Break down any creator's strategy with Claude (/channels-recap)
Hey, it's Cindy 🌱 This tool turns "I should study them properly some day" into a five-minute report on what a creator has been winning with.
btw the waitlist for AI System Club is now open! If you're keen on using AI to automate your content, video editing, job search, business or build AI agents, feel free to sign up (only if you want to hehe). Ps. the waitlist gets first dibs:)
Get the account-specific plugin. In Sandcastles, open Settings, then Connectors, then the MCP section and download the plugin ZIP. MCP access requires an eligible paid Sandcastles plan; check the current plan before buying.
Install in Claude Desktop. Open Customize, Plugins, Add, then Upload Plugin. Upload the ZIP. In the plugin page's Connectors area, choose Install, then Add for the prefilled Sandcastles connector.
Authorize your account. Open Customize, Connectors, find Sandcastles (Custom), choose Connect and complete the Sandcastles sign-in. Confirm the connected state before trying the workflow.
Populate a small watchlist. Use /channels-add with a few creator profile URLs and confirm the returned additions. Use /videos-watchlist to fetch a small sample. Ask Claude to list which examples need /analyze, show the proposed credit cost, and wait for your approval before running those analyses. Confirm that transcripts or analysis results exist before asking for topic, hook or format patterns.
Limit permissions and test. Review the connector's tools. Keep approval enabled for paid analysis or changes until you understand the action and credit cost. Ask Claude to list the available Sandcastles tools and read a small sample from your chosen creator or watchlist.
The official Sandcastles setup documents this installation route. Start with a small watchlist and a few analyzed examples. Ask Claude to identify missing inputs and the proposed credit-using analysis before expanding the sample; an empty dataset is not evidence that a niche has no winners.
These slash commands belong to the installed Sandcastles plugin, not native Claude. If a command is unavailable, describe the same request in plain language and ask Claude to use the connected tools. If sign-in fails, check browser pop-up permissions and organization connector restrictions. Do not paste account passwords or API keys into a prompt.
the workflow
Recap a channel
In Cowork, type /channels-recap followed by the channel URL, then ask your actual question:
🕵️ the creator recap prompt
/channels-recap [paste the channel URL] What has this creator been winning with lately? Look back 30 days and give me a synthesis of their best-performing topics and takes, versus the videos that underperformed their baseline. If there are videos I haven't deep-analyzed yet, list them ranked by which are most worth analyzing, so I spend my credits on the ones with the highest return.
what comes back
The strategy report
A breakdown of what's actually winning (with views and engagement), the solid-but-not-special middle tier, what their content focus really is versus what it looks like from the outside, and a ranked "worth analyzing next" list so your deep-analysis credits go where the insight is. You can push the lookback to a year for the full arc of what they've tried.
💡 Pro move: recap three competitors in one sitting, then ask Claude "across all three, what does my niche reward that none of them have fully claimed yet?" That unclaimed space is your positioning.