Instagram Hook Extractor

When to use

• User finds a viral Reel or carousel they want to study
• User wants to replicate a specific creator's pattern
• Before

  ig-caption-writer

  or

  ig-carousel-planner

  , to seed a draft with a proven shape

Input

/p/

/reel/

Output

• Formula identified (IG1-IG10 from

  ../../references/hook-formulas.md

  ) with a confidence score
• Surface: single image, carousel, or Reel, and why that surface fit the idea
• Structural breakdown:
  • The hook (caption first 125 chars / carousel slide 1 / Reel first 3 seconds)
  • Body architecture (per-slide roles for a carousel; beat order for a Reel)
  • The close (what earns the save, send, or follow)
  • Reaction-triggering devices (numbers, named entities, the open loop)
• Primary goal the original chased (saves / shares / comments / follows)
• Why it worked psychologically and algorithmically
• Blank template with

  {slot}

  markers matched to the original, ready for the user's topic
• Cautions: anything in the original that would fail a 2026 audit (em dashes over the cap, an AI-vocab cluster, 30 hashtags, mixed media)

Steps

1. Parse the URL.

   lib.url_parser.parse_instagram_url(url)

   returns

   username

   ,

   shortcode

   ,

   url_type

   .
2. Get the content. Ask the user to paste the caption, and for a carousel the slide text, or for a Reel the first 3 seconds (on-screen text + opening line). (If they later wire an Apify Instagram actor, read it automatically.)
3. Detect the surface. Single image, carousel, or Reel.
4. Classify against the 10 formulas using features:
   • Caption: an odd-precision result (IG1)? a contrarian claim (IG2)? a relatable moment (IG3)? a first-person confession (IG4)?
   • Carousel: a numbered teaching list (IG5)? a before/after (IG6)? a myth/truth structure (IG7)? a named framework (IG8)?
   • Reel: a pattern interrupt in the first seconds (IG9)? a "how I" teardown (IG10)?
5. Score confidence. If two formulas fit, return the top 2 with fit scores.
6. Extract structure. Label each part by its role. For a carousel, map slide 1 (the loop), the front-loaded value, and the payoff slide.
7. Name the primary goal the original optimized for.
8. Generate a blank template with

   {slot}

   markers matched to the original shape and the user's topic.
9. Audit the source. Flag any AI tells so the user does not copy them.

Example

references/examples.md

Formulas reference

../../references/hook-formulas.md

Files

• SKILL.md

  - this file

• references/classification-rules.md

  - feature extraction + scoring heuristics

• references/examples.md

  - worked teardowns (caption, carousel, Reel)

Related skills

• ig-caption-writer

  - use the extracted caption template to draft your own

• ig-carousel-planner

  - use the extracted carousel template

• ig-humanizer --mode audit

  - audit your draft before shipping