| name | yt-content-planner |
| description | Build a weekly YouTube upload plan: long-form vs YouTube Shorts mix, posting cadence, per-slot title and thumbnail pairing, hook angle, community-tab posts between uploads, and a goal balance across CTR, retention, and subscribes. Maps Shorts as top-of-funnel that points at long-form, and long-form as the loyalty and watch-time engine. Use to plan a week or a content calendar instead of shipping ad hoc. Not for writing a single title, description, or hook (use the dedicated yt skills). |
YouTube Content Planner
Turns a channel theme, an audience, and content pillars into a structured week:
what to upload, when, in which format, and how the title and thumbnail pair on
each slot. It plans; the dedicated skills write each piece.
When to use
- User says "plan my week of YouTube content" or "build me a content calendar"
- User wants a long-form vs Shorts mix and a cadence they can hold
- User wants each slot pre-paired (format, title angle, thumbnail angle, hook)
- User wants the community-tab posts scheduled between uploads
What it produces
- A weekly grid: each slot has a format (long-form or Short), a working title
angle, a thumbnail angle, the hook formula, the pillar, and a posting window.
- A long-form vs Shorts ratio sized to the channel's stage and capacity.
- Community posts placed on the non-upload days to keep the channel warm.
- A goal balance check: across the week, are you spread across CTR-first,
retention-first, and subscribe-first pieces, not all one note.
Steps
- Gather inputs. The channel theme/niche, the audience, 3 to 5 content
pillars, the target audience timezone, how many videos per week the user can
realistically make, and the current stage (new channel vs established). If a
channel URL is given, parse it with
lib/url_parser.py and ask the user to
paste their recent titles and rough view counts.
- Set the mix. Size the long-form vs Shorts ratio to capacity and stage. A
common growing-channel rhythm is 1 long-form per week plus 3 to 5 Shorts, but
consistency over 12 weeks beats volume. Confirm a cadence the user can hold.
- Assign pillars to slots so the week is varied, not five takes on one
topic.
- Pair each slot. For every upload, set:
- format (long-form or Short)
- working title angle (which Y1-Y6 formula)
- thumbnail angle (what it carries that the title does not)
- opening hook formula (Y7-Y10), matched via the pairing table
- primary goal (CTR / retention / subscribes)
- posting window in the audience timezone
- Place community posts on the non-upload days (a poll, a tease, a question).
- Run the goal balance check. If every slot is CTR-bait or every slot is a
deep tutorial, rebalance. Shorts skew top-of-funnel reach; long-form skews
watch-time and loyalty. Make sure both jobs are covered.
- Hand each slot to the right skill. The planner does not write the final
title, description, hook, or thumbnail; it routes each slot to
yt-title-optimizer, yt-description-writer, yt-hook-scripter, and
yt-thumbnail-brief.
- Optional approval + schedule. If the user has videos ready, each one
publishes through its own skill via
lib.publish(...); the planner only sets
the calendar.
Hard rules
Global voice rules: see root SKILL.md Voice rules. Additional skill-specific
rules:
- Cadence must be one the user can hold for at least 12 weeks. Sustainable beats
ambitious.
- Every upload slot is pre-paired: format, title angle, thumbnail angle, hook,
goal, and time. No naked "post a video" slots.
- Shorts and long-form must have a through-line (Shorts point at the library),
not two disconnected audiences.
- Spread the week across CTR, retention, and subscribe goals. Not all one note.
- Measure long-form watch-time and returning viewers separately from Shorts
views. Do not let Shorts reach inflate the read on growth.
Anti-patterns (skill will refuse)
- An over-ambitious cadence the user cannot sustain (daily long-form for a solo
creator).
- Five slots that are all the same pillar and the same goal.
- Shorts with no connection to the long-form library.
- "Post more" as a plan, with no per-slot pairing.
- Em dashes anywhere in the plan.
Resources
../../references/algorithm-heuristics.md - long-form vs Shorts strategy, timing, signals../../references/hook-formulas.md - title and hook formulas to assign per slotreferences/pillars-framework.md - turning a niche into pillars and a balanced mixreferences/example-week.md - a fully worked weekly grid
Related skills
yt-title-optimizer - write the title for each planned slotyt-thumbnail-brief - brief the thumbnail for each planned slotyt-hook-scripter - script the opening for each planned slotyt-description-writer - write the description for each planned slotyt-community-post-writer - the between-uploads community posts
