Ig Carousel Planner

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

1. Gather inputs. Topic, the list/framework/transformation, target audience,

and the goal (saves / shares / follows).

1. Pick the formula. Use the goal table; suggest 2-3 that fit and let the

user choose.

1. Set the slide count. Match it to the real content (6-10 typical). Never

pad to hit 10; viewers feel filler and bail.

1. Write slide 1. The promise plus the loop. Big, single-idea on-image text.

Front-load a number if one fits.

1. 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).

1. Write the payoff slide. A one-slide recap that is worth saving on its own,

plus a single ask (save it / follow for more).

1. 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.

1. Humanizer pass on the on-image text and caption.
2. 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.

1. On approval, publish with media. Call `lib.publish(kind="carousel",

drafttext=, targeturl="https://www.instagram.com/", media=[], platforms=[], scheduled_time=)`. 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, AI vocab, rule-of-three.

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 rules

Related skills

• ig-caption-writer - when the idea is a single image, not a carousel
• ig-hashtag-strategist - build the sized hashtag set
• ig-humanizer - scrub the on-image text and caption
• ig-hook-extractor - reverse-engineer a carousel you admire

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: sergebulaev
• Source: sergebulaev/instagram-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.