Turn Claude into a social media research machine with the /topic skill
Hey, it's Cindy 🌱 You can connect Claude to real Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts data, then just type /topic, paste in any account, and get a full visual breakdown of that niche's best-performing content pillars.
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:)
what you're building
Content research that reads patterns you can't see while scrolling
When you scroll, you see individual videos. What you miss is the pattern underneath: which topics a niche rewards, which hooks keep showing up in the winners, which format each pillar uses. The /topic skill surfaces exactly that. Point it at a competitor or a whole niche, and Claude gives you:
🗂 A pillar breakdown The best-performing content topics for that account or niche, grouped so you can see what actually works, not just one lucky video.
🏆 Top videos per pillar The strongest videos sitting under each topic, so you see the proof, not just the label.
🔬 Deep analysis on demand Pick any winning video and Claude breaks down the hook, the storytelling structure, the format, and the full transcript.
🧠 Hidden trends Because it's reading real data across many videos, it catches patterns you'd never spot by scrolling one feed.
the honest bit first
What it is and what it costs
The magic here comes from a plugin called Sandcastles (sandcastles.ai). It connects Claude to live Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts data through its connected research tools, and /topic is one of them. I want to be upfront: this is a paid tool, not a free hack.
💳 Real pricing, so you can decide. Sandcastles starts at roughly $39/month on the Pro plan billed annually (about $49 month-to-month), with higher Visionary and Titan tiers above that. Analysis, scripts and reports use credits; check the displayed cost of the proposed action before approving it. Check sandcastles.ai for the current plans before you commit, prices move.
Is it worth it? If content research is a real part of your week and you're tired of scrolling for hours, having this inside Claude saves serious time. If you post once in a while, the free approach (manually studying a few outliers) is probably enough for now.
the setup
Connect Sandcastles to Claude
📥 Grab the plugin from Sandcastles. In Sandcastles, open Settings in the left sidebar, click Connectors, scroll to the MCP section and hit Download Plugin. You need the Pro plan or above for this part (the Starter plan doesn't include the MCP).
🖥️ Install it in the Claude desktop app. This only works in the desktop app (claude.com/download), not the browser. In Claude, click Customize, then Plugins, then Add, then Upload Plugin, and drag the Sandcastles zip in. Then press Connectors in the middle of that page and click Install; the sandcastles connector URL comes pre-filled, just click Add.
🔑 Log in once. Click Connectors in the bottom-left nav, find Sandcastles, hit Connect, and sign in with your Sandcastles account in the tab that opens. When the Status column shows a check, you're wired. If no login tab appears, it's almost always a pop-up blocker.
🗂️ Build your watchlist in the Sandcastles app first. Add a few creator profiles in the app, or use /channels-add after connecting Claude. Fetch a small sample with /videos-watchlist, then ask Claude to propose any needed /analyze calls and their credit cost for your approval. Then use Claude for what Claude is good at: finding patterns across everything you've analyzed. That split is the whole trick.
Pick your target. Decide whose content you want to reverse-engineer: a competitor, a bigger creator in your niche, or an account whose style you admire. Grab their handle.
💡 New to plugins in Claude? A plugin (MCP connector) just gives Claude a new power, in this case, the ability to pull real social data. You install it once, and from then on the skills are there whenever you need them.
the workflow
Run /topic and mine the output
Type /topic and paste a handle. In Claude, run /topic and drop in the account or niche you chose. Claude returns the pillar breakdown with top videos under each topic.
Read the pillars, not the videos. Before you get pulled into any single video, look at which topics repeat and perform. Those are the lanes the niche rewards. That's your content calendar telling you what to make.
Deep-analyse one winner. Pick the strongest video in a pillar you can credibly play in, and ask Claude to break down its hook, structure, and format. Treat the observed patterns as hypotheses to test, not proof of why the video performed.
Remix, don't copy. Take the underlying structure (the hook shape, the pacing, the format) and rebuild it around your own idea, your own examples, your own voice. You want the pattern, not the words.
🚫 Study to remix, never to clone. The point of this is to learn the mechanics that make content work, then apply them to your own angle. Copying a competitor's script line for line reads as a knock-off and it won't perform the way the original did. Steal the structure, keep your voice.
the power move
Deep-analyze a whole creator in one prompt
This is the workflow that feels illegal: point Claude at any creator and have it explain why their winners win. Start a new chat and paste this, with your target swapped in:
🧠 the creator analysis prompt
Study the available videos from @username on Instagram over the last three months using Sandcastles. First report the sample size, missing coverage and which examples already have analysis. Propose a small representative sample of winners and ordinary performers, including any required credit-using /analyze calls and estimated cost; wait for my approval before those calls. Then compare hook patterns, formats, narrative structures and topics. Link each example, label observations separately from hypotheses, and do not claim causal proof. Prepare a report with a comparison table and useful visuals.
Open the report artifact in Chrome to get the visuals rendering properly. And the Sandcastles tools cover the rest of the research stack: /analyze for one video, /topic for your niche's winning ideas, /hooks-watchlist for hook patterns, /channels-suggest for discovering creators, /channels-search for finding already tracked channels. The official setup and command list is the current reference.
the honest bit
Keep it useful
🎯 Research is a means, not the work. It's easy to spend an hour "researching" and post nothing. Give yourself a rule: every /topic session ends with at least two ideas written down and one queued to film. The data only matters if it becomes a post.
💡 You don't need this to start. If you're not ready to pay for a plugin, you can do a lighter version by hand: pick three creators, study their three best recent videos, and write down the hook shape and format each used. Slower, but free, and it builds the same muscle.
the waitlist is now open
AI System Club is launching soon
Build AI systems with me through recorded lessons you can follow at your own pace. Join the waitlist for first access and the founding price.
btw this list gets first dibs the moment doors open :)