This is the YouTube version of a pack I already wrote up for LinkedIn. Same builder, same MIT license, same approve-before-anything shape. One difference worth saying up front: this pack does not write your script. It builds the wrapper around the video, the title, the thumbnail brief and the description that decide whether anyone clicks.
01. Why this exists
the video is not the bottleneck, the packaging is
The builder's line, repeated across every pack in this family: "writing collapsed to the price of a chat subscription." On YouTube the words were never the hard part anyway. The title and thumbnail do most of the work, and most creators spend the least time there.
these skills sit on that gap. They write titles by formula, script the first few seconds for retention, brief the thumbnail, and build the description with chapters and keywords.
A great video with a weak title is a private video.
Part of the set
sergebulaev ships one of these per platform, all MIT, all the same shape. The full rundown with every source link is on the social media skills hub.
02. What you actually get
one install, no coding
The skills load into Claude Code or Codex and trigger when you ask for something YouTube-shaped. You never call them by name.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Title Optimizer | Writes high-CTR titles under 100 characters by formula, returns 3 to 5 A/B variants tagged by goal |
| Description Writer | Writes a full description under 5,000 characters with a hook, chapters, keywords, links and a CTA |
| Hook Scripter | Scripts the spoken opening: the first 30 seconds of a long-form video or the first 3 seconds of a Short, with no intro |
| Thumbnail Brief | Turns a video into a designer-ready brief with 2 to 3 A/B concepts |
| Community Post Writer | Writes community-tab posts, polls and questions as copy-paste blocks |
| Content Planner | Builds a weekly plan with a long-form and Shorts mix, titles, thumbnails and goals |
| Repurposer | Adapts off-platform content into YouTube surfaces such as community posts and video briefs |
| Channel Optimizer | Audits and rewrites the channel page end to end with a scorecard and a before and after |
| Audience Insights | Reads your audience from comments through the YouTube Data API, flags trends and superfans |
03. Install it
a plugin marketplace, no coding
It ships as a plugin. Add the marketplace, install the pack, and the skills are live in your next session.
# Claude Code (CLI, Desktop, Web, IDEs)
/plugin marketplace add sergebulaev/youtube-skills
/plugin install youtube-skills@youtube-skills
# Codex CLI
codex plugin marketplace add sergebulaev/youtube-skills
codex plugin add youtube-skills@youtube-skills
# any other agent
npx skills add sergebulaev/youtube-skillsNothing else is required. The optional services in section 6 only matter if you want auto-upload, comment reading or generated thumbnails.
04. The loop: draft, approve, ship
you are still the gate
The flow is the same as the other packs, minus the humanize pass. You describe the video. Title Optimizer returns A/B options, Thumbnail Brief returns concepts, Description Writer builds the block. Then it stops and shows you everything. Nothing goes on the video until you pick.
05. The skills that carry it
the rest are useful, these are the reason to install
Title Optimizer is the whole point. It gives you three to five titles by formula, each tagged by the goal it serves, so you are choosing between real options instead of staring at one. On YouTube that choice is most of your reach.
Thumbnail Brief is the one people skip and regret. It does not draw the thumbnail. It hands your designer, or you, two or three concepts with the idea, the focal element and the text, so the thumbnail is decided before anyone opens an editor.
Hook Scripter fixes the retention cliff. The first 30 seconds of a long-form video, or the first 3 of a Short, with the throat-clearing intro cut. That is where most videos lose the audience they earned with the title.
Channel Optimizer is a one-time job. Run it once on the channel page, the banner text, the featured sections and the about box. It is the page a new subscriber checks before they commit.
06. The optional paid add-ons
the pack is free, these extend it
The core is free forever. A few services extend it and you only add the ones you need. Keys go in a .env file.
| Service | What it adds | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Publora | Auto-uploads the video with the chosen title and description | Free tier, then paid |
| YouTube Data API | Lets Audience Insights read your comments | Free tier |
| Pixfaro | Generates thumbnail art from the brief | From 0.004 dollars per image |
You can run the whole thing with zero keys and paste the title, description and brief into YouTube Studio yourself.
07. The completely free setup
run it with zero paid keys
Every skill in this pack works without Publora, Pixfaro or Apify. With no keys it drops to manual mode: it still drafts and audits, then hands you text to paste yourself instead of publishing. A few prompts make that mode smooth, and you can wire in free automation on top if you want it.
| Paid piece | Free version |
|---|---|
| Publora, publishing | A clean copy-paste block, or a local Playwright script that logs in with your own browser session |
| Pixfaro, images | Generate in ChatGPT or anywhere else, hand the skill the file path. Or skip images |
| Apify, Audience Insights data | Not needed. Audience Insights already runs on the free YouTube Data API |
For YouTube only publishing and images need the free treatment. Audience Insights already uses the free YouTube Data API, so there is no scraper to add.
Right after install, paste this into Claude Code in the plugin's folder to turn on free mode:
I will not use Publora, Pixfaro or Apify. Read every SKILL.md and the files
in lib/ (apify_client.py, publora_client.py, pixfaro_client.py). Make all
skills work with zero paid keys: publishing outputs a clean copy-paste
block, images print the prompt and then accept a local file path, data
fetch asks me to paste the content when no scraper is set up. Do not change
any function names or return shapes. Add FREE_MODE=1 to .env.example. Show
me a summary of every change.That alone is a working free setup. The rest is optional polish, each a one-paragraph prompt to Claude Code: rewrite lib/publora_client.py to post with Playwright from your saved browser session and stop before the final click unless you pass auto=True; make lib/pixfaro_client.py take a local image path instead of calling the API.
Day to day: the skill drafts and humanizes, then you paste the post yourself or let the Playwright step do it. Need an image, the skill prints a prompt, you make it elsewhere and give back the path. Audience Insights runs off the local data source.
Total cost, zero. Worth knowing: these scrapers are unofficial and against each platform's terms of service, they break whenever the platform changes its markup, and the free YouTube Data API has a daily quota. Keep request volume low.
08. It packages, it does not write the video
what this pack is and is not
There is no Post Writer here and no Humanizer. That is deliberate. On YouTube the script is yours and the packaging is the leverage. A strong video with a weak title and a vague thumbnail gets buried, and no amount of editing fixes that after the fact.
So the workflow is narrow on purpose: title, hook, thumbnail brief, description. Get those four right per video and the pack has done its job. Everything else is support.
09. The catch, in plain words
read this before you install
A skill pack does not give you judgment. It hands you five titles, but you still have to know which one is honest about the video and which one over-promises. A title that beats the click and loses the viewer costs you more than a boring one.
Feed it your real work too. Show it a few of your own titles and thumbnails that performed, not a description of your style, or the output drifts to generic YouTube bait.
And Publora uploads on your behalf if you connect it. Read what it does before you paste a key.
10. Who should use it
the honest verdict
Use it if you already work in Claude Code or Codex and you publish on YouTube, long-form or Shorts. It turns titling and thumbnail planning from a guess into a short list of options, for free.
Skip it if you do not use an agent day to day, or if packaging is already the part you are good at.
There is a version of this for every other platform too. All of them, with source links, are on the social media skills hub.
The pack is on GitHub, it is MIT, and it takes ten minutes to try. Worst case, nothing changes. Best case, your next title is a choice instead of a shrug.
Source: github.com/sergebulaev/youtube-skills ↗// Free newsletter
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