Cardboard – Agentic Video Editor for Creators

TL;DR

TL;DR: Cardboard is a browser-based video editor where you describe edits in plain language and AI handles the complex timeline operations — from smart trimming to beat-matched montages with voiceovers.

Source and Accuracy Notes

• Product: https://www.usecardboard.com
• Launch HN: Launch HN: Cardboard (YC W26) – Agentic video editor (132 points)
• Pricing: https://www.usecardboard.com/pricing
• This article reflects publicly available information from the product website and launch post. No proprietary data used.

What Is Cardboard?

Cardboard is a collaborative, browser-based video editor built for the agentic era. Where traditional NLEs (non-linear editors) force you to drag clips, manually keyframe transitions, and hunt for the right B-roll, Cardboard lets you describe what you want in plain English and maps those semantic requests to complex timeline operations automatically.

It sits in a space between consumer editors like CapCut and professional tools like Premiere Pro — think the speed of an AI-native editor with enough export depth to hand off to a professional workflow.

Key capabilities:

• Natural language editing — “tighten this cut”, “add captions”, “find the moment where he says ‘launch’” — Cardboard understands the semantic meaning and acts on it
• AI-powered B-roll — automatically finds and inserts relevant footage based on your narration or transcript
• Montage generation — punchy, music-synced cuts with voiceover, transitions, and color grading baked in
• Podcast clipping — pulls the best moments from long-form recordings automatically
• Live collaboration — real-time multi-user editing with comment threads on specific timeline moments
• Desktop export paths — ships exports to Premiere Pro timeline and DaVinci Resolve project files

Setup Workflow

Step 1: Create an account and log in

Head to usecardboard.com and sign up. The editor runs entirely in your browser — no plugins, no downloads.

Step 2: Upload your media

Drag raw footage into the upload panel. Cardboard accepts MOV, MP4, AVI, and WebM. Files up to 2.5 GB per upload on the Creator plan (10 GB on Pro). Your media lives in cloud storage — no local processing required.

# Supported input formats
.mp4, .mov, .avi, .webm  # video
.mp3, .wav, .aac          # audio-only projects
.jpg, .png               # image assets

Step 3: Make your first edit with AI

Select a clip and type a command in the prompt bar. Cardboard’s AI interprets your request and executes it on the timeline:

Describe the change: "Find the moment where she explains the product launch and trim to 60 seconds with captions"

You can layer multiple operations — trim, color grade, caption, overlay — in a single session. The system preserves an undo stack so you can step back through AI actions individually.

Step 4: Export

Hit Export when you’re satisfied. Cardboard renders directly to MP4 (up to 4K 60fps on Creator plan) or sends a project file to Premiere Pro / DaVinci Resolve for further work.

# Export formats
MP4 (H.264/H.265)    # up to 4K 60fps
.prproj              # Adobe Premiere Pro
.dra                 # DaVinci Resolve

Deeper Analysis

The memory-based timeline. Most AI video editors apply effects as a post-processing step. Cardboard builds an internal semantic representation of your timeline — it “knows” what silence looks like, where cuts land on a music beat, and how to remap a voiceover to specific frames. When you ask to “tighten the pacing,” it operates on this rich model rather than simple clip manipulation.

Smart Trim and Silence Removal. Cardboard automatically detects silence regions and removes them. A 45-minute raw podcast recording becomes a crisp 22-minute clip with proper pacing. The model distinguishes between intentional pauses and dead air.

Find Anything. Instead of scrubbing through footage looking for “the part where the guest mentions pricing,” you type it as a search query. Cardboard returns timestamped clips matching your description. This is genuinely useful for long-form content — interviews, conference talks, course recordings.

The B-roll workflow. Describe what you need — “cut to product demo footage at 0:15” — and Cardboard searches your asset library and inserts matching B-roll on the correct layer. This is closer to how a human editor would work than any template-based auto-cut tool.

Collaboration model. Multiple editors can work on the same project simultaneously. Comments attach to specific timeline moments (not just the project as a whole), making review cycles faster. Teams plan to expand this further with role-based access and approval workflows.

Practical Evaluation Checklist

• [ ] Raw footage under 2.5 GB and within accepted format range
• [ ] Clear objective: tighten a cut, add captions, create a clip, generate a montage
• [ ] Natural language command is specific enough for AI to act on precisely
• [ ] Review AI output — don’t accept the first pass blindly, especially for pacing
• [ ] Use Premiere/DaVinci export if you need frame-level control beyond what Cardboard offers
• [ ] Check subscription tier before committing to a large project — file size limits vary

When Cardboard shines: content creators who produce regularly, podcasters clipping episodes, marketing teams needing fast turnaround on social clips, and anyone who needs a strong first pass without learning a full NLE.

When to reach for Premiere or DaVinci instead: color grading pipelines, complex audio mixing, multicam editing, or frame-accurate workflows that require direct timeline manipulation.

Security Notes

Cardboard is a cloud-hosted SaaS product. Your media is stored on their infrastructure during editing and rendering.

• Data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest
• The team has SOC 2 compliance (check their security page for current attestation scope)
• Project access is role-based — you control who can view or edit
• For enterprise contracts, SAML/SSO is available on the Teams plan

Always check the current privacy policy and data processing agreement, especially for client or commercially sensitive footage.

FAQ

Q: Is there a free plan?

A: Cardboard does not currently offer a free tier. Pricing starts at $60/month (Creator plan), with a 7-day money-back guarantee. The Pro plan at $150/month adds priority AI processing and 1TB cloud storage.

Q: Can I use Cardboard for professional client work?

A: Yes. The Creator plan supports exports up to 4K 60fps. For professional delivery, the Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve export paths let you hand off a project file to continue in a traditional NLE — useful for color grading pipelines and client deliverables requiring specific codec settings.

Q: Do I need to install anything?

A: No. Cardboard is fully browser-based. It works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. No plugins, no desktop app, no Electron wrapper.

Q: How does collaboration work?

A: Multiple users open the same project simultaneously. Each user’s cursor and edits are visible in real time. Comments are anchored to specific timeline markers — not just the project as a whole — so feedback is precise. Teams plan to expand the collaboration feature set throughout 2026.

Q: What happens to my footage after I cancel?

A: Your projects and media remain accessible for the duration of your billing period. After cancellation, you should export what you need before the period ends. Review the data retention policy for specific timelines.

Conclusion

Cardboard solves the gap between “I need this edited fast” and “I don’t want to learn Premiere.” Its natural language timeline manipulation is genuinely different from template-based auto-editors — it understands what you’re asking for and acts on the full edit context, not just clip boundaries.

The tool is compelling for creators who produce regularly and need a strong first pass without manual tedium. At $60/month it undercuts hiring an editor for one-off projects while delivering results that are actually usable, not just “good for an AI.” The Premiere and DaVinci export paths mean you never paint yourself into a corner if you need to go deeper.

Worth trying if you edit video regularly and find manual trimming, captioning, and B-roll insertion eating into time better spent on creative decisions.