Generate Youtube Thumbnail
krusemediallc/arcads-claude-code
Generate high-CTR YouTube thumbnails using Nano Banana 2 via the Arcads external API.
Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest.
Install Thumbnail Design
$ npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a claude-codeProject install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.
$ gh skill install social-media-skills/skills thumbnail-design --agent claude-codeProject scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thumbnail-design .claude/skills/thumbnail-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.
Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/
Install the "thumbnail-design" agent skill from https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-design into .claude/skills/thumbnail-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thumbnail-design", then confirm the skill loads.Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$skill-installer install https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-designType this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.
$ npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a codexProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.
$ gh skill install social-media-skills/skills thumbnail-design --agent codexProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thumbnail-design .agents/skills/thumbnail-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.
Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/
Install the "thumbnail-design" agent skill from https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-design into .agents/skills/thumbnail-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thumbnail-design", then confirm the skill loads.Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a cursorProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.
$ gh skill install social-media-skills/skills thumbnail-design --agent cursorProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thumbnail-design .cursor/skills/thumbnail-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.
Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/
Install the "thumbnail-design" agent skill from https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-design into .cursor/skills/thumbnail-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thumbnail-design", then confirm the skill loads.Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gemini skills install https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git --path skills/thumbnail-design--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.
$ npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a gemini-cliProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.
$ gh skill install social-media-skills/skills thumbnail-design --agent gemini-cliProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thumbnail-design .gemini/skills/thumbnail-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.
Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "thumbnail-design" agent skill from https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-design into .gemini/skills/thumbnail-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thumbnail-design", then confirm the skill loads.Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ gh skill install social-media-skills/skills thumbnail-designInstalls for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).
$ npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a github-copilotProject install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thumbnail-design .github/skills/thumbnail-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.
GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "thumbnail-design" agent skill from https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-design into .github/skills/thumbnail-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thumbnail-design", then confirm the skill loads.GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
$ npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a opencodeOpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.
$ gh skill install social-media-skills/skills thumbnail-design --agent opencodeProject scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/thumbnail-design .opencode/skills/thumbnail-design && rm -rf skills-srcUse ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.
OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/
Install the "thumbnail-design" agent skill from https://github.com/social-media-skills/skills/tree/main/skills/thumbnail-design into .opencode/skills/thumbnail-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "thumbnail-design", then confirm the skill loads.OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.
Facts
- Skill name
thumbnail-design- GitHub stars
- 134
- Token cost
- ~1.7k tokens
- SKILL.md length
- 680 words
- Files
- 6 (incl. references)
- Skills in repo
- 106
- Repo updated
- First seen
- Licence
- MIT
At a glance
Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest.
- Works in 2 steps: brand-profile — channel style/template… → the video and its title (often from…
- Someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail
- SKILL.md covers The POV: a promise, not a…, Read these first, The framework: CLICK and The reality (verify-quarterly), plus 4 more sections
- Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
What it does
Thumbnail Design is an agent skill from social-media-skills/skills. Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest. Use when someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail, improve CTR, brief a thumbnail, choose thumbnail text, or plan thumbnail A/B testing. Designs and briefs high-CTR thumbnails and writes the A/B test plan: a thumbnail is a promise, not a poster, designed as a unit with the title and legible on mobile. Uses the CLICK framework. Reads brand-profile + the video/title first. A HUMAN or an image/design tool…
Its SKILL.md is about 1.7k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 7 other files, including reference files (for example `evals/evals.json`, `references/design-and-test-recipes.md` and `references/scope-and-connections.md`).
It sits in Media & Creative, covering A/B testing and Image generation. It works with YouTube, Google Gemini, Canva and TikTok. The repository describes itself as: 106 social media skills for AI agents - strategy, writing, video, design, platform growth, publishing, and analytics. Works with Claude, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes & 40+ agents. The licence is MIT.
When your agent uses it
- Someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail
- Brief a thumbnail
- Choose thumbnail text
- Plan thumbnail A/B testing
Example prompts
- “/thumbnail-design”
Workflow steps
2 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.
- brand-profile — channel style/template (for consistency).
- the video and its title (often from youtube-publishing-and-metadata/youtube-long-form/
What it can do on your machine
Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 6e30eeb. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.
Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.
Context cost
Thumbnail Design loads about 1.7k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.8k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 248 tokens; SKILL.md has 680 words of instructions outside code blocks.
Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.
Safety
Auto-check passed
The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.
Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.
SKILL.md
The full file from social-media-skills/skills at commit 6e30eeb, republished under its MIT licence (© social-media-skills). 680 words, ~1,651 tokens.
Download SKILL.mdSave it as
.claude/skills/thumbnail-design/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 5 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.- name
- thumbnail-design
- description
- Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest. Use when someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail, improve CTR, brief a thumbnail, choose thumbnail text, or plan thumbnail A/B testing. Designs and briefs high-CTR thumbnails and writes the A/B test plan: a thumbnail is a promise, not a poster, designed as a unit with the title and legible on mobile. Uses the CLICK framework. Reads brand-profile + the video/title first. A HUMAN or an image/design tool (nano-banana/ideogram/Canva/designer) creates the final raster; the YouTube custom thumbnail is uploaded NATIVELY in Studio (WoopSocial has no thumbnail field) and Test & Compare is native; TikTok/IG-Reel covers use WoopSocial's cover field via those format skills. No clickbait, no unconsented real-person/deepfake faces, CTR never fabricated. Distinct from youtube-publishing-and-metadata (the metadata) and nano-banana/ideogram (which generate the raster this briefs).
- version
- 1.0.0
thumbnail-design
A design-craft skill — write the promise, design the concept + text, produce the brief, and plan the A/B test. The agent designs + briefs + plans; a human or image tool makes the raster; the YouTube thumbnail is uploaded + tested natively (no WoopSocial field).
The POV: a promise, not a poster — designed as a unit with the title
A thumbnail drives ~70–80% of click decisions, and the viewer decides in under a second — so its job is the click that leads to a watch. Two rules anchor everything: the thumbnail + title are one unit (the thumbnail shows, the title tells — they never repeat), and it's a promise, not a poster. That second rule is enforced by the platform: YouTube's native A/B test picks the winner by watch-time share, not raw CTR, so a misleading high-click thumbnail loses to an honest one. Design for mobile first — most viewing is on a phone, where simplicity and contrast win.
Read these first
- brand-profile — channel style/template (for consistency).
- the video and its title (often from youtube-publishing-and-metadata/youtube-long-form/ youtube-shorts).
The framework: CLICK
(Depth: references/the-click-framework.md.)
- C — Clarify the promise: one-sentence promise; thumbnail + title as a unit (show vs tell, never repeat); promise not poster.
- L — Lead with one focal point: one/two hero elements, minimal background, parseable in <1s; one directional element.
- I — Invoke genuine emotion: expressive genuine face + gaze if it adds context (skip it otherwise); match the expression to the content.
- C — Contrast + concise text: complementary high contrast (avoid YouTube red/white, 60-30-10, B&W test, light+dark); 0–4 bold sans-serif words + outline, not a title duplicate; mobile-legible at ~168×94; safe zones; 1280×720, 16:9.
- K — Keep testing: 3 meaningfully-different concepts, one variable; native Test & Compare picks by watch-time share (not Shorts, needs traffic); a human uploads + runs it; keep a log; brand-consistent template.
The reality (verify-quarterly)
Promise-not-poster + thumbnail+title-as-unit + watch-time A/B punishes clickbait; the three principles
(simplicity/contrast/emotion); faces (+20–30%, genuine, gaze, unknown-face-can-hurt); contrast/color
(complementary, avoid YT red/white, 60-30-10, B&W test); text (0–4 words, bold sans-serif, no title
duplicate); mobile-first + safe zones + specs (1280×720; 50MB cap since early 2026); brand consistency; native
Test & Compare (watch-time-share winner, also tests titles/combos, not Shorts, traffic-dependent):
references/thumbnail-2026-reality.md.
The promise template, design checklist, spec block, A/B plan + worked examples:
references/design-and-test-recipes.md.
Show full SKILL.md (316 more words)Show less
Honest scope (never violate)
- The agent writes the promise/concept/text/brief and can critique a mockup — but a HUMAN or
image tool (
nano-banana/ideogram/Canva/a designer) creates the final raster. - The YouTube custom thumbnail is uploaded NATIVELY in Studio — WoopSocial has no thumbnail field — and
Test & Compare is native (a human uploads + runs it). TikTok/IG-Reel covers are different: those
use WoopSocial's
coverfield viatiktok-video-publishing/the IG skill. - No clickbait (the thumbnail must keep the promise — the watch-time test punishes deception); no
unconsented real-person/deepfake faces; never fabricate a CTR (real testing/native analytics only).
(Scope, distinctions + connections:
references/scope-and-connections.md.)
Distinct from its siblings (route correctly)
thumbnail-design (this) = the thumbnail design craft + brief + A/B plan · youtube-publishing-and-
metadata = the title/description/tags metadata (points HERE for the thumbnail) · nano-banana/ideogram =
generate the raster this briefs · tiktok-video-publishing = the TikTok cover field · hook-writer/
caption-writer = text lines.
Where this connects
Reads first: brand-profile + the video/title (youtube-publishing-and-metadata/youtube-long- form/youtube-shorts). Pairs with: nano-banana/ideogram (render the brief), hook-writer (the thumbnail words), youtube-publishing-and-metadata (title as a unit with the thumbnail), experimentation (A/B discipline), competitor-analysis (preview against ranking thumbnails). Hands to: a human to render + upload the YouTube thumbnail natively + run Test & Compare; analytics-and-reporting reads CTR/watch-time back. The raster, native upload, and native A/B test stay outside WoopSocial.
Definition of done
A one-sentence promise written and the thumbnail designed as a unit with the title (show vs tell, no repetition); one focal point with minimal background; a genuine face + gaze where it adds context (or none); high contrast (complementary, not YouTube red/white, 60-30-10, passes the B&W test) legible in light and dark; 0–4 bold words with an outline that don't duplicate the title; mobile-legible at ~168×94 with safe zones and 1280×720 specs; an A/B plan of 3 meaningfully-different concepts changing one variable, scored natively by watch-time share; the raster left to an image tool/designer and the YouTube upload + test left to native Studio; no clickbait, no unconsented faces, no fabricated CTR; correctly distinguished from youtube-publishing-and-metadata and nano-banana/ideogram.
© social-media-skills, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file
Files
SKILL.md and 5 other files (references) in skills/thumbnail-design of social-media-skills/skills.
- SKILL.md
- evals/evals.json
- references/design-and-test-recipes.md
- references/scope-and-connections.md
- references/the-click-framework.md
- references/thumbnail-2026-reality.md
Open the folder on GitHubat commit 6e30eeb
Compare with similar skills
Thumbnail Design next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.
| Skill | Stars | Used in | Tokens | Auto-check | Licence | Repo updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thumbnail Design this skillsocial-media-skills/skills | 134 | — | ~1.7k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Generate Youtube Thumbnailkrusemediallc/arcads-claude-code | 1.6k | — | ~2.4k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Nano Bananakkoppenhaver/cc-nano-banana | 378 | 1 repos | ~1.4k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Youtube Thumbnailhassancs91/claude-youtube-editor | 328 | — | ~2.1k | Automated safety check: Notes | MIT | |
| Media Transformswyxio/skills | 176 | — | ~2.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT | |
| Youtube Thumbnailsswyxio/skills | 176 | — | ~1.6k | Automated safety check: Pass | MIT |
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Related
Works with
Categories
Questions about Thumbnail Design
What does Thumbnail Design do?
Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest. Thumbnail Design is an agent skill from social-media-skills/skills. Design YouTube video thumbnails that earn the click — mobile-legible, one focal point, honest.
When should I use Thumbnail Design?
Thumbnail Design fits situations like: someone wants to design a YouTube thumbnail; brief a thumbnail; choose thumbnail text; plan thumbnail A/B testing.
How do I install Thumbnail Design in Claude Code?
Run `npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/thumbnail-design in social-media-skills/skills) into .claude/skills/thumbnail-design in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.
How do I install Thumbnail Design in Codex?
Run `npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/thumbnail-design in social-media-skills/skills) into .agents/skills/thumbnail-design in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.
Can I use Thumbnail Design in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?
Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add social-media-skills/skills --skill thumbnail-design -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/thumbnail-design, .gemini/skills/thumbnail-design, .github/skills/thumbnail-design and .opencode/skills/thumbnail-design in your project.
What does Thumbnail Design need to run?
SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Thumbnail Design is instructions for the agent only.
Does Thumbnail Design access the network?
SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.
Is Thumbnail Design safe to install?
Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.
What licence does Thumbnail Design use?
Thumbnail Design is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.
How many tokens does Thumbnail Design use?
About 1.7k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.6k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 3.2k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.
What are the alternatives to Thumbnail Design?
Skills that share tags, products or a category with Thumbnail Design: Generate Youtube Thumbnail (krusemediallc/arcads-claude-code, 1.6k stars), Nano Banana (kkoppenhaver/cc-nano-banana, 378 stars), Youtube Thumbnail (hassancs91/claude-youtube-editor, 328 stars) and Media Transform (swyxio/skills, 176 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.
Who maintains Thumbnail Design?
social-media-skills (a GitHub organization) maintains it in social-media-skills/skills, which has 134 GitHub stars. The repository holds 106 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 1, 2026.
Source: social-media-skills/skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.