By Dan Donovan, @askdandonovan
I went viral on my first reel, after 8 years off social media. This is the exact setup: one free skill, a 15-minute build, and Claude starts writing scripts modelled on what's already performing in your niche.
Here's what most people do wrong: they open Claude, type "write me a 30-second script about X," and wonder why it sounds hollow. Claude doesn't know what's landing in your niche right now. It's drawing from training data, not from what got 400k views last Tuesday.
This gives it that context. One research skill, pointed at who's actually winning in your space, and it studies those patterns before it writes a word. My first reel hit 114k views, not because I'm good at content, but because Claude had something real to model from.
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
/last30days is a free skill you add to Claude Code. Give it your niche, and it finds who's been getting views: their hook styles, what topics are working, how long their videos run. It pulls from Reddit, X, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Hacker News, Polymarket, Bluesky, and more, and only looks at the last 30 days, so you're not modelling content from two years ago.
Open Terminal and run this:
git clone https://github.com/mvanhorn/last30days-skill.git ~/.claude/skills/last30daysThat's it. Open Claude Code and type /last30days and it should autocomplete. If it does, you're ready.
X/Twitter is free. The skill uses your browser session, no API key needed. The optional keys unlock deeper data from TikTok and Instagram, and let you swap in a different search engine if you want more coverage.
If you only add one, make it ScrapeCreators. It gives you 100 free credits when you sign up (one-time, no expiry, pay-as-you-go after) and pulls structured data from TikTok and Instagram profiles (view counts, hook text, engagement rates) instead of surface-level web results.
/last30days run uses multiple API calls, so 100 credits won't last forever. Once you burn through them, a 25,000-credit pack is $47, enough for months of normal use. You're not on a subscription; you top up when you want to.
The easy way: let Claude set up the file for you. Paste this into Claude Code. It'll create the config file in the right location, then open it so you can paste your keys in and save. No terminal commands to copy.
Create the /last30days config file at ~/.config/last30days/.env
with empty placeholders for SCRAPECREATORS_API_KEY and BRAVE_API_KEY.
Set its permissions to 600. Then open it in my default editor
so I can paste my keys in.Before you write anything, you need a reference pool: 10 to 20 creators in your niche who are actually getting views. Not follower counts. Views. Claude is going to study how they open their videos, how fast they move, when they ask for the follow, and use that as its baseline when it writes for you.
Open Claude Code and run your first research query. Be specific:
/last30days top viral creators making short-form content about [insert topic] for [insert niche]What comes back: a list of creators, their rough view averages, the hooks showing up in their top posts, and the topics that keep outperforming. Swap the placeholders for your own topic and niche and run it.
Make it personal. The more specific you are, the better the results:
Once you have your list, save it permanently:
Save the research above as a skill at ~/.claude/skills/my-inspiration-library/SKILL.md.
Structure it as:
1. Top creators — handle, platform, avg views, why they work
2. Hook patterns — verbatim examples grouped by type (curiosity, result, mistake, contrarian)
3. Pacing signals — avg length, cut frequency, face-cam vs screen recording
4. Common CTAs
Include a description line that triggers auto-load when I ask for a script, so you reference it without me re-pointing you to it.Give Claude a topic. It goes back to your reference pool, pulls the hooks and pacing that are working for those creators, and builds your script around that structure. You're not getting a generic 30-second script. You're getting one built on what's actually been performing.
The exact prompt is in the Ready-to-copy prompts section below. Use "Write your first script." It's tuned to pull from your inspiration library, give you three hook types (curiosity, result, mistake), include overlay timing and filming notes, and flag any claims it can't verify before writing.
What you get back: Claude doesn't just write a script. It gives you a full production brief:
Film Hook A exactly as written. Resist the urge to paraphrase. First few posts, stick to the script so you know what you're actually testing.
Once you're set up, here are three prompts to run first. Copy them as-is and swap in your niche or topic.
/last30days find 10–15 short-form video creators making content
about [insert topic] for [insert niche] on Reels, TikTok, or Shorts.
Skip anyone over 500k followers — I want the hungry middle where
fresh patterns emerge, not dormant celebrity accounts.
For each creator: handle, platform, avg views on last 10 posts,
3 best hooks verbatim, and top recurring topic angles.
End with a "patterns that repeat across creators" section —
opening words, video length, face-cam vs screen recording, CTA style.Using my inspiration library, write a 30-second Reel script
about [your topic] for [your niche].
- 3 hook variations: one curiosity, one result-first, one mistake/contrarian
- First-person voice, no corporate filler
- On-screen text overlays with timing
- Filming notes: camera angle, cuts, pacing
- CTA modeled on what's converting in my library right now
If you need to make a specific factual claim — a tool name,
a number, a source — flag it before writing so I can verify.
Don't invent details to make the script land.My last Reel:
- Views: [X]
- 3-second retention: [Y%]
- Topic: [topic]
- Spoken hook: [paste]
- On-screen text: [paste]
- Caption first line: [paste]
Find the 3 hooks in my inspiration library closest to this topic.
Tell me what specifically differs — word count, opening word,
visual pattern, CTA placement.
Then rewrite my hook 3 ways, each explicitly modeled on one of
those winning library hooks. Name which library hook each rewrite
is based on.I'm not a content creator. I'm a business operator who started posting about AI because I was using it every day and couldn't find anyone giving straight answers about what actually works. I hadn't posted to social media in eight years. No content strategy, no creator background, just this setup and a willingness to test.
The 114k views on my first reel wasn't luck. It was Claude studying what was already going viral in the niche and writing a script that followed those patterns, but on a topic I'd actually tested myself. The AI did the pattern work. I did the "is this actually true" check.
That's the filter I'd recommend applying to everything this setup produces: use the patterns, but only post things you've personally tested or can honestly stand behind.