{
 "version": "1.0",
 "note": "21 hook formulas for YouTube. A YouTube hook is the first 15 seconds and it does three jobs: confirm the click the title promised, raise a question the viewer cannot close, and prove the payoff exists. A hook that only does the third is a summary and it leaks. Every formula here carries the shape, a worked example, the failure mode, and the patterns hookscore.py classifies transcribed speech against.",
 "rules": [
  "Confirm the title in the first sentence. A hook that ignores its own title is why people leave at 0:08.",
  "One idea. A hook carrying two promises keeps neither.",
  "Specific beats big. '400 to 200,000 in seven months' outperforms 'massive growth'.",
  "Show the artifact inside 20 seconds if you promised one.",
  "Never open with who you are. The subscribe pitch has not been earned yet."
 ],
 "hooks": [
  {
   "id": "the-statistic",
   "name": "The Statistic",
   "shape": "A number the viewer did not know, stated flat, then the consequence.",
   "example": "97% of the people who start a channel quit before video 30. Here is what the other 3% do differently.",
   "fails_when": "Dies if the number is vague or unverifiable. Say the source out loud.",
   "match": [
    "\\b\\d+(\\.\\d+)?\\s?%",
    "\\b\\d+ (out of|in) \\d+\\b",
    "\\b\\d{2,}(,\\d{3})+\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "someone-elses-result",
   "name": "Someone Else's Result",
   "shape": "A named person's outcome, then the mechanism.",
   "example": "This channel went from 400 subscribers to 200,000 in seven months on one format. I mapped it.",
   "fails_when": "Do not invent the number. If you cannot name the channel, use a different formula.",
   "match": [
    "\\bthis (channel|guy|creator|account)\\b",
    "\\bwent from .* to\\b",
    "\\bin (a|one|two|three|\\d+) (week|month|year)s?\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-mistake",
   "name": "The Mistake",
   "shape": "Name the error the viewer is probably making right now.",
   "example": "Your first 30 seconds are why nobody finishes your videos. It is not the topic.",
   "fails_when": "Only works if the mistake is common and the viewer can check it in one second.",
   "match": [
    "\\byou('re| are) (probably |still )?(doing|making)\\b",
    "\\bthe (mistake|reason) (everyone|most people|nobody)\\b",
    "\\bstop (doing )?\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "contrarian-flip",
   "name": "Contrarian Flip",
   "shape": "State the accepted advice, then reject it.",
   "example": "Everyone says post daily. I posted once a week for a year and tripled the channel.",
   "fails_when": "Needs evidence in the next 15 seconds or it reads as contrarian for its own sake.",
   "match": [
    "\\beveryone (says|thinks|tells you)\\b",
    "\\bis (actually )?wrong\\b",
    "\\bnobody (tells|talks about)\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-reveal",
   "name": "The Reveal",
   "shape": "Promise a specific thing will be shown, then show it.",
   "example": "I am going to show you the exact prompt, on screen, that wrote this video.",
   "fails_when": "You have to actually show it, early. A reveal at 8:00 is a retention cliff at 1:00.",
   "match": [
    "\\bI('m| am) going to show you\\b",
    "\\bhere('s| is) (the|exactly)\\b",
    "\\bon screen\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-superlative",
   "name": "The Superlative",
   "shape": "The single best/worst/fastest of a category.",
   "example": "This is the fastest way to turn one long video into thirty Shorts.",
   "fails_when": "Superlatives are cheap. Earn it by naming what it beat.",
   "match": [
    "\\bthe (best|worst|fastest|easiest|only)\\b",
    "\\bnumber one\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-clock",
   "name": "The Clock",
   "shape": "Bound the payoff in time.",
   "example": "In the next six minutes you will have a working title, thumbnail and script for your next video.",
   "fails_when": "The clock has to be true. Overrun it and the next video's hook is not believed.",
   "match": [
    "\\bin (the next )?\\d+ (seconds|minutes|hours)\\b",
    "\\bby the end of this video\\b",
    "\\bunder \\d+\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "i-tried-it",
   "name": "I Tried It",
   "shape": "First-person experiment with a stated cost.",
   "example": "I let an AI run my channel for 30 days. I did not touch the uploads.",
   "fails_when": "Needs a real cost - time, money, risk - or there is no stake.",
   "match": [
    "\\bI (tried|spent|tested|let|gave)\\b",
    "\\bfor \\d+ (days|weeks|months)\\b",
    "\\bso you don'?t have to\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-question",
   "name": "The Question",
   "shape": "Ask the exact question the viewer typed into search.",
   "example": "Why do your videos die at 30 seconds when the topic is fine?",
   "fails_when": "Must be the viewer's question, not yours. Pull it from your own comments.",
   "match": [
    "^(why|how|what|when|should|can|do|does|is)\\b",
    "\\?\\s*$"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-before-after",
   "name": "Before and After",
   "shape": "Two states, one cut between them.",
   "example": "This was my thumbnail. This is my thumbnail now. Same video, four times the click-through.",
   "fails_when": "Only works with a visual. Do not use it on a talking-head-only video.",
   "match": [
    "\\bbefore\\b.*\\bafter\\b",
    "\\bthis was\\b.*\\bthis is\\b",
    "\\bused to\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-teardown",
   "name": "The Teardown",
   "shape": "Take a real thing apart in public.",
   "example": "I pulled the nine most-viewed AI videos of the month and broke down what the titles share.",
   "fails_when": "Name what you pulled and how many. A teardown of one example is an anecdote.",
   "match": [
    "\\b(broke|break|breaking) (it )?down\\b",
    "\\bteardown\\b",
    "\\banalys(ed|ed|is|e)\\b",
    "\\bI pulled\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-stack",
   "name": "The Stack",
   "shape": "Two named tools combined into one outcome.",
   "example": "Claude plus your YouTube Studio export gives you next week's upload schedule in one prompt.",
   "fails_when": "Both tools must be nameable and the outcome must need both.",
   "match": [
    "\\b\\w+ (plus|\\+) \\w+\\b",
    "\\bcombine\\b",
    "\\btogether\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-warning",
   "name": "The Warning",
   "shape": "A cost the viewer is about to pay.",
   "example": "Do not upload another video until you check this one setting.",
   "fails_when": "If the cost is small the hook is a lie. Reserve it.",
   "match": [
    "\\bdo not\\b",
    "\\bdon'?t (upload|post|publish|start)\\b",
    "\\bbefore you\\b",
    "\\bstop\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-list",
   "name": "The List",
   "shape": "A counted set, with the count in the first line.",
   "example": "Seven things I would do differently if I started a channel in 2026.",
   "fails_when": "The count must be exact and every item must be different in kind.",
   "match": [
    "^\\d+ \\w+",
    "\\b(here are|these are) \\d+\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-receipt",
   "name": "The Receipt",
   "shape": "Show the artifact first, explain second.",
   "example": "This is the analytics page. This video did 40% of the channel's watch time. Here is why.",
   "fails_when": "Requires a real screenshot. A described receipt is not a receipt.",
   "match": [
    "\\bthis is (the|my)\\b",
    "\\bscreenshot\\b",
    "\\bproof\\b",
    "\\breceipts?\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-insider",
   "name": "The Insider",
   "shape": "Information from inside a system.",
   "example": "YouTube tells you which videos are underperforming. Almost nobody opens the report.",
   "fails_when": "Do not claim insider access you do not have.",
   "match": [
    "\\b(nobody|almost nobody|most people) (knows?|opens?|uses?)\\b",
    "\\bhidden\\b",
    "\\bburied\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-impossible",
   "name": "The Impossible Claim",
   "shape": "State something that sounds untrue, then prove it.",
   "example": "You can write, title, thumbnail and schedule a week of videos without opening a single editor.",
   "fails_when": "The proof has to start within 20 seconds or it reads as clickbait.",
   "match": [
    "\\bwithout\\b",
    "\\bnever\\b",
    "\\bin one\\b",
    "\\bzero\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-comparison",
   "name": "The Comparison",
   "shape": "Two named options, one winner.",
   "example": "I wrote the same video three ways. One of them held 62% and the other two did not.",
   "fails_when": "Say the losing option out loud. A comparison with no loser is an advert.",
   "match": [
    "\\bvs\\.?\\b",
    "\\bversus\\b",
    "\\bwhich (one )?(is|wins)\\b",
    "\\bsame .* (three|two) ways\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-origin",
   "name": "The Origin",
   "shape": "Where a result actually came from.",
   "example": "Every video on this channel starts in the same 12-line file. Here it is.",
   "fails_when": "Works once per channel. It is a reveal about you, and you only have one.",
   "match": [
    "\\bevery (video|post) .* starts\\b",
    "\\bit all (starts|started)\\b",
    "\\bthe (real )?reason\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-deadline",
   "name": "The Deadline",
   "shape": "Something is changing on a date.",
   "example": "The old description format stops mattering this month. Here is what replaces it.",
   "fails_when": "Only use with a real, checkable date. This is the fastest formula to lose trust with.",
   "match": [
    "\\b(this|next) (week|month|year)\\b",
    "\\bis changing\\b",
    "\\bno longer\\b",
    "\\bas of\\b"
   ]
  },
  {
   "id": "the-direct-address",
   "name": "The Direct Address",
   "shape": "Name the exact viewer in the first six words.",
   "example": "If you have under a thousand subscribers, this is the only video you need this week.",
   "fails_when": "Narrow beats broad. 'If you make videos' addresses nobody.",
   "match": [
    "^if you\\b",
    "\\bfor (anyone|everyone|people) who\\b",
    "\\byou specifically\\b"
   ]
  }
 ]
}