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).
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.
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, 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