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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Assign pillars to slots so the week is varied, not five takes on one topic.
4. 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
5. Place community posts on the non-upload days (a poll, a tease, a question).
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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 slot
• references/pillars-framework.md - turning a niche into pillars and a balanced mix
• references/example-week.md - a fully worked weekly grid

Related skills

• yt-title-optimizer - write the title for each planned slot
• yt-thumbnail-brief - brief the thumbnail for each planned slot
• yt-hook-scripter - script the opening for each planned slot
• yt-description-writer - write the description for each planned slot
• yt-community-post-writer - the between-uploads community posts