# How to make viral Shorts with AI: find the idea, then pick an open-source tool > Find the Short that is taking off right now with viralshooter, turn it into a brief, then build your version with a free open-source AI video tool. Source: https://viralshooter.com/blog/guides/open-source-ai-video-tools (Published November 6, 2026, by viralshooter) A free AI video tool can make a Short in minutes. It can't tell you which Short to make. That part decides whether anyone watches, and you can answer it by looking at what is taking off right now, judged by each video's own numbers. This guide does it in two steps. First, find the idea with viralshooter: the young videos that are doing far better than their channel usually does, and the format they share. Then build your own version with one of four open-source AI video tools on GitHub: **Remotion Superpowers**, **MoneyPrinterTurbo**, **OpenMontage** or **Hypit**. ## Step 1: find what is taking off right now Start where young videos are ranked by how they perform for their age: - [Shorts](https://viralshooter.com/shorts) and [Videos](https://viralshooter.com) rank recent videos against everything else at the same age. Signed in, you also see the ones published in the last 1, 6 and 12 hours, which is the earliest you can catch a format. - [New on the charts](https://viralshooter.com/new) shows the videos first seen on the charts in the last 24 hours. - [Countries](https://viralshooter.com/countries) and per-country charts such as [/trending/us](https://viralshooter.com/trending/us) or [/trending/kr](https://viralshooter.com/trending/kr) show what is working in one place, so you can see where a format is working and where it hasn't shown up. - [Categories](https://viralshooter.com/categories) and [Hashtags](https://viralshooter.com/hashtags) narrow it to your niche. - [Channels](https://viralshooter.com/channels) shows who is getting watched, and [Markets](https://viralshooter.com/markets) shows where the views are moving. - [Chart history](https://viralshooter.com/history) shows what got watched in a past window, so you can see whether a format was a one-day thing. ## What to look for Read four columns: - **Vs usual** ([glossary](https://viralshooter.com/blog/glossary#vs-usual)): how far a video is above what its channel's uploads usually get at the same age. This is the column that finds ideas. - **Views/h**: how fast it is moving right now. A high number on a young video means it is still climbing. - **Channel size**: measured by the views a channel's uploads usually get, never by subscribers. - **Age**: how long it has been up. A strong video at 6 hours tells you more than a strong video at 6 days. viralshooter never ranks by subscribers, and that matters for you. When a big channel's video does well, you can't tell whether the video did it or the audience did. When a small channel's video is far above its usual, the video did it: the hook, the topic, the pacing. That is something you can learn from and make your own version of. So the best candidates are videos from small channels with a high **Vs usual**, young, and still moving. ## Turn the outliers into one format One video is a lucky break. Three videos doing the same thing is a format. Open five to ten candidates in your niche and note what they share: - **Hook:** what happens in the first seconds, on screen and in the words. - **Length:** roughly how long, and where it ends. - **Captions:** word by word, full sentences, or none. - **Pacing:** how often it cuts, and whether it builds to a payoff. - **Topic and angle:** the subject, and the specific twist on it. - **Country:** where it is working, and whether it is spreading. Pick the two or three that share the most and write a one-paragraph brief: the hook, the structure, the length, the caption style, and your own topic. That paragraph is what you hand to the tool. ## Do the research with your AI agent If you use a coding agent such as Claude Code or Codex, [connect viralshooter to your AI agent](https://viralshooter.com/agents) and let it do the search. The `early_videos` tool lists young videos for a window of 1, 6, 12 or 24 hours, or 3 or 7 days, sorted by `top`, `vsUsual`, `viewsNow` or `views`. For each video it gives `topPct` (top N% for its age), `vsUsual` and `channelSize`. There is also a ready `daily_brief` prompt for a quick look at the day. > Use viralshooter's early_videos for Shorts in the last 24 hours, sorted by vsUsual, in my niche (home cooking). Pick the videos from small channels that are furthest above their usual, open the top ten, and tell me which two or three share a format: hook, length, caption style, pacing. Write me a one-paragraph brief for my own version on a different dish. Then make it with MoneyPrinterTurbo and show me the script before you render. ## Check back tomorrow Run the same search the next day. If the format shows up again, from different channels, you have found a format rather than one lucky video, and it is worth making several videos in it, each with its own idea. If it is gone, pick the next one. ## Build it with an open-source AI video tool All four are free to download and run; the services they call (language models, voices, generation) can cost money. ### Remotion Superpowers A plugin for **Claude Code**, **Codex** or **Gemini CLI**, built on Remotion's official skills, that turns your brief into a rendered video with voiceover, music, stock footage and word-by-word captions; `/create-short` makes a 9:16 Short, hook first. It needs Node.js 22.18 or later and API keys: the README marks ElevenLabs, KIE and TwelveLabs as required. The catch: KIE is paid, and the README warns that KIE's audio is resold without its owners' licence, so use it for drafts only. ### MoneyPrinterTurbo Give it a topic and it writes the script, matches stock footage, adds a voiceover, subtitles and music, and renders the Short. It runs from a WebUI, an API or a CLI on Python 3.11 or later, for example `uv run python cli.py --video-subject "your topic"`, with free Edge TTS voices and free Pexels and Pixabay footage. The catch: matched stock clips tend to look like every other video made that way, and its default background music came from YouTube videos, so replace it before you publish. ### OpenMontage Turns a coding assistant into a production team that goes research, script, scene plan, assets, edit, and shows you a plan and a **cost estimate** before it generates anything. It needs Python 3.10 or later, FFmpeg and Node.js 18 or later, and has a free path with Piper narration and footage from Archive.org, NASA and Wikimedia Commons. The catch: it is the heaviest to set up, and its license is **AGPL-3.0**, which matters if you change the code and offer it to others over a network. ### Hypit Rebuilds a video's format as an editable composition you can rerun with a new topic, language or opening, which suits a format you found on the charts. Install it with `npx skills add hypit-ai/hypit -g`. The catch: your agent and any model services bill you separately, and its own **Hypit Open Source License** (a modified Apache 2.0) lets you use it for your own and client work but not run it as a hosted service for others. ### Which one fits your goal - **The fastest faceless Short from a topic, no coding agent:** MoneyPrinterTurbo. - **A polished Short or explainer you adjust scene by scene:** Remotion Superpowers. - **A planned video with the cost shown first, or a documentary from open archives:** OpenMontage. - **Many variants of one format:** Hypit. Whichever you pick, hand it your brief, not a bare topic: > Here is my brief: [paste the paragraph]. Make one 9:16 Short that follows this hook, length and caption style, on my topic, with my own script. Show me the script before you render. ## Make your own version Copy the format, not the video. Bring your own idea, script, footage and voice. Use reference videos only if they are yours or the creator has given you permission: YouTube's Terms don't allow downloading other people's videos without permission. Don't mass-produce, either. YouTube's monetization policies list inauthentic content, which covers videos that are repetitive or mass-produced, including AI-generated content made with generic templates; a series in one format is fine when each video has its own story or idea ([YouTube Help](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392)). To study one video shot by shot, see [find a video that is taking off, then reverse-engineer how it was made](https://viralshooter.com/blog/guides/reverse-engineer-viral-videos). To build in HTML with an agent, see [the HyperFrames guide](https://viralshooter.com/blog/guides/hyperframes-ai-video). ## FAQ ### How do I find videos that are going viral right now? Open [Shorts](https://viralshooter.com/shorts) or [New on the charts](https://viralshooter.com/new) and read the **Vs usual** column (signed in, you can sort by it). The young videos from small channels far above their usual are the ones taking off on their own merit. Signed in, you can look at the last 1, 6 and 12 hours to catch them earlier. ### Why not just copy the biggest videos? The biggest videos often come from big channels, where the audience does much of the work. A small channel's breakout shows what the video itself did right, and a format you see across several of them is one you can make your own version of. ### Which of these tools is free? All four are free to download and run. MoneyPrinterTurbo (Edge TTS, free stock footage) and OpenMontage (Piper, open archives) have the most complete free paths; Remotion Superpowers needs keys for paid services. ### Which one works without a coding agent? MoneyPrinterTurbo. It has a WebUI, an API and a CLI. The other three run inside a coding agent. ## Sources - [Remotion Superpowers on GitHub (DojoCodingLabs/remotion-superpowers)](https://github.com/DojoCodingLabs/remotion-superpowers) - [MoneyPrinterTurbo on GitHub (harry0703/MoneyPrinterTurbo)](https://github.com/harry0703/MoneyPrinterTurbo) - [OpenMontage on GitHub (calesthio/OpenMontage)](https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage) - [Hypit on GitHub (hypit-ai/hypit)](https://github.com/hypit-ai/hypit) - [YouTube Help: YouTube channel monetization policies](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392) - [YouTube Terms of Service](https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms)