Screen recording · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Tella?

KINDA· weekend project

Capturing a screen and a webcam in a browser and exporting an MP4 is the quick part. What makes Tella feel like Tella is the editing layer: clips on a timeline, cuts made by deleting words in the transcript, silence and filler-word removal, layouts, backgrounds and zooms. An agent can build a rough version over a weekend from MediaRecorder, whisper.cpp and ffmpeg. The 4K and 60 FPS rendering, the polish and hosted share pages with viewer analytics take longer and need a server and bandwidth, and open-source recorders already cover much of this.

$26/moprice per seat

$312you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; rendering and long takes are the slow part

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22 and ffmpegbetter-sqlite3 compiles a native module; ffmpeg does the rendering.
whisper.cpp and a model fileA small English model runs on a laptop; larger ones take longer.
A Chromium-based browserSystem audio capture is not available everywhere.
A tunnel or serverOnly if other people will watch the share page.

Before you buildTella has no free plan, but Cap, OpenScreen and Screenity are free recorders with polish settings. If you only record occasionally, try one before building.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a local screen-recording editor to replace Tella for short product demos. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server and a React UI built with Vite. `npm start` serves
http://localhost:4740; use a Chromium-based browser.
- Recorder page: getDisplayMedia for the screen, getUserMedia for microphone and camera, a 3-second
countdown, pause and resume. Each take is a clip, saved as webm chunks under ./data/clips/<id>/ while recording.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/studio.db: clips, word-level transcripts, edits and exports. An edit
is a JSON list of kept time ranges, zooms and a layout per clip, saved after every change.
- Transcript: run whisper.cpp (WHISPER_BIN and WHISPER_MODEL in .env) with word timestamps. Deleting
words in the transcript view removes those ranges from the edit, with undo and redo.
- Cleanup buttons: cut silences longer than 0.7 seconds and cut filler words from a list I can edit
(um, uh, you know).
- Layouts: screen only, screen with a round camera bubble in a corner, and screen beside camera, over a
background colour or gradient with padding and rounded corners. Add zoom regions by dragging a box on
the timeline.
- Export: ffmpeg renders the edit to H.264/AAC MP4 at 1080p and 30 FPS with a progress bar, and
optional burned-in subtitles from the transcript. Serve /v/<id> with a player and the transcript;
ids are random 12-character strings (unlisted).
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first: recordings never leave this disk.
- Out of scope: 4K or 60 FPS, auto-zoom, a native recorder, an AI chat editor, comments, viewer
analytics, custom domains, teams.
- README: installing ffmpeg and whisper.cpp, expected render time for 10 minutes of video, sharing
through a tunnel, and a warning that a browser cannot see the cursor outside the shared tab, so zooms are manual.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

Share on X

Max MiskowSponsoredAI agents, automations and MVPs, built for your company.Visit site ›

Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Tella.

Add video import to the screen-recording editor in this folder. Requirements:

- An Import button and a command `studio import <file...>` that accept .mp4, .mov and .webm.
- Copy each file to ./data/clips/<id>/source and use ffprobe to read duration, size and whether
  there is an audio track; reject files without video.
- Queue transcription for each import and show progress on the clip list.
- Keep the original file untouched and name the clip after the filename.
- Update the README with the supported formats and the Tella batch export tip.

Add click-based zooms to the screen-recording editor in this folder. Requirements:

- Add a record mode "this tab" using getDisplayMedia with the current tab preferred; in that mode
  log pointer position and click times inside the recorded page with performance.now() offsets.
- Save the log next to the clip. In the editor, a button "suggest zooms" creates a zoom region
  (1.6x, eased in and out over 0.4 seconds) for each click that is more than 2 seconds after the last.
- I can accept, move or delete each suggestion; nothing is applied without my accepting it.
- Cover the suggestion logic with tests, including clicks at screen edges.
- Update the README with why this works only for the recorded tab.

Add titles and chapters to the screen-recording editor in this folder. Requirements:

- After transcription, send the transcript to an OpenAI-compatible endpoint from .env and ask for a
  title under 60 characters and 3 to 8 chapters with start times in seconds.
- Show them as editable fields on the clip; chapters appear on the share page as clickable
  timestamps that seek the player.
- Validate the JSON reply and clamp chapter times to the video length.
- Keep it optional: without the endpoint set, show empty fields.
- Update the README with what text leaves the machine.

What you lose

The Tella Agent, an AI editor that makes edits from a chat
Native macOS and Windows recorders and the Chrome extension
Custom domains, white-label pages, password protection and viewer analytics
Slack, Notion and Linear integrations, plus shared and team playlists
Auto layouts, auto zoom and styled subtitles

Why people still pay

People pay for videos that look finished without learning an editor: layouts, zooms and backgrounds come as presets, and a share page with analytics sits on top. Reddit comparisons call it the all-in-one pick with nicer visual options than Loom, while one commenter found the open-source Cap unstable.

Moatexecution polish infrastructure scale collaboration

Do the math

Tella or your own copy?

Seats

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Tella, 1 yr$312

Your own copy, 1 yr$70running + build session

You keep$242pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Recording, transcribing and rendering all run on your machine at no cost. Sharing videos needs a tunnel or a small VPS, and storage and bandwidth grow with what you record. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Tella

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Tella

1Open the video in the editor, click Download next to Share and choose a file type: video (.mp4), audio only (.m4a), separate clips (.zip), raw recordings, thumbnail, subtitles (.srt or .vtt) or a transcript (.txt).
2Pick HD or 4K and 30 or 60 FPS. 4K, 60 FPS and raw recordings need a paid plan, and 60 FPS on Pro is limited to videos up to 5 minutes.
3For many videos use batch export from your library: Tella zips them and emails you a link.

2 · Cancel Tella

1Only workspace owners can cancel: click your workspace name at the top left, open Settings, then Plans & Billing.
2Click Manage on your plan, which opens the Stripe portal, then Cancel subscription and confirm. The confirmation page shows your end date.
3You keep access until the end of the period you have paid for and are not billed again.
4A free trial needs no cancelling; it ends by itself.

After the plan ends your videos stay in the workspace and remain viewable and shareable, but you cannot record, edit or export until you resubscribe. Export MP4s and raw recordings first.
Raw recordings export is for paid plans only, so do it while you are still subscribed.
The help pages we read don't cover refunds, so ask support before you cancel if you were just charged.
Share links keep working after you cancel, so you can move links over at your own pace, but you can no longer export.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Tella's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

CapOpen sourceMostly AGPL-3.0 recorder with local editing, share links and transcripts; the full web platform can run on Docker Compose.★ 23k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
macOS, WindowsVisit ↗OpenScreenOpen sourceMIT desktop recorder with one-click styling, transcript-based cuts and auto zoom on clicks; no subscription.★ 4.6k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
macOS, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗RecordlyOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 desktop recorder with zoom suggestions, smooth cursor movement and styled frames.★ 35k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
macOS, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Tella ›

The numbers

Tella pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Pro	$26	$13	Unlimited videos, clips up to 6 hours in up to 4K, 4K export, 106 transcription languages, 3,000 Tella Agent credits per user a month, team collaboration, analytics history of up to 30 days.
Premium	$39	$19	Everything in Pro plus 6,000 credits per user a month, custom domain, domain restriction, Tella branding removed, 4K sharing, 60 FPS export and all-time analytics.
Enterprise	custom	—	Everything in Premium plus SSO and SCIM, a shared Slack channel, onboarding, volume discounts and a SOC 2 Type II report.

Free tier: No free plan, only the 7-day trial; raw recordings, 4K and timelapse exports are not in it.
Billing: Per user, billed monthly or yearly; yearly is about half the monthly price. Owners and Members are paid seats and Viewers are free. USD only, with prorated charges when you add a seat and credits when you remove one. The subscription ends at the close of the paid period when you cancel.
Hidden costs: The Tella Agent AI editor runs on credits that reset monthly; top-ups cost $10 for 10,000, $45 for 50,000 or $80 for 100,000 and never expire. SSO and SCIM are add-ons on any paid plan. A custom domain, white-label pages and 60 FPS export need Premium, and every added Owner or Member is another paid seat.
Source: www.tella.com

Also on the list

Loom$18/mo · Screen recordingKINDA

Screen Studio$29/mo · Screen recordingKINDA

Arcade$50/mo · Screen recordingKINDA

Questions

Tella, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

No free plan: new workspaces get a 7-day trial of Pro that exports HD at 30 FPS, caps clips at 2 hours and includes no AI credits.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: The Tella Agent, an AI editor that makes edits from a chat, Native macOS and Windows recorders and the Chrome extension.

About $26 a month on the Pro plan per seat, $312 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

The Tella Agent, an AI editor that makes edits from a chat; Native macOS and Windows recorders and the Chrome extension; Custom domains, white-label pages, password protection and viewer analytics; Slack, Notion and Linear integrations, plus shared and team playlists; Auto layouts, auto zoom and styled subtitles. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.