Joining video clips and basic editing programmatically?

[_V_]

I have a seed idea for a new business. One of the requirements would be the following and I'm not sure what the easiest tools, programming language set would be to make this work. Everything needs to happen programmatically without human interaction.

There would be a folder containing video clips, all of the same format (e.g. MP4). There would be a set of audio tracks (e.g. MP3). There would be a set of txt files. For every video clip there would be a matching audio clip and txt file.

The program or script would join the video clips into a single output video. The audio would be added so that it is part of the correct clip. The txt would be added to the clip, perhaps with a fixed transition like slide or fade.

So the output video is created as soon as it is given the folder with the assets.

Any idea on how to set this up? Video editing software that has an API or scripting language features?

[WTFH]

Maybe take a look at DaVinci Resolve, Conform clips with XML

[d000hg]

One obvious question: do you actually need to produce a single output video that someone can download and use, or do you only need to give that impression since you'll run it from a private server/app?
Just thinking how YouTube, 4OD, etc intersperse ads with video basically.

[d000hg]

I would guess ffmpeg (C library IIRC) can do a lot of what you ask by the way.

[_V_]

One obvious question: do you actually need to produce a single output video that someone can download and use, or do you only need to give that impression since you'll run it from a private server/app?
Just thinking how YouTube, 4OD, etc intersperse ads with video basically.

Good question. Needs to be downloadable output video.

[_V_]

I would guess ffmpeg (C library IIRC) can do a lot of what you ask by the way.

Sounds interesting, will take a look.