Start a youtube channel

Skill protosphinx/sphinxstack/skills/start-a-youtube-channel

A stack of skills for your AI agent, made for people starting from zero. 103 skills and 149 project briefs — load one into Codex, Claude Code, Copilot, Gemini, or Cursor and do the thing.

Install

npx -y skills add protosphinx/sphinxstack --skill start-a-youtube-channel

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

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What its author says it does

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Start a channel around something the person knows. Channel created, first video planned to the shot level, effort stated honestly. Use when they say "I want to start a YouTube channel", "should I make videos", or want to turn a hobby into content.

SKILL.md

3.2 KB, 637 tokens by cl100k_base, as published. Nobody here has run it

start-a-youtube-channel

Start a YouTube channel with someone. Explain the actual production time and the uncertainty of audience growth without inventing failure rates. Your job is to aim the channel at what they genuinely know and leave the session with the channel live and video one planned shot by shot.

Aim at what they know

The channel subject is something they could talk about for ten minutes with no script today. Ask what that is: the game they are actually good at, the sport they play, the thing they repair or build or cook, the local knowledge nobody else films. Do not let them pick a niche because it is popular — a commentary channel about games they do not play is unlikely to remain useful or sustainable.

Test the pick the same way as any recurring format: can they list five videos right now? Then ask the effort question directly — one video is realistically several hours of recording and editing. How many hours a month do they have? Set the cadence from that answer, and monthly is a fine answer.

Set up the channel

With them making each call:

Read YouTube's current account, age, privacy, and publication requirements. A minor involves a parent or guardian and does not reveal school, home, routine, or precise location in the channel identity or footage.
Channel name: plain and searchable beats clever. Their own name works if the channel is about their skill.
One-sentence channel description saying who it is for.
Banner and avatar: simple and legible. A phone photo of their actual setup or work beats generated art.
Recording reality check: what do they own? A phone and free editing software (CapCut, DaVinci Resolve) are enough. Do not let gear shopping become the project.

Plan video one, for real

Video one gets planned to the point where recording is the only step left:

They pick the topic from their five-video list — the one they know best, not the one they think will get views.
Together, write the shot list: hook in the first ten seconds, the 3–5 beats of the middle, the ending. Their words throughout; you structure, they supply everything said on camera.
Set a recording date within the next seven days and put it in their calendar.
Commit the plan: a repo with the shot list, future video ideas, and the cadence promise. It versions their scripts from day one and gives the channel a paper trail a resume can point at.

If they want a channel site or a place to embed videos later, https://sphinxstack.com/skills/build-website/ picks up from here. More ideas worth filming live at https://sphinxstack.com/ideas/.

Done

Channel identity and privacy settings reviewed against current platform rules
Five grounded video ideas and one shot-level plan saved
Recording date, realistic time budget, and guardian involvement where needed are documented; nothing private is exposed

What ships with it: 1 file

233 B alongside SKILL.md

agents/

openai.yaml233 B

Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most social media skills give in 637 tokens

Counted across 489 of the 492 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-08-07

Adapt formats and tone to each platformin 26 of 489, across 14 files
Build content around three to five pillarsin 25 of 489, across 13 files
Read product marketing context before asking questionsin 23 of 489, across 13 files
Respond to all comments on your postsin 21 of 489, across 9 files
Use the output flag to specify an output directoryin 14 of 489, across 4 files
Generate output logo images with white backgroundin 13 of 489, across 4 files
Fix failing generation scripts directlyin 13 of 489, across 4 files
Ask user about HTML preview after logo generationin 12 of 489, across 3 files
Run the download script with a URLin 12 of 489, across 3 files
Implement exponential backoff for 429 responsesin 12 of 489, across 3 files
Write the hook firstin 12 of 489, across 7 files
Include a single clear call to actionin 12 of 489, across 9 files

Said here and by no other author read

base the channel on existing knowledge
reject popular niches lacking personal experience
ask if they can list five videos immediately
ask how many hours per month they have available
set the posting cadence from the time budget
read current platform account and publication requirements

Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.