100% Free · Version 1.0.2
ShortGeek: turn a guide into a vertical short
Point ShortGeek at one of your own articles, an RSS feed, any article URL, or just a one line idea. It drafts a script, narrates it, burns in word by word captions and renders a 1080×1920 MP4 ready to upload. Everything happens on your own machine.
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit · self-contained installer · nothing else to install
Everything between an article and a finished short
Four ways in, an editable script, a voice, captions and a render. In that order, with you in charge at every step.
Four ways to start
Search your own site’s guides through the WordPress API, paste an RSS feed or any article URL, or skip the source entirely and draft from a one line idea.
A script you can edit
A hook, two to four beats and a call to action, condensed from the source. Nothing is invented: every claim comes from the text it was drawn from, and all of it is editable before you render.
A real voice, free
Microsoft Edge’s neural voices, with no signup. If that is ever unreachable, ShortGeek falls back to the offline voice and tells you it did. ElevenLabs works too if you have a key.
Captions timed to the words
Word level timing comes from the voice engine rather than being estimated, and burns in as Bold Highlight, Minimal or Classic Subtitle.
Backgrounds that are actually yours
The guide’s own screenshots, panned full bleed behind each card. Eight built in looks drawn in code. Or drop in your own MP4 clips. Never AI art, never somebody else’s footage.
Legible code and text cards
Real commands render as editor styled code cards and key points as bold callouts, because a desktop screenshot never stays readable at phone size.
A queue and a library
Draft one, send it to render, start the next. Finished videos land in the Library with a preview player and the file ready to upload.
Optional AI polish
Add your own Anthropic or OpenAI key and the lines get reworded to sound more spoken. Same facts, same structure. Leave it off and nothing external is ever called.
See it in action
Every screen, exactly as it looks when you run it.
Who it is for
Anyone sitting on written work that would travel further as a short.
Bloggers and guide writers
You already wrote the thing. This turns it into the format the traffic is on, without rewriting it or hiring an editor.
Small brands and solo creators
A posting schedule you can actually keep, with no per video cost and no watermark on anything you publish.
Anyone tired of subscriptions
The free tiers watermark, the paid tiers meter you, and both want your source material on their servers. This does neither.
Requirements
Operating system
Windows 10 or later, or Windows 11. 64-bit.
Rights
Standard user. Administrator is only needed to install it.
Download
About 83 MB. A single self-contained installer.
Prerequisites
None. Python and ffmpeg are bundled. An internet connection is used for the free voice and for fetching a source.
Version
1.0.2, released 1 September 2026.
Licence
Free for everyone, including commercial use. Freeware.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it really free? No credits, no watermark?
Yes. ShortGeek is free to download and use, at home and at work. There is no subscription, no credit system, and nothing it renders carries a watermark you have to pay to remove.
Does it use AI to generate the pictures?
No, and that is deliberate. Backgrounds are either the source article’s own real screenshots, or animations drawn in code frame by frame, or MP4 clips you supply yourself. Nothing is AI generated and nothing is somebody else’s footage passed off as yours.
Does it make things up in the script?
No. The script is condensed from the source text and every claim comes from it. The optional AI polish pass only changes wording, never what is being said, and the whole script is editable before you render.
Do I need an API key?
No. The script writer, the voice and every built in background work with no keys at all. A key is only needed if you want the optional AI polish pass, or if you prefer ElevenLabs to the free voice.
Will it upload to TikTok or YouTube for me?
No. Those upload APIs are locked down, quota limited and change constantly, so building on them means breaking regularly. You get a finished 1080×1920 MP4 and post it yourself.
Where do the finished videos go?
Into a library folder on this machine, with a preview player in the app and the file ready to upload. Nothing is sent anywhere. The only outbound calls are to the free voice service, and to an AI provider if you chose to add your own key.
Version History
- 1.0.2: 1 September 2026. Fixes the app failing to start with a message about a log formatter. A windowed app has no console, so it starts with nowhere to write, and the web server fell over asking that nowhere whether it was a terminal.
- 1.0.1: 1 September 2026. Fixes the app opening on a page saying the connection was refused. The build was leaving out the code that serves the screens. Adds the application icon, and a readable message if startup ever fails again.
- 1.0.0: 1 September 2026. Initial public release.
Download ShortGeek today
Completely free. Version 1.0.2, no strings attached. Free at home and at work.
Not code-signed, so Windows may warn on first run. Click More info, then Run anyway. SHA256 checksums
Windows may show a “Windows protected your PC” warning the first time you install it. That means SmartScreen has not seen the file before, not that anything is wrong with it. Here is why our builds are unsigned, and how to verify your download against its SHA-256 hash. We will never ask you to switch SmartScreen off.
Support
ShortGeek is free and always will be, at home and at work.