/ig-carousel-planner

name: ig-carousel-planner
description: "Plan an Instagram carousel slide by slide, up to 10 slides, with a hook slide that opens a loop, value slides that front-load the payoff, and a payoff slide that earns the save and follow. Picks a 2026 carousel formula (listicle, before/after, myth-buster, framework) by goal (saves, shares, follows), drafts each slide's text plus the caption, then publishes the images you supply via Publora. Use to structure a multi-slide carousel. Not for single-image captions (use ig-caption-writer)."

Instagram Carousel Planner

Plan a carousel that gets swiped to the end and saved. The whole game is slide 1 (the swipe-earning hook) and the last slide (the saveable payoff). This skill maps every slide, writes the on-image text, and drafts the caption that frames it.

When to use

• User wants to turn a topic or notes into a multi-slide carousel
• User has a list, a framework, or a transformation to teach
• User wants a slide-by-slide structure, not just a caption

Formulas this skill uses (carousel shapes)

| Code | Formula | Primary goal | Best for | |---|---|---|---| | IG5 | Listicle Carousel | saves | a numbered teaching list, one item per slide | | IG6 | Before/After Transformation | saves, follows | proof of a result with the steps between | | IG7 | Myth-Buster | shares | correcting beliefs your niche holds | | IG8 | Steal-This Framework | saves | a named, repeatable framework |

Full skeletons in `../../references/hook-formulas.md`.

Slide architecture (the 10-slide spine)

A carousel is 2-10 slides (API limit). The reliable spine:

| Slide | Role | |---|---| | **1 (hook)** | the promise + an open loop ("most miss #4"). Earns the swipe. Big text, one idea. | | **2-3** | the strongest value, front-loaded (swipe-through decays with depth). | | **4 to N-1** | one point per slide, each standing alone, each readable in 2 seconds. | | **N (payoff)** | the one-slide summary (the saveable artifact) + one clear ask (save / follow). |

6-10 slides is the sweet spot for a teaching carousel. Fewer than 4 is usually a single image. See `references/slide-architecture.md` for per-formula spines.

Steps

**Voice profile first (all drafts).** If `../../references/voice-profile.md` has `filled: yes`, load it and match the user's voice fingerprint, hard rules, and CTA/link style throughout. If it is not filled, mention once that `ig-humanizer --mode profile` can learn their voice from a few posts, then proceed with the generic voice rules.

1. **Gather inputs.** Topic, the list/framework/transformation, target audience, and the goal (saves / shares / follows). 2. **Pick the formula.** Use the goal table; suggest 2-3 that fit and let the user choose. 3. **Set the slide count.** Match it to the real content (6-10 typical). Never pad to hit 10; viewers feel filler and bail. 4. **Write slide 1.** The promise plus the loop. Big, single-idea on-image text. Front-load a number if one fits. 5. **Map the value slides.** Put the strongest point on slide 2 or 3. One point per slide, each able to stand alone. Draft the on-image text for each (keep it short, it has to read in 2 seconds on a 4:5 frame). 6. **Write the payoff slide.** A one-slide recap that is worth saving on its own, plus a single ask (save it / follow for more). 7. **Write the caption.** The caption supports the carousel (it can be short), restates the hook for the fold, and carries the hashtags. Hand off to `ig-hashtag-strategist` or apply the 3-5 sized set. 8. **Humanizer pass** on the on-image text and caption. Scrub 2026 AI vocab by density (per slide, per caption paragraph), cap em dashes (at most one per slide, about one per 100 words in the caption; never swap one for a period), break stacked triads and reveal bridges. Slides are short by design: never chop or pad a slide for rhythm. Canonical rules: `ig-humanizer` V3. 9. **Approval card.** Show: formula, slide-by-slide outline with each slide's text, the caption, hashtag set, primary goal, and a reminder that the user supplies 2-10 images (all images, no mixed media) in this order. 10. **On approval, publish with media.** Call `lib.publish(kind="carousel", draft_text=<approved caption>, target_url="https://www.instagram.com/", media=[<slide image paths in order>], platforms=[<INSTAGRAM_PLATFORM_ID>], scheduled_time=<iso_or_None>)`. The wrapper uploads each image in order and schedules. With no media or no Publora key it returns the plan as a copy-paste block plus the slide order.

Hard rules

Global voice rules: see root `SKILL.md` Voice rules. Additional skill-specific rules:

• Slide 1 is a promise with an open loop, never a bare title.
• Front-load value to slides 2-3; never bury the best point at the end.
• One point per slide, readable in 2 seconds on a portrait 4:5 frame.
• 2-10 slides only. Never pad to a round number.
• All images, no mixed media (the API rejects an image+video carousel).
• The last slide must earn the save with a one-slide summary and one ask.

Anti-patterns (skill will refuse)

• A title-only slide 1 with no promise or loop.
• A 10-slide carousel padded from a 4-point idea.
• The strongest point saved for the final slide.
• Three competing CTAs on the payoff slide.
• Mixing images and a video in one carousel.
• On-image walls of text that cannot be read in a swipe.
• Em dashes above the cap (more than one on a slide), AI vocab clusters, stacked or hollow rule-of-three.
• "The result?" reveals and staccato stacks added for punch.

Resources

• `../../references/hook-formulas.md` - the carousel formulas (IG5-IG8) with skeletons
• `../../references/algorithm-heuristics.md` - 2026 carousel ranking and swipe-through rules
• `../../references/hashtag-strategy.md` - the 3-5 sized hashtag recipe
• `../../references/media-workflow.md` - uploading 2-10 images in order
• `references/slide-architecture.md` - per-formula slide spines and on-image text