walks you through the whole guide, one step at a time, in plain English. It asks before it assumes anything and checks with you before anything that costs money, reaches a real customer or deletes something. The rest of the page is the same guide, written out, if you'd rather do it yourself.
The setup helper prompt (copy all of it) · lines 1-1 of 28. Copy all copies the whole prompt; read it in full on the page.
Hi. Please be my patient setup helper. I run a business and I'm not technical, so go one step at a time, tell me exactly what to click or type, and wait for me to say done before the next step.This is the manual way: every step, every prompt and every fix. The helper prompt above follows it too.
Every change goes back into the same project file. That's why a fix only touches the part you named, instead of the whole video getting made again.
tsrct.Download it from OpenAI and sign in with your ChatGPT account. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Tesseract runs a program on your computer, so it needs the desktop app: OpenAI says plugins that run local programs are marked Desktop only and install and run only there, not in ChatGPT on the web.
Plan check: OpenAI's plan table lists the desktop app's local chats and plugins on Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise. It doesn't list them for Free or Go.
Make a new folder and copy one short clip into it. Keep the original somewhere else. Mirage's own advice: footage, logos and music in one folder, and keep a copy of the originals.
Open the Plugins tab, search for Tesseract, open the one published by Mirage and click the plus button. (The Install Tesseract button on Mirage's ChatGPT page opens the same listing.) Then start a new chat: installed plugins add their skills to new chats, not the one you already had open.
To call it by name in a chat, type @ and pick Tesseract. Most of the time you don't have to; just say "Use Tesseract to ...".
Open your clip folder in the desktop app and start the chat there, so ChatGPT works on that folder. Then check the permissions menu below the box you type in, and pick Ask for approval. OpenAI's own advice is to start there for most work.
The plugin is the instructions; the engine is a separate program that previews and renders on your computer. ChatGPT installs it for you by following Mirage's install guide. In the chat on your folder, paste this:
Prompt: install the engine · Part 1 of 2 · Copy copies all 4 lines
Use Tesseract. Follow its installation guide to install the Tesseract engine (the tsrct command) for my computer, the exact version the plugin requires, not just the newest one.
Before you run each command, tell me in one plain sentence what it does.
Verify the download's checksum before installing. Don't use sudo or admin rights, and don't bypass any Gatekeeper or SmartScreen warning: if one shows up, stop and tell me.Prompt: install the engine · Part 2 of 2 · Copy copies all 4 lines
When it's done, run it with --version and tell me the version and where it's installed. Don't start a project yet.What it does, per Mirage's install guide: it picks the download that matches your computer, gets the ZIP and its matching .sha256 file from Mirage's GitHub releases, checks the checksum, unzips it and runs the installer. The installer doesn't need admin rights, Homebrew or Node. The plugin pins the engine version it needs (0.4.0 when I checked, released 2026-10-13), and Mirage's guide tells ChatGPT not to swap in a different one.
Mac downloads are signed and notarized by Apple, and the first launch may need internet for Apple's check. The Windows download isn't signed, so SmartScreen may warn you. If it does, read it, and if it's a work computer, follow your company's approval process. Mirage's guide says not to bypass Gatekeeper or SmartScreen, and I wouldn't either.
When it's done, the engine is here:
Where the engine lands
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Tesseract/bin/tsrct
Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Tesseract\bin\tsrct.cmd
Linux: ~/.local/share/Tesseract/bin/tsrctThe engine sends basic usage data by default: which command ran (only creating a project, previews, filmstrips and exports), the version, your operating system and random ids. Mirage says no prompts, contents, file names, paths or error text get sent. If you'd rather it send nothing, ask ChatGPT to run the off command, or run it yourself:
Mac (Terminal): check it, then turn it off
"$HOME/Library/Application Support/Tesseract/bin/tsrct" telemetry status
"$HOME/Library/Application Support/Tesseract/bin/tsrct" telemetry disableWindows (PowerShell): check it, then turn it off
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Tesseract\bin\tsrct.cmd" telemetry status
& "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Tesseract\bin\tsrct.cmd" telemetry disableRendering is free, so this costs nothing beyond your normal ChatGPT usage. Keep the first one small: one clip, ten seconds, one title. Fill in your file name and your title:
Prompt 1: the first cut
Use Tesseract to make a 10-second vertical (9:16) video from <your clip's file name> in this folder.
Cut it down to the best part, put one short editable title up top that says "<your title>", and keep the clip's own sound.
Show me a preview first, and keep the source project with its media in this folder. Don't export the final video yet.Good: a preview with the cut and your title, and a .tsrct project file in your folder. Want to check the cuts? Ask for a filmstrip around them. Bad: it exports a final video without showing you a preview first. Tell it to stop and show the preview.
Now the part the video was about. Ask for one change:
Prompt 2: change one thing
Make the title bigger. Keep everything else the same: the cut, the timing and the sound.
Render a preview before exporting, and tell me exactly what you changed.Put the two previews side by side. The title should be bigger and the cut, the timing and the sound should be the same. If anything else moved, say exactly what, and ask it to put that back the way it was. When you like it:
Prompt 3: export it
That's good. Export the finished video as an MP4 in this folder and keep the .tsrct project next to it. Tell me both file names.Watch it all the way through with sound. Then check the frames for a customer's face, their address or house number, a truck with a phone number you don't want out there, or anything on a screen. Job clips are full of that stuff.
Same folder, same chat, one change at a time. Mirage's tip is to point to a time and name the change, and to tell it to keep the rest of the project the same.
1. Fix one moment
At 0:04, shorten the pause and bring the title in earlier. Keep the rest of the project the same, and show me a preview.2. Music under the talking
Use the music file <file name> in this folder. Check its timing before you plan the cuts, and keep it low enough under the talking that the speech is easy to hear. Show me a preview.3. Several clips into one
Use Tesseract to turn the clips in this folder into a 30-second vertical video. Keep the opening quick, add a clean title, and finish on our logo (<logo file name>). Show me a preview before exporting.4. A cover to go with it
Use Tesseract to design a cover graphic for this video. Match its title font and colors. Deliver the PNG and the editable project.It edits footage you already have. Mirage says it doesn't generate footage or AI avatars, and its install guide says the engine has no transcription, so if you want word-for-word captions of what someone said, you have to give it the words. It also can't add detail that isn't there: blurry, low-resolution footage stays that way, even though it can export up to 4K at 60 frames a second.
If you'd rather not use the plugin, Mirage's repo has a one-line installer for the same instructions. It needs Node.js and npm (the installer only; the engine doesn't need them). Run it in Terminal, then pick the Tesseract skills you want (Edit Video, Motion Graphics, Editor, Design) and your AI app. After that, your app sets up the engine the same way as above. You need the plugin or the skills, not both.
Skills installer
npx skills add mirage-hq/TesseractMirage says ChatGPT Mobile can run Tesseract in ChatGPT's hosted environment, so your phone isn't doing the rendering. Use the Open in ChatGPT button on Mirage's mobile page, upload your clip, describe the video, review the preview in the chat, ask for changes and download the finished video from the conversation. Mirage's page doesn't list limits on length or file size for this, so I'd keep the first one short.
Checked 2026-10-31 on Mirage's Tesseract pages and OpenAI's pricing page. Prices change: check before you buy.
So for most people it's a ChatGPT Plus plan and nothing else. Your edits use that plan's usage like any other chat, and the engine costs nothing to run. No Adobe subscription either.
Use the ChatGPT desktop app, not the website: plugins that run programs on your computer install only in the desktop app. Then check your plan; OpenAI's plan table lists plugins on Plus and up.
Start a new chat; installed plugins show up in new chats. Or type @, pick Tesseract, and start your ask with "Use Tesseract to ...".
No suitable GPU adapter foundMirage's guide says that in the ChatGPT desktop app this can come from the chat's permissions. Approve the command when it asks. Still failing? In the permissions menu below the box you type in, try Approve for me, then Full access, and run it again. Full access opens up your whole computer, so switch back to Ask for approval after. Still stuck? Ask ChatGPT for the exact command and run it yourself in Terminal.
The Windows download isn't signed, so SmartScreen may warn. Read the warning, and on a work computer follow your company's approval process. Don't switch the warning off. On a Mac, the first launch needs internet for Apple's check, and some company Macs block it by policy.
Tell it to use the version the plugin requires (its install guide pins one). Mirage's guide says not to substitute the latest release.
Keep your clips, music and logo in the same folder as the project, and don't rename or move them mid-job. Mirage says to keep the referenced files around so the project can be revised later.
Make one change at a time, name it exactly ("at 0:04", "the title only"), and add "keep everything else the same". Then say what moved and ask it to put that back.
No usable H.264 encoderThe Linux engine doesn't include an H.264 encoder (the common MP4 format). Mirage's guide says to install FFmpeg with libx264 and AAC separately and export with its external encoder option. Ask ChatGPT to follow the Linux section of the install guide.
The engine has no transcription, so it can't hear the words for you. Give it the exact words and ask for captions.
What each page backs up is listed at the end of the full guide.
You drop in a clip, ask for a cut and a title, and when you say bigger title, it changes the title and nothing else, because it's editing the project instead of handing you a whole new video.
Want help setting this up? Receipts Group builds these systems.
Open the full guide as a page (every file in full, plus the table of contents).