sergebulaev 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.pyand 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, andyt-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 above the cap (about one per 100 words) in any drafted title or hook line.
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