Yt Viral

---
name: yt-viral
category: video
description: >-
  Find what is actually working in the user's niche on YouTube and rank it by how far each video beat its own channel, then name the formula. Use for "what's working right now", "find viral videos in my niche", "why did this blow up", competitor research, or a swipe file.
risk: safe
source: https://github.com/Jakeschincariol/youtube-agent-skill
source_repo: Jakeschincariol/youtube-agent-skill
author: Jake Schincariol
license: MIT
tags: [youtube, video, competitor-research, outlier-analysis, virality, swipe-file]
---

# yt-viral

Raw view counts rank channel size, not ideas. This ranks by **multiple over each channel's own
median**, which is the only version of the question that is about the video.

```bash
python3 swipe.py collected.json --min 2.0
```

## Collecting the input

You need at least **four videos per channel** or a median means nothing, and the tool will skip the
channel and tell you it did. Collect them however the user prefers - `yt-dlp --flat-playlist -J`
against a channel URL is the fastest, the public page works, a manual list works.

```json
[{"channel":"...","title":"...","views":412000,"url":"...","duration":613}]
```

**Read, do not scrape.** Public listings only, never a logged-in session, never the user's own
account credentials.

## Reading the output

The multiple is the signal. The formula line is a judgement about the TITLE, matched against
[the 21 formulas](../yt-script/hooks.json) - it is not a claim about why the video worked, and you
should say so when you present it.

What to hand back: the top five with their multiples, the formula each used, and the ONE structural
thing they share. Then the harder line - which of those the user could actually make this week, in
their voice, with what they have.

## The gate

Nothing here publishes. This skill writes and you publish. Every output ends in a block the user
copies, and the last line of every run is the question: **ship it, or change it?**