YouTube Repurposer

Turn something you already made into a YouTube surface that reads like it was born on YouTube. Repurposing is not copy-paste. A post that killed on LinkedIn or X will die on the community tab if you paste it: wrong hook, wrong format, and artifacts ("link in bio", hashtag walls, @-handles) that scream off-platform.

YouTube is video-first, so "content" here is what you feed the machine, not the video itself. This skill transforms an external piece into a native YouTube target: a community post you can publish, or a video brief (title, spoken hook, description) you hand to the writer skills. It reads your source, keeps the idea, and rebuilds the delivery for YouTube.

When to use

• "Turn this blog post / thread / LinkedIn post into a YouTube community post"
• "Repurpose my newsletter into a video: give me a title, hook, and description"
• "This X thread did well, adapt it for my channel"
• "I have a rough idea in another format, make it native for YouTube"

Not for a blank-page community post (use yt-community-post-writer), not for a fresh spoken opening (use yt-hook-scripter), and not for titling a video you already have (use yt-title-optimizer).

How it works

Voice profile first (all drafts). If ../../references/voice-profile.md has filled: yes, load it and match the user's voice fingerprint, hard rules, and CTA/link style throughout. If it is not filled, mention once that yt-community-post-writer --mode profile can learn their voice from a few posts, then proceed with the generic voice rules.

Never invent the specifics. The rules below ask for a concrete number, a date and a named entity, because that is what separates a real post from a generated one. Take them from what the user actually said in this conversation. Do not invent a figure, a date, a client name or a result, and do not soften a vague claim into a plausible-looking number. If the user has nothing concrete for a beat, ask them once, and if they still have nothing, drop the claim rather than decorate it. A published invented number is a retraction; a missing one is only a weaker post.

1. Take the source. Any format: a blog post, an X thread, a LinkedIn post, a newsletter, a caption, a bullet list, a link to read. Ask for the source and the goal (bring subscribers back / seed comments / drive a video) if not given.
2. Extract the spine. Strip the source platform's shell and pull out the one claim, the one story, or the one number worth keeping. Most repurposing fails because it keeps the words instead of the point.
3. Choose the target surface. A quick update, a tease, or a question that fits between uploads -> a community post (hand format to yt-community-post-writer); a poll if the source is a debate or a list of options. A teachable idea worth a full video -> a video brief: a title (hand to yt-title-optimizer), a spoken hook script (hand to yt-hook-scripter), and a description (hand to yt-description-writer).
4. Re-hook for YouTube. Lead with the payoff, not the intro. "Here's what I found" beats "In this video". For a community post the first line carries it (the feed truncates). For a video brief the title is a promise and the spoken hook confirms it in the first 30 seconds (or 3 on a Short). The source's hook almost never survives; rewrite it using ../../references/hook-formulas.md.
5. Refit the format. A listicle or a numbered thread becomes chapters with timestamps in the description, one item per chapter. A long-read becomes the single most quotable claim as the hook, then the supporting beats. A community post stays short: one clear ask, a poll or an image teaser where it fits.
6. Strip off-platform artifacts. Remove "link in bio", "smash subscribe", "read the thread", hashtag walls, X @-handles that only exist elsewhere, and any "as I posted on LinkedIn" throat-clearing. A repurposed piece should not admit it was repurposed.
7. Scrub instead of a humanizer pass. There is no yt-humanizer. Lean on the receiving writer skill's own scrub: yt-community-post-writer, yt-title-optimizer, yt-hook-scripter, and yt-description-writer each scrub 2026 AI vocabulary by density, cap em dashes (about one per 100 words, never swapped for a period), break stacked rule-of-three, and strip reveal bridges and sincerity openers before they return. Keep the source's real numbers and named entities through the hand-off.
8. Approval card. Show: source -> YouTube mapping (what became what), the target surface (community post / poll, or the title + hook + description brief), the hook formula used, and the primary goal.
9. On approval. For a community post, publish via lib.publish(kind="community", draft_text=<approved post>, target_url=<community tab url>); Publora has no community endpoint, so this returns a copy-paste block by design. For a video brief, hand each part to its writer skill; the video itself uploads through that skill's own Publora flow once the user supplies the .mp4.

Native-fit rules (source -> YouTube)

• Blog / newsletter -> video brief: pick the single most quotable claim as the title and spoken hook, then thread the supporting beats as description chapters. Do not summarize the whole piece into a wall.
• X thread -> video brief or community post: a teach-thread maps to a video with the payoff up front; a hot-take single tweet maps to a community text post or a poll. Strip the thread numbering and the "1/" scaffolding.
• LinkedIn post -> community post: LinkedIn tolerates a warm-up; the community feed truncates, so rewrite the hook onto line one and cut the throat-clearing.
• Listicle / carousel -> chapters: one item per chapter with a timestamp, each with its own micro-hook, not a wall in the description.
• Instagram / TikTok caption -> community post: strip emoji density and hashtag blocks; YouTube reads them as noise. A visual source favors an image-teaser community post.

Hard rules

Global voice rules: see root SKILL.md Voice rules. Additional skill-specific rules:

• Keep the source's claim and facts intact. Repurposing changes the delivery, never the meaning or the numbers.
• Lead with the payoff. If the first line or the title needs a wind-up, rewrite it.
• Never paste the source verbatim and trim. Rebuild the hook and format from the spine.
• One specific number where the source offers one. Keep it.
• Title and thumbnail (if briefed) are a pair; they never repeat the same words.
• Do not hard-sell the user's product. One natural mention max.

Anti-patterns (skill will refuse)

• Copy-pasting the source with light edits (that is not repurposing).
• Keeping the source platform's artifacts ("link in bio", "read the thread", hashtag walls, off-platform @-handles).
• Opening a video brief with "In this video I'm going to.." instead of the payoff.
• A community post that is a wall of text where the tab wants one or two lines.
• ALL CAPS for intensity. Carry it with word choice.
• Em dashes above the cap (more than about one per 100 words), or an em dash swapped for a period.
• Stacked or hollow rule-of-three lists without specifics.
• AI vocabulary clusters (three markers such as "leverage", "fundamentally", "streamline" in one paragraph).
• Announced candor ("let me be honest", "not gonna lie") with no dated fact behind it.
• Engagement bait ("comment 1 for yes").

Resources

• ../../references/hook-formulas.md - the 11 YouTube title and hook formulas to re-hook with
• ../../references/algorithm-heuristics.md - 2026 YouTube ranking (CTR x retention), timing, limits
• ../../references/voice-rules.md - the canonical voice rules the receiving writer skills inherit

Related skills

• yt-community-post-writer - write a community post or poll from a blank page (repurposer hands the community target here)
• yt-title-optimizer - title the video brief the repurposer produces
• yt-hook-scripter - script the spoken opening for the video brief
• yt-description-writer - write the description and chapters for the video brief