Reverse-engineer the hook from a viral Instagram Reel

Instagram Hook Extractor

Paste a viral Reel or carousel URL (or the caption text). Get back: which hook formula it uses, the exact structure, why it worked, the primary goal it chased, and a blank template you can fill with your own voice.

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

An Instagram URL (/p/, /reel/, or a profile) or pasted caption + slide text. This bundle has no built-in Instagram reader, so for a URL the skill asks the user to paste the caption (and the on-image slide text for a carousel, or a quick description of the Reel's first 3 seconds).

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

See references/examples.md for worked teardowns.

Formulas reference

See ../../references/hook-formulas.md for the 10 canonical Instagram formulas with full skeletons and goal tags.

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