Developer tools have a reach problem. The people who would love your repo are scrolling Reels, TikTok and Shorts at night, and the tool only reaches them if someone explains it in a way that makes sense without reading the README.
Chisel makes those explanations. Each reel is 20 to 25 seconds, vertical, faceless, and built from your docs. Nobody on your team has to go on camera.
Why dev tools need a different kind of reel
A developer audience is quick to spot fluff. A reel for a dev tool has to do three things:
- Say what it is in plain words. "A free tool that lets your AI assistant edit videos" beats "an agentic multimodal pipeline". We say it by second seven, every time.
- Show the real thing. Your terminal, your output, your UI. No stock footage of people typing on glowing laptops.
- Respect the viewer's time. One idea per reel. If a feature needs two reels, it gets two reels.
That reel explains OpenMontage, an open-source repo, with the hook "This free tool turns your AI assistant into a video studio." We made it for our own account, unpaid, to show the format.
Good topics for dev-tool reels
- The one-line install. Show how little it takes to get started.
- Before and after. The output with your tool against the output without it.
- "You don't need X." Developers love hearing that a heavy dependency or a paid service can go.
- A real use case. One person, one problem, solved in under a minute of work.
- Release notes. Each new version gives you something new to show.
How we handle your product
We work from your public site, docs, README and demo. If a screen is behind a login, send a screen recording and we rebuild it. We check every claim in the script against your docs before the reel ships, so the numbers and commands on screen are right.
You approve every script before we build. You get the MP4 files and a caption for each reel, and you post them from your own accounts, so the followers and stars are yours.
Pricing
- Pilot: 30 reels for $199. Enough to see which topics your audience responds to.
- Launch pack: 75 reels for $450. Good for a big release or a launch day.
- Monthly: priced on a call, planned from your changelog.
If you're weighing this against doing it yourself, read Chisel vs making reels in-house.