Carousel Posts

A carousel is not a blog post chopped into squares — it's a swipe-through where every slide has two jobs: deliver one idea, and earn the next swipe. This skill owns the narrative structure and slide copy; the rendering mechanics (brand pull, HTML authoring, headless render, upload) come from the create-post-graphic skill — read it first.

Stage 1 — Pick the framework

Read references/carousel-frameworks.md and pick by what the content IS, using its table:

Don't force it: list content in a rant structure (or vice versa) is the #1 reason carousels flop. If nothing fits, it probably wants to be a single graphic — hand off to create-post-graphic.

Stage 2 — Write the slide copy

Write ALL slides as text before touching HTML, following the framework's slide-by-slide table. Rules from the reference that are non-negotiable:

• Slide 1 must work as a standalone feed post (it competes alone as the thumbnail).
• One idea per slide; if a slide needs two sentences of setup, split it.
• Any count promised on the cover is exactly delivered — no filler slides.
• Claims and numbers must be real and this business's own.
• Final slide: ONE call to action, not three.

Run the slide copy and the caption through the humanize skill's pattern check before rendering — fixing text is free, re-rendering isn't.

Stage 3 — Render the slides

Use create-post-graphic's Stage 1 (brand pull), Stage 3 (HTML authoring), and Stage 4 (headless render + LOOK at it) with one carousel-specific rule: one HTML template, N content swaps. Author a single slide.html with the brand tokens and layout, then render each slide by swapping the copy (a small build loop or one file per slide from the same skeleton). Same type scale, same palette, same layout on every interior slide — variety between slides reads as clutter.

Dimensions: 1080x1350 (4:5) for Instagram and LinkedIn; check the marky-api platform rules for the max slide count per platform before authoring.

Stage 4 — Assemble and attach

• Upload the slide PNGs in order (slide 1 first — it's the cover) and create the post with all of them in media_urls. Marky publishes them as a carousel on platforms that support it.
• LinkedIn document posts: LinkedIn expects a PDF; Marky handles carousel delivery per platform — do NOT pre-convert unless the platform rules say so.
• The caption is a second hook, not a repeat of slide 1 — write it as its own post text.
• Tag metadata: format: carousel, hook: <framework letter>, plus topic — review-performance groups engagement by these tags, so framework performance becomes measurable per audience.

Stage 5 — Approve, then schedule

Same hard gate as every creation skill: show the rendered slides (review board in pick mode for multiple candidates), get explicit approval, then schedule via the schedule-posts skill. Judge results later on saves and completion, not likes (see "Measuring what worked" in the reference).

Feedback

Friction or ideas? Send via the submit_feedback MCP tool (see marky-api "Marky wants your feedback").