--- name: youtube-packaging description: Titles and a thumbnail for a YouTube video with scores — scored title ideas from vidIQ from a working title or a published video, a score for the person's own title, a thumbnail drawn from the look sheet, and vidIQ's score for the thumbnail of a published video; scores are predictions, the real test is YouTube Studio's Test & Compare. --- # Titles and thumbnail FlashBoards user skill, version 1.2.3 (2026-10-13). On the board, read these guides with `list_skills` and `get_skill` when the assistant exposes them; otherwise use the hosted index through an available read-only retrieval tool. Use that runtime’s actual model discovery, current page context and guarded board actions for execution. Keep native readiness, approval and cost gates; do not claim a guide was read when retrieval is unavailable. Read related guides with `get_skill({skillId:""})` or the [hosted index](https://pub-78da82d51ed14147ac554d38094b0c0b.r2.dev/user-skills/1.2.3/index.html). Reading a guide does not start or authorize a paid generation. Read `youtube` for the shared rules. **The person's own video and character.** Never copy a competitor's title or thumbnail. Slots: {topic} · {working title} · {video} — a published YouTube video id or URL, when there is one · {look sheet} · {format} — `long` for a regular video, `short` for a Short. ## The price first Each title or score is one `vidiq_packaging` call with a new `requestId`: paid by the person (5 vidIQ credits; the tool description names the price), charged only when vidIQ answers, never answered from a copy. The thumbnail itself is a FlashBoards image, quoted with `estimate_generation_cost`. Name both once before the first paid step. ## Steps 1. **Titles** — `vidiq_packaging` with `action: "generate_titles"` and `input: {title: "{working title}", description: "", numTitles: 5, type: "{format}", language: ""}`; for a video already on YouTube, `input: {videoId: "{video}"}` fetches its title and description. Show the three best, each with its score. 2. **The person's own title** — `action: "score_title"`, `input: {title, type: "{format}"}`; a `videoId` or `channelId` sharpens the score. 3. **Thumbnail** — draw it, don't buy it: `generate_image` with {look sheet} as the reference (`avatar-podcast`, step 8): the face big, at most five words, strong contrast, 16:9. One thumbnail per ask; redraw only when the person asks. 4. **Thumbnail score** — only for a video already on YouTube: `action: "score_thumbnail"`, `input: {videoId: "{video}", title}` scores its current thumbnail with what works and what to fix. A thumbnail that is not on YouTube yet cannot be scored here: say so, and offer the score after the upload. 5. **Say it** — the chosen title, the thumbnail and the scores, with one line that a score is vidIQ's prediction, not a measured click-through rate. For a real test, the person can run Test & Compare in YouTube Studio with up to three titles or thumbnails; watch time per impression picks the winner. 6. **The packet** — the title, a description with chapters, tags and the thumbnail, ready to paste (`youtube`, step 6). ## Rules 1. Structure and tone from what works, words of your own: never reuse a competitor's title or thumbnail. 2. Never present a score as a click-through rate or a promise; never regenerate only to raise a score. 3. When a call answers `VIDIQ_PAYMENT_REQUIRED`, say the balance cannot cover it and write the titles without scores. ## Execute through MCP or on the board Use the person's FlashBoards account; never ask for a personal provider key or run the source's local scripts. Discover `get_account`, `list_generation_models` and the tools of this client first: a published guide does not prove a feature is deployed. **Headless, no open board.** Quote with `estimate_generation_cost` (skill models: `estimate_skill_model`), then run `generate_image`, `generate_video`, `generate_audio` or `run_skill_model` with one stable `generationAttemptId` per logical attempt. Pass `maxCostUsd` only when the current operation and selected model support it; otherwise use the quoted cost and the person's explicit approval with the supported controls. Never silently ignore an unsupported spending cap; make one `get_generation` check after `retryAfterSeconds`. Pass the person's own results by `generationId`: images in `referenceGenerationIds`, `firstFrameUrl` and `endFrameUrl`, audio in `referenceAudioUrls` or `targetAudioUrl`, videos in `referenceVideoGenerationIds`. They are read on the server; signed result links do not work as public URLs. Every `generationId` a tool returns stays valid: a later read of the same result gives a different string, and both work. Film frames and gallery pictures go in by `previewHandle`: `referencePreviewHandles` of the generation tools, a `{previewHandle}` source of `arrange_images`, `crop_image` and `pad_image`, and `describe_media`. New files come from `show_media_upload_picker` as receipts. The person's character comes in as its sheet, by `generationId` or as an upload; there is no search by name. If the person names a character without the sheet, ask for it or make one with `character-sheet`; do not scan recent results for it. Free server steps: `trim_video`, `concat_videos`, `conform_video`, `replace_video_audio`, `extract_video_frame`, `extract_video_audio`, `detect_video_cuts`, `crop_image`, `pad_image`, `arrange_images`, `cut_audio_span`, `concat_audio_tracks`, `mix_audio_tracks`, `fit_audio_duration`, `add_audio_reverb`. Check every result with `describe_media` (a question about an image; `model`, `mode` and `sourceRange` only for a video) and `transcribe_media` for speech. Both checks are paid: `describe_media` costs a fraction of a cent for an image and about 2–4 ¢ for a short video (more for a long one), `transcribe_media` under 1 ¢ a minute — count the checks you plan in the price you name before the first paid step. `describe_media` is not reliable about sound: it misses effects mixed under music and can hear voices or instruments that are not there. Check speech with `transcribe_media` and ask the person to listen for effects and music. Never repay an uncertain submission; reuse an attempt ID only for the identical request. Make each new `requestId` or `generationAttemptId` unique, for example the task, the date and a short random suffix: an ID used before, even in another chat, replays that earlier request or answers `REQUEST_ID_CONFLICT`. **On the board.** Inspect with `list_board_sessions` and `get_board_snapshot` and carry the same `sessionId` and a fresh `activeBoardId` as `expectedBoardId`. Native cards: `execute_board_action` (`listNativeModels`, `setModel`), `prepare_board_generation` with ordered board items or owned outputs, then one `generate_on_board` within the authorized budget. Board media tools: `list_media_tools` → `start_media_tool` → `get_media_tool_run`. Put headless results on a board with `add_media_to_board`. Keep mandatory safety settings and the live limits of each model. Prices, timings, endpoints and "free retry" claims in the sources are historical, not FlashBoards contracts. If a step this guide needs is not available or is refused (a tool error, `audio_not_configured`, a missing model or input), keep the finished assets, tell the person which step is blocked and why, and ask how to go on. A single generation that ends `failed` is not a blocked step: submit it once more with a new `generationAttemptId` (reworded if it may have hit the content checker), and stop to ask only if it fails again. A failed attempt is not always refunded, so the retry may be paid again and `maxCostUsd` caps each request on its own: count both against the budget the person approved. Never swap in another route on your own: no image model redrawing a layout or a frame, no `describe_media` in place of the frames it should check, no clip generated only to take its sound, no picture drawn where the guide takes a film frame. ## Source and related guides - Written for FlashBoards from the owner's YouTube router (flashboards-apps `.claude/skills/youtube` and `chat/modes/_common.md`, "YouTube with vidIQ"); no Learn article yet. Read: `youtube`, `youtube-checkup`, `avatar-podcast`, `character-sheet`. Source experiments and demo materials are historical; use the person's own approved media.