ideation

name

ideation

description

Generate positioned YouTube video ideas with competitive gaps, desire mapping, and shock scores. Consumes research from yt-pipeline or firecrawl-search — does NOT redo deep research. Trigger on phrases like 'video ideas for', 'what should I make a video about', 'brainstorm video ideas', 'ideation for', 'content ideas about', 'what videos should I do about X', or any request for YouTube video concept generation.

Video Ideation Engine

Generate positioned YouTube video ideas grounded in existing research and competitive analysis. Outputs structured idea briefs ready to feed into /hooks and /outlines.

This skill is strategy, not research. It consumes research outputs from /yt-pipeline, /firecrawl-search, or vault notes. It does NOT replicate deep research — if no research exists yet, it runs a lightweight competitive scan only.

When This Skill Activates

Activate when the user wants to:

• Brainstorm video ideas on a topic
• Figure out what video to make next
• Find angles on a trending topic
• Generate content ideas from research they've already done

Example triggers:

• "Give me video ideas about RAG"
• "What should I make a video about this week?"
• "Brainstorm some Claude Code video angles"
• /ideation or /ideation <topic>

Workflow

Step 1 — Gather Existing Context

Check what research already exists before doing anything:

1. Search the vault — look in research/ and projects/ for files related to the topic
2. Check for recent yt-pipeline or firecrawl-search outputs — these are your primary source material
3. If the user references specific notes, read them

If research exists: Use it as the foundation. Do NOT re-research the topic.

If no research exists: Do a lightweight competitive scan only (Step 2). Suggest the user run /yt-pipeline <topic> or /firecrawl-search <topic> first if they want deeper analysis.

Step 2 — Lightweight Competitive Scan

Quick YouTube search to see what exists — this is positioning intel, not deep research:

Optional step. This uses a separate yt-search helper script that does not ship with this plugin. If it isn't installed, skip the scan and generate ideas from the user's described topic and any vault/research context instead — the rest of the skill works fine without it.

python "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/yt-search/scripts/search.py" <topic keywords> --count 15 --months 3

From results, extract:

• Saturated angles — what's been covered to death?
• Open gaps — what has NO or weak coverage?
• Performance outliers — high views-to-subs ratio signals a hot angle
• Key creators — who's covering this, how big are they?

Present the landscape in 3-5 bullets. Don't dump raw search results.

Step 3 — Generate Idea Angles

Produce 7-10 video ideas with full positioning for each:

Title (working): A rough title — not final, just enough to capture the angle.

Angle: What makes this different from what exists? One sentence.

Core Desire: Map to one of the Four Horsemen:

• Money — will this help the viewer make or save money?
• Time — will this save them time or eliminate wasted effort?
• Health — does this reduce stress, burnout, or cognitive load?
• Status — does this make them look smart, capable, or ahead of the curve?

Proxy Desire (One Standard Deviation): Don't target the core desire directly — that triggers the BS detector. Package it one step away.

• Core: "Make more money" → Proxy: "Automate your entire content pipeline"
• Core: "Save time" → Proxy: "Never start a Claude Code session from scratch again"
• Core: "Status" → Proxy: "Build what your team thinks requires a dev shop"

Shock Score (1-100): How surprising is this to your audience? Rate by the Law of Interestingness — distance between what the viewer believes and what this video reveals. Target 70+.

Format: What video structure fits?

• Concept/Educational ("7 RAG Concepts...")
• Level-Based ("6 Levels of...")
• Tool Demo ("I Built X with Y")
• Contrarian Take ("X Is Ruining Your Y")
• Case Study ("How I Did X")
• Listicle ("5 Tools That...")
• Tutorial ("How to Set Up X")
• Head-to-Head ("X vs Y")

Competitive gap: What specific gap does this fill? Reference the landscape from Step 2.

Step 4 — Rank and Recommend

Sort into three tiers:

Tier 1 — High Confidence (2-3 ideas) Clear competitive gaps, high shock scores, proven formats. "Film tomorrow" options.

Tier 2 — Strong With Conditions (2-3 ideas) Good angles that need research, a demo build, or timing. Worth planning for.

Tier 3 — Experimental (2-3 ideas) Higher risk, higher ceiling. New formats, contrarian takes, untested angles.

Step 5 — Output Structured Briefs

For each Tier 1 idea, output:

## [Working Title]

- **Angle:** [One sentence positioning]
- **Core Desire:** [Money / Time / Health / Status]
- **Proxy Desire:** [One standard deviation away]
- **Shock Score:** [X/100]
- **Format:** [Video structure type]
- **Competitive Gap:** [What's missing from existing coverage]
- **Why Now:** [Timeliness signal — trending, just launched, community buzz]
- **Research Depth:** [Sufficient / Thin — see Step 5b]
- **Related vault notes:** [[wikilink]] [[wikilink]]

Step 5b — Deepen Research via NotebookLM (If Needed)

When the user selects a Tier 1 idea, check whether the existing research actually covers that specific angle well enough to build a video.

Signs research is sufficient:

• The vault research notes directly address the chosen angle's key claims
• There are specific stats, sources, or examples that support the talking points
• You could write an outline right now without guessing

Signs research is thin:

• The angle is a subset or twist on the broader topic that wasn't explored in depth
• Key claims in the idea brief don't have supporting data yet
• You'd need to speculate or hand-wave in an outline

If research is thin and a NotebookLM notebook already exists (from a prior /yt-pipeline run):

1. Find the notebook — check recent vault research files for a NotebookLM notebook ID, or list notebooks:

   notebooklm list --json
   

2. Set the notebook context:

   notebooklm use <notebook_id>
   

3. Run 2-3 targeted follow-up questions against the existing sources:

   notebooklm ask "What specific data or examples support [the chosen angle]?" --new
   notebooklm ask "What counterarguments or limitations exist for [the chosen angle]?"
   notebooklm ask "What's the most surprising or non-obvious insight about [the chosen angle]?"
   

4. Use the answers to refine the idea brief — update the shock score, fill in missing competitive gaps, and add specific talking points.

If no notebook exists, suggest the user run /yt-pipeline <topic> first, or proceed with lighter research via /firecrawl-search.

If research is sufficient, skip this step and move to /hooks or /outlines.

Step 6 — Save to Vault (Optional)

If the user wants to save: YOUR_VAULT_PATH/projects/YYYY-MM-DD-ideation-<topic>.md

Key Principles

• This is strategy, not research. Don't replicate what /yt-pipeline or /firecrawl-search already do. Consume their outputs.
• Differentiation is everything. An idea without a competitive gap is a wasted video. Always explain WHY this angle is different.
• Desire mapping is not optional. Every idea maps to a Horseman + proxy desire. No map = too abstract.
• Don't pitch ideas you have already done. Check projects/ and projects/archive/ before suggesting.
• Be opinionated. "Film this one first because..." is more useful than a flat list.