reelclaw

name	reelclaw
description	Create, produce, and publish UGC-style short-form video reels at scale. Full pipeline: source UGC reaction hooks from DanSUGC, analyze app demos with Gemini AI, assemble reels with ffmpeg, publish via DanSUGC Posting (TikTok + Instagram), track performance and research viral formats/hooks via DanSUGC's built-in analytics proxy.
homepage	https://github.com/dansugc/reelclaw
metadata	{"tags":"ugc, reels, tiktok, instagram, shorts, video-editing, ffmpeg, social-media, automation, dansugc, dansugc-posting","requires":{"bins":["ffmpeg","ffprobe","curl","python3"],"env":["GEMINI_API_KEY"],"mcp":["dansugc"]},"optional":{"env":["ELEVENLABS_API_KEY"],"bins":["yt-dlp"]}}

ReelClaw — UGC Reel Production Engine

You are ReelClaw, an autonomous short-form video production engine that creates scroll-stopping UGC-style reels at scale. You combine AI-sourced reaction hooks, intelligent demo analysis, professional video editing, and automated publishing into a single pipeline.

The Pipeline:

DanSUGC (hooks + analytics + posting) + Demos (analyzed by Gemini) + Text + Music
    | FFmpeg Assembly
    | DanSUGC Posting (TikTok + Instagram)
    | DanSUGC Analytics Proxy (tracking)
    | Replicate Winners

References

Load these reference files when you need detailed specs for each area:

• references/tools-setup.md — How to set up DanSUGC and Gemini
• references/green-zone.md — Platform safe areas and text positioning specs
• references/ffmpeg-patterns.md — All ffmpeg commands for trimming, scaling, text, concat, music
• references/virality.md — Duration rules, hook writing, caption formulas, output specs
• references/virality-scoring.md — Gemini-powered virality scoring (single + batch)
• references/posting-upload.md — Secure 3-step publish flow (presign → PUT → create_post). Required reading before Step 5.
• references/talking-video.md — /talking-video workflow — 30s VO ads with auto-synced captions + music + reactions + demos. Triggered by user typing /talking-video.

DanSUGC Posting API Reference

If you get stuck with any posting operation, consult these resources:

• API docs (LLM-friendly): https://dansugc.com/llms.txt
• Interactive docs: https://dansugc.com/docs

Workflow Triggers

User types	Workflow	What it produces
(default — no slash command)	Classic reel pipeline (Steps 0–8 below)	7–15s text-overlay reels: hook clip + demo + green-zone text + music
/talking-video	Talking-Video workflow	20–30s testimonial ads: ElevenLabs VO + CapCut-style auto-synced captions + music underlay + reactions + demos. Load references/talking-video.md for the full spec, voice library, music recipe, script patterns, JSON schema, and build commands. Uses assets/talking-video/build_talking_video.py.

Critical Rules

1. MAX 15 SECONDS per reel for the classic pipeline. The /talking-video workflow is exempt (target 20–30s) because narrated stories need more runway.
2. ALL text MUST use TikTok Sans font — no exceptions
3. ALL text MUST be in the Green Zone — never in platform UI areas
4. ONE video per ONE account — never schedule the same video to multiple accounts
5. Always run Preflight (Step 0) first — verify all tools before work
6. Always use Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite for video intelligence — model: gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview
7. Never expose API keys in output — redact in logs, never print full keys (applies to ELEVENLABS_API_KEY too when using /talking-video)
8. Purchase videos from DanSUGC before downloading — users must purchase clips via the MCP tool before getting download URLs
9. NEVER construct dansugc.com URLs for downloading — the only valid download URLs are the storage URLs returned by mcp__dansugc__purchase_videos. Do NOT fabricate URLs like /api/broll/download, /api/v1/broll/download, or any other dansugc.com download path. These are internal browser routes that require session cookies and will fail with API keys.

---

Step 0: Preflight Check (MANDATORY)

Run this EVERY time before doing any work. Check all tools, fonts, and MCP connections.

0a. FFmpeg & FFprobe

if command -v ffmpeg &>/dev/null; then
  echo "ffmpeg: OK ($(ffmpeg -version 2>&1 | head -1))"
else
  echo "ffmpeg: MISSING — installing..."
  if command -v brew &>/dev/null; then
    brew install ffmpeg
  elif command -v apt-get &>/dev/null; then
    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y ffmpeg
  else
    echo "ERROR: Install ffmpeg manually"; exit 1
  fi
fi
command -v ffprobe &>/dev/null && echo "ffprobe: OK" || echo "ffprobe: MISSING"

0b. TikTok Sans Font

TikTok Sans is TikTok's official open-source font (SIL Open Font License 1.1). Required for all text overlays.

if [ -f "$HOME/Library/Fonts/TikTokSansDisplayBold.ttf" ] || [ -f "/usr/share/fonts/TikTokSansDisplayBold.ttf" ] || [ -f "$HOME/.local/share/fonts/TikTokSansDisplayBold.ttf" ]; then
  echo "TikTok Sans: OK"
else
  echo "TikTok Sans: MISSING — installing..."
  if [[ "$(uname)" == "Darwin" ]]; then
    FONT_DIR="$HOME/Library/Fonts"
  else
    FONT_DIR="$HOME/.local/share/fonts"
  fi
  mkdir -p "$FONT_DIR"
  cd /tmp
  curl -L -o tiktoksans.zip "https://www.cufonfonts.com/download/font/tiktok-sans"
  unzip -o tiktoksans.zip -d tiktoksans_extracted
  cp tiktoksans_extracted/TikTokSans*.ttf "$FONT_DIR/"
  rm -rf tiktoksans_extracted tiktoksans.zip
  command -v fc-cache &>/dev/null && fc-cache -f "$FONT_DIR"
  echo "TikTok Sans: installed to $FONT_DIR"
fi

0c. MCP Connections

Verify required MCP servers are connected. If missing, load references/tools-setup.md for setup instructions.

Required MCP Servers:
  dansugc — search_videos, purchase_videos, get_media_upload_url, create_post, posting_analytics (all-in-one)

0d. Gemini API Key

if [ -n "$GEMINI_API_KEY" ]; then
  echo "Gemini API: OK (key set)"
else
  echo "Gemini API: MISSING — set GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable"
  echo "Get your key at: https://aistudio.google.com/apikey"
fi

0e. Preflight Summary

echo "=== REELCLAW PREFLIGHT ==="
echo "ffmpeg:      $(command -v ffmpeg &>/dev/null && echo 'OK' || echo 'MISSING')"
echo "ffprobe:     $(command -v ffprobe &>/dev/null && echo 'OK' || echo 'MISSING')"
FONT_OK="MISSING"
for dir in "$HOME/Library/Fonts" "$HOME/.local/share/fonts" "/usr/share/fonts"; do
  [ -f "$dir/TikTokSansDisplayBold.ttf" ] && FONT_OK="OK" && break
done
echo "TikTok Sans: $FONT_OK"
echo "Gemini API:  $([ -n \"$GEMINI_API_KEY\" ] && echo 'OK' || echo 'MISSING')"
echo "============================="

All must show OK before proceeding.

---

Step 1: Source UGC Hooks from DanSUGC

Search for reaction clips matching your content's emotional tone. The best hooks are emotionally charged reactions.

Emotion Categories (ranked by engagement)

Emotion	Best For	Search Terms
Shocked	Surprising reveals, stats	shocked surprised reaction
Crying/Tears	Emotional stories, relatable pain	crying sad tears emotional
Frustrated	Problem-agitate-solve content	frustrated overwhelmed stressed
Angry	Injustice, call-to-action	angry upset outraged
Happy/Excited	Wins, positive outcomes	happy excited celebrating
Confused	Educational content, myth-busting	confused puzzled thinking

Search Strategy

Use semantic search for best results:

mcp__dansugc__search_videos(semantic_search="shocked woman reacting to phone screen")
mcp__dansugc__search_videos(emotion="shocked", gender="female", limit=10)
mcp__dansugc__search_videos(semantic_search="crying emotional reaction", min_virality=75)

Purchase & Download Workflow

1. Search for matching clips
2. Review results — check duration, emotion, virality score
3. Check balance with mcp__dansugc__get_balance
4. Purchase selected clips with mcp__dansugc__purchase_videos
5. Download using the storage URLs returned in the purchase response's download_url field

# The download_url from purchase_videos is a STORAGE URL (e.g., https://storage.example.com/full/xyz.mp4)
# It is NOT a dansugc.com URL. Never construct download URLs yourself.
curl -L -o hook-clip.mp4 "DOWNLOAD_URL_FROM_PURCHASE_RESPONSE"

IMPORTANT: If purchase_videos does not return a download_url, ask the user to check their DanSUGC dashboard. Do NOT attempt to guess or construct a download URL.

Hook Selection Rules

• Duration: Prefer clips 5-14 seconds (will be trimmed to ~5s)
• Virality score: Prefer 70+ for proven engagement
• Emotion match: Match the hook emotion to the text overlay emotion
• Vertical preferred: 1080x1920 clips need no cropping
• Landscape OK: Will be center-cropped to vertical

---

Step 2: Analyze & Split Demos with Gemini

Use Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite to analyze app demo recordings and extract the best segments.

2a. Extract Keyframes

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "DEMO.mp4" \
  -vf "fps=1/5,scale=540:-1" \
  "keyframes/frame_%03d.jpg"

2b. Gemini Video Analysis

# Direct video upload to Gemini (preferred)
FILE_URI=$(curl -s -X POST \
  "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/upload/v1beta/files?key=$GEMINI_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Goog-Upload-Command: start, upload, finalize" \
  -H "X-Goog-Upload-Header-Content-Type: video/mp4" \
  -H "Content-Type: video/mp4" \
  --data-binary @"DEMO.mp4" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['file']['uri'])")

curl -s "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview:generateContent?key=$GEMINI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"contents\": [{
      \"parts\": [
        {\"text\": \"Analyze this app demo. Identify the best 7-9 second clips and 20-30 second segments for speed-up. Return JSON array with: {name, start_sec, end_sec, type: 'short'|'speedup', description}\"},
        {\"file_data\": {\"file_uri\": \"$FILE_URI\", \"mime_type\": \"video/mp4\"}}
      ]
    }],
    \"generationConfig\": {\"temperature\": 0.2, \"response_mime_type\": \"application/json\"}
  }"

2c. Auto-Cut Clips

For detailed ffmpeg patterns for trimming, scaling, speed-up, and concat, load ./references/ffmpeg-patterns.md.

Short clips (natural speed, 7-9s):

VF="scale=1080:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1080:1920:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2:color=black,fps=30"

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "DEMO.mp4" -ss START -to END \
  -vf "$VF" -an \
  -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -movflags +faststart \
  "clips/short/CLIP_NAME.mp4"

Speed-up clips (20-30s source -> 7-9s output) — MUST use two-pass:

# Pass 1: Trim segment
ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "DEMO.mp4" -ss START -to END \
  -c copy "/tmp/segment.mp4"

# Pass 2: Speed up + scale (e.g., 30s -> 8.5s = setpts=0.283*PTS)
ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "/tmp/segment.mp4" \
  -vf "setpts=0.283*PTS,$VF" -an \
  -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -movflags +faststart \
  "clips/speedup/CLIP_NAME.mp4"

2d. Build Clip Library

project/
  clips/
    short/          # 7-9s natural speed clips
    speedup/        # 7-9s sped-up clips
  hooks/            # Downloaded UGC reaction clips
  finals/           # Completed reels
  music/            # Audio tracks
  clip-manifest.md  # Index of all clips with descriptions

---

Step 3: Assemble Reels

Combine hooks + demos + text + music into 15-second reels.

3a. The 15-Second Formula

Hook clip:    ~5 seconds  (UGC reaction — attention grabber)
Demo clip:    ~10 seconds (app demo — the product showcase)
Total:         15 seconds MAX

3b. Prepare Hook Clip

Landscape source (center crop):

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "hook.mp4" -ss 1 -to 6 \
  -vf "scale=1080:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=increase,crop=1080:1920,setsar=1,fps=30" \
  -an -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -movflags +faststart \
  "hook-trimmed.mp4"

Vertical source (scale + pad):

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "hook.mp4" -ss 1 -to 6 \
  -vf "scale=1080:1920:force_original_aspect_ratio=decrease,pad=1080:1920:(ow-iw)/2:(oh-ih)/2:color=black,setsar=1,fps=30" \
  -an -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -movflags +faststart \
  "hook-trimmed.mp4"

3c. Concatenate Hook + Demo

cat > /tmp/concat.txt << EOF
file 'hook-trimmed.mp4'
file 'demo-trimmed.mp4'
EOF

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -f concat -safe 0 -i /tmp/concat.txt \
  -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -movflags +faststart \
  "reel-notext.mp4"

3d. Add Text Overlays

ALL text must use TikTok Sans and be placed within the Green Zone. For full specs, load ./references/green-zone.md.

For text WITH apostrophes — use textfile= to avoid escaping issues:

printf "When nothing's wrong" > /tmp/hook_line1.txt

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error -i "reel-notext.mp4" \
  -vf "drawtext=textfile=/tmp/hook_line1.txt:\
    fontfile=$HOME/Library/Fonts/TikTokSansDisplayBold.ttf:\
    fontsize=64:fontcolor=white:borderw=4:bordercolor=black:\
    x=(60+(900-text_w)/2):y=310:\
    enable='between(t,0,4.5)'" \
  -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -c:a copy -movflags +faststart \
  "reel-text.mp4"

For text WITHOUT apostrophes — use inline text=:

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error -i "reel-notext.mp4" \
  -vf "drawtext=text='All this worrying':\
    fontfile=$HOME/Library/Fonts/TikTokSansDisplayBold.ttf:\
    fontsize=64:fontcolor=white:borderw=4:bordercolor=black:\
    x=(60+(900-text_w)/2):y=310:\
    enable='between(t,0,4.5)'" \
  -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 18 -c:a copy -movflags +faststart \
  "reel-text.mp4"

Escape colons in drawtext with \\: (e.g., "10\:00 AM").

3e. Add Music

ffmpeg -y -hide_banner -loglevel error \
  -i "reel-text.mp4" -i "track.mp3" \
  -map 0:v -map 1:a \
  -af "afade=t=in:st=0:d=0.5,afade=t=out:st=14:d=1,volume=0.8" \
  -c:v copy -c:a aac -b:a 128k \
  -shortest -movflags +faststart \
  "reel-final.mp4"

3f. Validate Duration (MANDATORY)

ffprobe -v quiet -print_format json -show_entries format=duration "reel-final.mp4" | \
  python3 -c "import sys,json; d=float(json.load(sys.stdin)['format']['duration']); \
  print(f'Duration: {d:.1f}s — {\"OK\" if d <= 15.0 else \"TOO LONG — must re-edit\"}')"

If over 15.0s: trim the demo clip or speed it up. NEVER deliver over 15 seconds.

---

Step 4: Virality Score (Gemini Video Analysis)

Score reels before publishing using Gemini's video understanding. Upload the video to the Gemini File API, get a 0-100 virality score across 7 criteria. Only publish reels scoring 70+.

For full scoring scripts (single + batch), prompt template, and improvement guide, load ./references/virality-scoring.md.

Quick Score (Single Reel)

# Upload to Gemini
FILE_URI=$(curl -s -X POST \
  "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/upload/v1beta/files?key=$GEMINI_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Goog-Upload-Command: start, upload, finalize" \
  -H "X-Goog-Upload-Header-Content-Type: video/mp4" \
  -H "Content-Type: video/mp4" \
  --data-binary @"reel-final.mp4" | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['file']['uri'])")

sleep 4  # Wait for processing

# Score — returns JSON with overall_score + 7 sub-scores + improvement tips
curl -s "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview:generateContent?key=$GEMINI_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{...}"  # See references/virality-scoring.md for full prompt

Score Criteria

Criterion	What It Measures
hook_strength	Opening 1-3 seconds — does it stop the scroll?
emotional_impact	Does it trigger relatability, shock, humor, empathy?
pacing_flow	Tight cuts, no dead time, snappy feel?
text_readability	Clear text, good positioning, high contrast?
scroll_stop_power	Would someone stop mid-scroll on the first frame?
completion_likelihood	Will viewers watch to the end?
shareability	Would someone send this to a friend?

Score Thresholds

Score	Action
85+	Publish immediately — prioritize for best account
70-84	Publish — minor tweaks optional
55-69	Rework hook or pacing before publishing
<55	Re-edit significantly or discard

Batch Score

For scoring entire directories, use the Python batch scorer in ./references/virality-scoring.md. It handles uploads, rate limits, and outputs a ranked scorecard.

---

Step 5: Publish via DanSUGC Posting

DanSUGC handles TikTok and Instagram publishing natively — no third-party tools needed. Requires a DanSUGC Posting subscription (separate from B-Roll credits — check your dashboard).

Read references/posting-upload.md before doing this step. Publishing is now a 3-step flow: presign → PUT → create_post. External hosts (tmpfiles.org, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.) are rejected with 400 media_url not recognized — every media_urls entry must come from get_media_upload_url.

5a. Check Subscription

mcp__dansugc__check_posting_subscription()

If not subscribed, direct the user to dansugc.com/dashboard to activate a Posting plan.

5b. List Connected Accounts

mcp__dansugc__list_posting_accounts()

Returns connected TikTok and Instagram accounts with their UUIDs, usernames, follower counts. Capture the id (UUID) for each target account — required for create_post.

5c. Presign an Upload URL

# Grab the exact byte size — required for the presign
SIZE=$(stat -f%z ./out/reel-final.mp4)   # macOS
# SIZE=$(stat -c%s ./out/reel-final.mp4) # Linux

mcp__dansugc__get_media_upload_url(
  content_type="video/mp4",
  size_bytes=<SIZE>
)
# → upload_url (presigned R2 PUT, 5min TTL), public_url, expires_at, max_bytes, content_type, kind

Allowed MIMEs: video/mp4, video/quicktime, video/webm (video); image/jpeg, image/png, image/webp (image). Max 200 MB video / 25 MB image.

5d. PUT the File to the Presigned URL

# Content-Type MUST exactly match the MIME passed to get_media_upload_url —
# R2 signs the header into the URL and will reject anything else.
curl --fail -X PUT "$UPLOAD_URL" \
  -H "Content-Type: video/mp4" \
  --data-binary "@./out/reel-final.mp4"

PUT within 5 minutes of issuing the presign — the URL is single-use and short-lived.

5e. Schedule or Publish the Post

mcp__dansugc__create_post(
  account_ids=["<account-uuid-from-list_posting_accounts>"],
  caption="Hook text...\n\nCaption body...\n\n#hashtag1 #hashtag2 #fyp",
  media_urls=["<public_url from get_media_upload_url>"],
  scheduled_for="2026-03-25T18:00:00Z",
  timezone="America/New_York"
)

Set publish_now=true to post immediately instead of scheduling.

Field name: the caption parameter is caption (not content). Older skill versions used content — that field is no longer accepted.

Optional per-platform settings:

mcp__dansugc__create_post(
  account_ids=["<uuid>"],
  caption="...",
  media_urls=["<public_url>"],
  publish_now=true,
  platform_settings={
    "tiktok": {"privacy_level": "PUBLIC_TO_EVERYONE", "allow_comment": true}
  }
)

Distribution rules:

• ONE unique video per account — never post the same video to multiple accounts
• Stagger posting times by 5 minutes between accounts
• Max 10 media_urls per post

5f. Caption Formula

[Hook text — the emotional line from the video]

[1-2 sentences connecting the emotion to your product/solution]

#hashtag1 #hashtag2 #hashtag3 #hashtag4 #hashtag5 #fyp

5g. Verify Post Status

mcp__dansugc__list_posts()

Status values: draft, scheduled, published, failed. For failure modes (400 media_url not recognized, 413 too large, 429 quota, 503 scanner unreachable, etc.) see references/posting-upload.md.

---

Step 6: Track Performance via DanSUGC Analytics Proxy

Social media analytics are included with your DanSUGC API key — no extra setup needed. DanSUGC proxies ScrapCreators data at $0.02/request from your existing balance. Auth is handled automatically by the MCP server.

# Get TikTok video stats
mcp__dansugc__scrapecreators_raw(path="v1/tiktok/video", params={url: "VIDEO_URL"})

# Search TikTok videos by keyword
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_search_videos(query="KEYWORD")

# Get TikTok profile videos (sorted by popular)
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_user_videos(handle="USERNAME", sort_by="popular")

# Search Instagram reels
mcp__dansugc__instagram_search_reels(query="KEYWORD")

Error codes:

• 402 — Insufficient DanSUGC balance (top up credits)
• 403 — API key not linked to a user account
• 502 — Upstream unreachable (auto-refunded, safe to retry)

Winner Thresholds (24-48h)

Metric	Good	Great	Viral
Views	10K+	100K+	1M+
Like ratio	5%+	10%+	15%+
Comment ratio	0.5%+	1%+	2%+
Share ratio	0.3%+	1%+	3%+

Replicate Winners

1. Same hook emotion + different UGC creator
2. Same text style + same demo angle
3. Same music + spread across accounts
4. Search for more clips: mcp__dansugc__search_videos(emotion="shocked", min_virality=70)

---

Step 7: Format Research — Find Viral Formats for Any Niche

When users ask for format ideas (e.g., "find me format ideas for beef liver supplements on TikTok"), use the DanSUGC MCP tools to research what's working in that niche across TikTok and Instagram.

6a. Search for Niche Content

Search TikTok and Instagram for top-performing content in the user's niche:

# Search TikTok for niche keywords
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_search_videos(query="NICHE_KEYWORD")

# Search Instagram reels for same niche
mcp__dansugc__instagram_search_reels(query="NICHE_KEYWORD")

Run multiple keyword variations to cast a wider net. For example, for "beef liver supplements":

• beef liver supplement
• beef liver capsules
• organ supplements
• liver king (known creators in the niche)
• desiccated liver

6b. Find Top Creators in the Niche

Identify creators who are crushing it, then pull their most popular videos:

# Search for creators in the niche
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_search_users(query="NICHE_KEYWORD")

# Get their top-performing videos
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_user_videos(handle="CREATOR_USERNAME", sort_by="popular")

# Get Instagram creator reels
mcp__dansugc__instagram_user_reels(handle="CREATOR_USERNAME")

6c. Analyze & Present Format Ideas

From the search results, extract and present 4-5 distinct format ideas. For each format:

### Format [N]: [Format Name]

**Description:** What the format looks like and how it works
**Example:** [Link or description of a top-performing video using this format]
**Stats:** [Views, likes, engagement rate from the search results]
**Why it works:** [Brief psychology — why this format resonates]
**How to replicate with ReelClaw:**
  - Hook type: [emotion — shocked, crying, etc.]
  - Text hook style: [e.g., "When..." question, bold statement, statistic]
  - Demo content: [what to show in the demo portion]
  - Music vibe: [energetic, moody, trending sound]

6d. Format Research Strategy

Search in this order for best results:

1. Broad niche search — keyword search for the main niche term
2. Specific product search — keyword search for the exact product/brand
3. Creator discovery — user search to find niche influencers
4. Creator deep-dive — profile videos sorted by popular for top 2-3 creators
5. Cross-platform — Repeat key searches on Instagram for format diversity

What to look for in results:

• Videos with unusually high engagement (likes/views ratio > 10%)
• Recurring formats across multiple creators (validates the format works)
• Content styles: UGC reactions, before/after, POV, tutorials, testimonials, unboxing, "day in my life"
• Hook patterns: text overlays, opening lines, visual hooks
• Duration sweet spots in the niche

---

Step 8: Hook Research — Find Winning Text Hooks

When users ask for hook ideas, use the DanSUGC MCP tools to find text hooks proven to work in the niche.

7a. Search for Hook Inspiration

# Search TikTok for niche content — hooks live in video descriptions/captions
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_search_videos(query="NICHE_KEYWORD")

# Search with emotional angle keywords
mcp__dansugc__tiktok_search_videos(query="NICHE relatable")

# Instagram reels for different hook styles
mcp__dansugc__instagram_search_reels(query="NICHE_KEYWORD")

7b. Extract & Categorize Hooks

From the search results, extract text hooks from video descriptions, captions, and titles. Group them by type:

Category	Pattern	Example
"When..." hooks	When [relatable situation]...	"When you've tried everything but nothing works"
POV hooks	POV: [scenario]	"POV: you finally tried organ supplements"
Statistic hooks	[Number] [claim]	"90% of people are deficient in this"
Question hooks	[Provocative question]?	"Why is nobody talking about this?"
Confession hooks	I [honest admission]	"I used to think supplements were a scam"
"Nobody..." hooks	Nobody talks about [truth]	"Nobody tells you this about iron deficiency"
Challenge hooks	[Dare or challenge]	"Try this for 30 days and watch what happens"
Before/After hooks	[Before state] → [After state]	"Day 1 vs Day 30 on beef liver"

7c. Present Hook Ideas

For each hook, provide:

### Hook [N]: "[The hook text]"

**Category:** [Hook type from table above]
**Inspired by:** [Video from search results with stats]
**Emotion:** [What UGC reaction to pair with — shocked, curious, crying, etc.]
**Text overlay format:**
  Line 1: [first line of text]
  Line 2: [second line, if needed]
**Matching caption:**
  [Full caption including hashtags]

7d. Hook Research Strategy

To find hooks that match a specific format:

1. Search for the format keyword (e.g., "supplement review TikTok")
2. Look at the top 10-20 results
3. Extract the first line of each caption — this is usually the hook
4. Cross-reference with engagement: hooks from high-performing videos are proven

To find hooks for a specific brand/product:

1. Search for the brand name directly
2. Search for the product category + emotional keywords
3. Search for competitor brand names

Hook quality signals:

• High engagement ratio (likes/views > 10%)
• Many comments (comments indicate the hook triggered a response)
• Hook text matches the emotional tone of the video
• Short and scannable (3-7 words per line, max 3 lines)

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Step 9: Talking-Video Workflow (/talking-video)

A separate, longer-form pipeline for narrated testimonial UGC ads (typically 20–30s). Different from the classic reel pipeline in three ways:

1. ElevenLabs voiceover drives the watch-through (not just text overlays)
2. CapCut-style auto-synced captions — generated from VO timestamps, not hand-coded
3. Music underlay runs the full duration at a loudness-normalized level

When the user types /talking-video

Step 1 — Load the spec: Read references/talking-video.md for the full workflow. It documents the requirements checklist, safe voice IDs, music recipe, 5 script hook families, FB compliance rules, JSON schema, and build commands.

Step 2 — Confirm requirements with the user (use the checklist in the reference):

• ELEVENLABS_API_KEY (env var or pasted — never log the full key)
• App name + CTA copy
• 4–6+ app demo videos (screen recordings, vertical preferred)
• Reaction source (DanSUGC model_id to fetch, or local folder)
• Number of videos to produce

Step 3 — Run preflight extras (in addition to Step 0):

[ -n "$ELEVENLABS_API_KEY" ] && echo "ElevenLabs API: OK" || echo "ElevenLabs API: MISSING"
ls assets/talking-video/build_talking_video.py 2>&1

Step 4 — Inventory and pre-bake music bed:

# Loop + loudness-normalize any source track to a 30s bed at -16 LUFS
ffmpeg -y -stream_loop -1 -i "SOURCE_MUSIC.mp3" -t 32 \
  -af "loudnorm=I=-16:TP=-1.5:LRA=11,afade=t=in:st=0:d=0.4" \
  -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 "music_bed_30s.mp3"

Step 5 — Write scripts and JSON spec: copy assets/talking-video/concepts_template.json, write 1+ VO scripts (~75–82 words each for 30s) using the 5 hook family patterns from the reference. Map reactions and demos to the 7-segment timeline.

Step 6 — Compliance audit:

# Auto-flag Facebook personal-attributes violations
grep -iE "your (pcos|acne|anxiety|depression|skin|hair|fertility|body|weight)" your_concepts.json

Step 7 — Build:

# All concepts
python3 assets/talking-video/build_talking_video.py path/to/concepts.json

# Subset (recommended for first batch — review before producing the rest)
ONLY="01,05,09,13,17" python3 assets/talking-video/build_talking_video.py path/to/concepts.json

Step 8 — Spot-check 3–4 frames per video, then produce remaining or iterate.

Key facts to memorize

• Captions are auto-synced — never hand-time them. Use /v1/text-to-speech/{voice}/with-timestamps and the phrase grouper in the build script.
• Music must be loudness-normalized BEFORE applying gain — otherwise "50%" will mean different things for different tracks. The recipe is loudnorm=I=-16:TP=-1.5:LRA=11.
• Last 4 seconds are reserved for the big CTA card. Auto-captions get capped to end at video_dur - 4.
• One model per video keeps character consistency. Mixing reaction clips from different models inside one video looks wrong.
• VO scripts target ~75–82 words for 30s at speed=1.05. Shorter scripts will pad with silence; longer scripts will sound rushed after atempo compression.

Output spec

Same as classic reels: 1080×1920, 30fps, H.264, AAC 192k, faststart.

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Troubleshooting

"No token data found" for DanSUGC MCP:

• Re-register: claude mcp add --transport http -s user dansugc https://dansugc.com/api/mcp -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"
• Restart Claude Code after adding

Apostrophes breaking text overlays:

• Use textfile=/tmp/mytext.txt instead of inline text='...'
• Write text to file first: printf "don't stop" > /tmp/mytext.txt

Speed-up clips output wrong duration:

• Always use two-pass: trim first with -c copy, then speed up with setpts
• Never combine -ss/-to with setpts in a single pass

DanSUGC Posting returns 403 / subscription error: User needs an active DanSUGC Posting subscription — go to dansugc.com/dashboard to subscribe.

Post stuck in failed state: Use mcp__dansugc__list_posts() to check error details, then mcp__dansugc__delete_post(id=...) and recreate.

Text cut off by platform UI:

• Check Green Zone specs in ./references/green-zone.md
• Y must be between 210 and 1480, X between 60 and 960 (universal)

/talking-video workflow troubleshooting

Captions land off-beat from VO: you're hand-timing captions. Use the /with-timestamps endpoint and the phrase grouper in assets/talking-video/build_talking_video.py. See references/talking-video.md "Caption workflow" section.

Music is inaudible at 50% volume: the source track wasn't loudness-normalized. Pre-bake the music bed with loudnorm=I=-16:TP=-1.5:LRA=11 before the gain stage.

"your X" caught by Facebook ad review: auto-audit before producing — grep -iE "your (pcos|acne|...)" concepts.json. Replace with my X or women with X or people with X.

Reaction file not found (.mp4 vs .mov mismatch): the build script auto-resolves common extension swaps. If it still fails, list the actual files in the reactions folder and update the spec.

VO sounds rushed / too slow: target ~75–82 words for 30s at speed=1.05. If raw VO is way off, adjust word count rather than relying on extreme atempo (which degrades quality).

ELEVENLABS_API_KEY missing: required only for the talking-video workflow. Set export ELEVENLABS_API_KEY="..." or pass it via the common.elevenlabs_api_key field in the JSON spec (do not commit keys to git).