Generate Substack Note Ideas

Overview

This orchestrator scans published content across YouTube and Substack, then delegates ideation to content-strategy:research with the ideation reference file. It handles source fetching, processed-log management, and output persistence -- all actual idea generation logic is delegated to the foundation skill.

This skill sits upstream of substack:create-note -- it produces a curated list of note ideas, while create-note writes the full note from a selected idea.

Core Principle: This is a thin orchestrator. Never generate ideas manually. Always delegate to content-strategy:research via references/substack-notes-ideation.md. This skill manages the source-scanning workflow, duplicate prevention, and output files only.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Generating a batch of Substack Note ideas from published content
• Finding new note topics between newsletter issues
• Maintaining a consistent Notes posting cadence
• Mining existing content for repurposable note angles

Prerequisites

Optional: YouTube MCP tools (search_videos, get_video_details, get_video_transcript, get_video_comments) for scanning the user's YouTube channel. If unavailable, the workflow falls back to web search.

Optional: An existing ./substack/notes/processed-log.md file. If it does not exist, the workflow creates it in Step 0.

Workflow

Execute all steps below in order.

Step 0: Load Processed Log

Read ./substack/notes/processed-log.md to determine which sources have already been scanned.

If file exists:

• Parse the YouTube Videos table to get a list of already-processed video IDs
• Parse the Newsletter Issues table to get a list of already-processed issue URLs
• Parse the Substack Notes Scanned table for the last scan date

If file does not exist:

• Create the ./substack/notes/ directory if it does not exist
• Create the file with the empty template (see Output Structure below -- headers only, no data rows)

Also read ./substack/notes/ideas.md if it exists. Previously generated ideas feed duplicate prevention in Step 4.

Step 1: Fetch Published YouTube Content

Use YouTube MCP tools to find recent videos from the user's channel.

1. Use search_videos to find the user's recent videos
2. Compare video IDs against the processed log -- identify new/unprocessed videos
3. For each new video:
   • Use get_video_details for title, description, and stats
   • Use get_video_transcript for the full transcript
   • Use get_video_comments for top comments (source of audience questions and misconceptions)
4. Collect all new video material for Step 4

If YouTube MCP tools are unavailable:

• Fall back to web search for the user's YouTube channel
• Gather what video titles, descriptions, and topics are available from search results

If no new videos are found:

• Note this and continue -- Steps 2 and 3 may still produce source material

Step 2: Fetch Published Substack Content

Use web fetch to scan the user's Substack archive and Notes feed.

1. Web fetch the user's Substack archive page (e.g., https://{subdomain}.substack.com/archive)
2. Compare issue URLs against the processed log -- identify new/unprocessed issues
3. For each new issue: web fetch the full issue content
4. Web fetch the user's Substack Notes feed for gap analysis and posted-notes history
5. Collect all new newsletter and notes material for Step 4

If no new issues are found:

• Note this and continue -- the Notes feed, web trends, and YouTube content may still produce ideas

Step 3: Fetch Web Trends

Use web search to find trending topics in the user's niche.

1. Search for trending topics, discussions, and recent developments relevant to the user's content area
2. Identify timely angles that could inform note ideas
3. Collect trend findings for Step 4

This step always runs regardless of whether new sources were found in Steps 1-2. Trending topics provide timely note ideas even when no new content has been published.

Step 4: Invoke content-strategy:research with Ideation Reference

MANDATORY: Invoke content-strategy:research with references/substack-notes-ideation.md to generate structured note ideas.

Provide all source material gathered in Steps 0-3:

• New YouTube video transcripts, titles, descriptions, and top comments (from Step 1)
• New newsletter issue content (from Step 2)
• Past Substack Notes history (from Step 2, for gap analysis)
• Web trend findings (from Step 3)
• Previously generated ideas from ideas.md (from Step 0, for duplicate prevention)

The research skill applies the ideation framework and returns structured ideas with topic, note type, source, pitch, and strategic rationale.

NOTE: All ideation logic -- source-to-idea extraction, note-type matching, angle generation, duplicate filtering -- lives in the reference file. Do not implement any of this in the orchestrator.

Step 5: Present Ideas to User

Present the batch of ideas (5-10) in the structured format from the ideation reference.

Each idea includes:

• Topic -- what the note is about
• Type -- suggested note type (from the create-note type taxonomy)
• Source -- which source content inspired this idea
• Pitch -- one-line description of the note angle
• Rationale -- why this idea is strategically sound

The user can:

1. Approve the batch -- all ideas are saved
2. Remove specific ideas -- selected ideas are dropped before saving
3. Request more ideas -- return to Step 4 with additional guidance

CRITICAL: Do not save any output until the user approves. Present and wait.

Step 6: Save Output

After user approval, save to two files:

1. Append approved ideas to ./substack/notes/ideas.md:

• Add a ## Run: YYYY-MM-DD header for this batch
• Write each approved idea in the structured format (see Output Structure below)
• Separate runs with a --- horizontal rule

2. Update ./substack/notes/processed-log.md:

• Add a row for each new YouTube video scanned (video ID, title, scan date, ideas generated count)
• Add a row for each new newsletter issue scanned (URL, title, scan date, ideas generated count)
• Update the Substack Notes Scanned section with the latest scan date and gap analysis summary

Step 7: Handoff Suggestion

Inform the user they can pick any idea and invoke substack:create-note to write the full note.

Do NOT automatically invoke create-note. This skill generates ideas only -- the user decides when and which idea to execute.

Output Structure

Ideas File (./substack/notes/ideas.md)

# Substack Note Ideas

## Run: YYYY-MM-DD

### Idea 1
**Topic:** [topic]
**Type:** [note type]
**Source:** [source reference]
**Pitch:** [one-line pitch]
**Rationale:** [strategic rationale]

---

### Idea 2
**Topic:** [topic]
**Type:** [note type]
**Source:** [source reference]
**Pitch:** [one-line pitch]
**Rationale:** [strategic rationale]

Multiple runs are separated with a --- horizontal rule between the last idea of one run and the ## Run: header of the next.

Processed Log (./substack/notes/processed-log.md)

# Processed Content Log

## YouTube Videos
| Video ID | Title | Scanned | Ideas Generated |
|----------|-------|---------|-----------------|

## Newsletter Issues
| URL | Title | Scanned | Ideas Generated |
|-----|-------|---------|-----------------|

## Substack Notes Scanned
| Last Scan Date | Notes Reviewed | Gap Analysis |
|----------------|----------------|--------------|

Quality Checklist

Verify completion before finalizing:

• Processed log loaded or created (Step 0)
• YouTube videos scanned via MCP tools or web search fallback (Step 1)
• Substack newsletter issues scanned via web fetch (Step 2)
• Web trends gathered (Step 3)
• content-strategy:research invoked with references/substack-notes-ideation.md (Step 4)
• Ideas presented to user for approval (Step 5)
• Approved ideas saved to ./substack/notes/ideas.md (Step 6)
• Processed log updated with newly scanned sources (Step 6)
• Handoff to substack:create-note suggested (Step 7)

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Generating ideas manually: All ideation logic lives in the research reference file. Delegate to content-strategy:research -- do not implement idea generation in this orchestrator.
2. Re-scanning processed sources: Always check the processed log first. Skip sources already scanned.
3. Ignoring the notes history: Past notes feed gap analysis. Always load them in Step 2.
4. Skipping web trends: Trending topics provide timely ideas even when no new content exists. Step 3 always runs.
5. Auto-invoking create-note: This skill generates ideas only. The user decides when to write.
6. Saving before user approval: Always present ideas and get explicit approval before writing to files.