---
title: "How to add a countdown timer with Claude (tested prompt and script)"
description: "A \"sale ends in\" clock near the top counts down one second at a time. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the Python script we tested yourself."
url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/countdown-timer
---

# How to add a countdown timer with Claude

A "sale ends in" clock near the top counts down one second at a time.

Made by the script on this page, from our own test clip.

## Get this effect

1. ### Switch to Code in your [Claude Desktop App](https://claude.com/download)

2. ### Install the skill (once)

   ```
   Install the Recharm video effects skill: download https://recharm-growth-staging.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/website/downloads/recharm-video-effects.zip and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills
   ```

3. ### Ask for the effect

   ```
   Add a countdown timer to input.mp4
   Label: SALE ENDS IN
   ```

## Several videos, several effects, one ask

Put your clips in the folder, mention them with @, and ask for everything at once. Claude runs one tested script after another on each clip, then joins them.

Add a countdown timer to **@clip1.mp4**, put a sale badge on **@clip2.mp4**, give **@clip3.mp4** a VHS look, then join all three with crossfades.

## Settings you can change

Ask Claude to change any of these, or edit them at the top of the script.

| Setting | Default        | What it does                             |
| ------- | -------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| `START` | `23:59:59`     | What the clock shows on the first frame. |
| `LABEL` | `SALE ENDS IN` | The line above the clock.                |

## In other editors

From each editor’s own help pages, in our words. We haven’t run these ourselves.

Built in: **countdown timer styles** · web

1. Select Elements in the left menu.
2. Under Progress Bars, pick one of the countdown timer styles.
3. Change the colors, choose how long it appears, and add animations if you like.
4. Press Export to save your edits.

Source: [Countdown Video Maker - Animated Progress Bars](https://www.veed.io/tools/progress-bar-generator/countdown-video-maker) (VEED), checked October 22, 2026.

## Without the skill

Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the script itself.

```
Add a countdown timer to input.mp4: near the top center, a dark translucent rounded box with "SALE ENDS IN" in yellow and a white HH:MM:SS clock under it that starts at 23:59:59 and goes down one second every second. Use Python with Pillow to draw it and ffmpeg to put it on the video (don't rely on ffmpeg's drawtext filter), keep the audio, and save it as output.mp4.
```

## Run it without Claude

This is the exact script we tested. Save it as `countdown-timer.py` and run:

```
python3 countdown-timer.py input.mp4 output.mp4
```

```
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""Countdown timer: a "sale ends in" clock that ticks down one second at a time.

Usage: python3 countdown-timer.py input.mp4 output.mp4
Needs ffmpeg and Pillow (pip install pillow).
"""
import json
import math
import subprocess
import sys
from pathlib import Path

from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFont

LABEL = "SALE ENDS IN"
START = "23:59:59"   # what the clock shows on the first frame (hours:minutes:seconds)
Y = 0.11             # where the timer's center sits (0 = top, 1 = bottom)
FONTS = ["/System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/Arial Bold.ttf",     # macOS
         "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf",  # Linux
         "C:/Windows/Fonts/arialbd.ttf"]                          # Windows
FONT_FILE = next((f for f in FONTS if Path(f).exists()), None) or sys.exit("No bold font found: add one to FONTS")

def clock(t):
    hh, mm, ss = (int(x) for x in START.split(":"))
    left = max(0, hh * 3600 + mm * 60 + ss - int(t))
    return f"{left // 3600:02d}:{left // 60 % 60:02d}:{left % 60:02d}"

def overlay(t):
    img = Image.new("RGBA", (w, h))
    draw = ImageDraw.Draw(img)
    label_y, digits_y = h * Y - digits.size * 0.55, h * Y + label.size * 0.45
    x0, _, x1, _ = draw.textbbox((w / 2, digits_y), "00:00:00", font=digits, anchor="mm")
    pad = w * 0.04
    draw.rounded_rectangle([x0 - pad, label_y - label.size, x1 + pad, digits_y + digits.size * 0.7], radius=pad, fill=(0, 0, 0, 170))
    draw.text((w / 2, label_y), LABEL, font=label, anchor="mm", fill=(255, 214, 0))
    draw.text((w / 2, digits_y), clock(t), font=digits, anchor="mm", fill="white")
    return img

def probe(path):
    info = json.loads(subprocess.check_output(["ffprobe", "-v", "error", "-select_streams", "v:0", "-show_entries",
                                               "stream=width,height,r_frame_rate:format=duration", "-of", "json", path]))
    s = info["streams"][0]
    num, den = s["r_frame_rate"].split("/")
    return s["width"], s["height"], s["r_frame_rate"], float(num) / float(den), float(info["format"]["duration"])

def render(src, out):
    """Draw overlay(t) on every frame of src and save to out, keeping the audio."""
    ff = subprocess.Popen(["ffmpeg", "-y", "-v", "error", "-i", src,
                           "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgba", "-s", f"{w}x{h}", "-r", rate, "-i", "-",
                           "-filter_complex", "[0:v][1:v]overlay=shortest=1,format=yuv420p[v]",
                           "-map", "[v]", "-map", "0:a?", "-c:v", "libx264", "-crf", "18", "-c:a", "copy", out],
                          stdin=subprocess.PIPE)
    for i in range(math.ceil(duration * fps)):
        ff.stdin.write(overlay(i / fps).tobytes())
    ff.stdin.close()
    if ff.wait():
        sys.exit("ffmpeg failed")

src, out = sys.argv[1:3]
w, h, rate, fps, duration = probe(src)
label = ImageFont.truetype(FONT_FILE, round(w * 0.045))
digits = ImageFont.truetype(FONT_FILE, round(w * 0.12))
render(src, out)
```

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## Find 3x _winning ads_

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