Learn from the best hooks in your niche with Claude (/hooks-watchlist)
Hey, it's Cindy 🌱 This tool looks at the last two weeks of your watchlist and shows you which hook patterns the best performers use.
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:)
the setup, once
Connect Sandcastles to Claude
You need Sandcastles (Pro plan or above) connected to the Claude desktop app, with an analyzed watchlist. Full setup in the research machine guide.
Complete the connection once
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
Pull the hook report
🪝 the hooks prompt
/hooks-watchlist What are the best-performing hooks from the last two weeks across all the videos I've analyzed in my watchlist? Break down the patterns: the text hook, the visual hook, and the format they sit in. If you find videos over a 2x outlier that haven't been analyzed yet, flag them so we can analyze them and then run the full hook distribution. Give me the links so I can watch each one myself.
what comes back
The hook patterns
The winning hook patterns of the fortnight with example videos, plus the split most people never study: the visual hook (what's on screen in second one) versus the text hook (what's said or overlaid). The 2x-outlier flag keeps the dataset honest, if a video massively beat its channel's baseline and isn't analyzed yet, it gets pulled in before the patterns are called.
💡 Pro move: never copy a hook line, adapt the pattern. If "did you know [specific number]" is winning, your job is finding YOUR startling number, that's the difference between riding a pattern and reposting someone's work.