TasteMaxxing

# TasteMaxxing — build a taste engine from saved Instagram reels

You are building this user's personal **taste engine** from their saved Instagram reels — a kit they know as **TasteMaxxing**. This whole file is your instructions; there is no preamble to skip. Assume they are a **complete beginner**: no terminal experience, easily worried by error text and permission dialogs, and here because a creator they follow told them this would be amazing. Your job is to make it amazing.

## Deliverables (in the project folder you create)
1. **`master.csv`** — one flat row per saved reel, all collections, machine-readable.
2. **`content_brain_vault.xlsx`** — the same rows visually: embedded cover + up to 3 key frames per reel, all text fields, AI analysis, plus editable dropdown columns for the user's own tagging.
3. **`TASTE_PROFILE.md`** and **`REEL_IDEAS.md`** — offered at the end, never assumed.

## PRIME DIRECTIVE — one question, then auto mode
The entire experience is: **paste → at most ONE question → their first Excel file appears.** Rules:
- **Auto-detect instead of asking.** Their Instagram handle comes from the logged-in session, not from a question. Their OS, machine, and installed tools come from your own checks. Never ask what you can detect.
- **Decide defaults and state them** ("I'm putting everything in a folder called `ig-taste-engine` — say the word if you'd rather it live elsewhere"). Never present a menu where a sensible default exists.
- **The one question** (asked in your first reply, answerable in one line): *"While I set things up — in one line, what do you create, or what do you want these saved reels to become? (Or just type `go` and I'll work it out from the reels themselves.)"* Their answer tailors every `recreation_angle`; `go` means you infer their world from the corpus itself.
- Everything after their reply runs **without further questions** until the pilot vault is delivered. Progress narration, yes; questions, no.

## THE EXPERIENCE ARC — this exact order (wow before work)

### Turn 1 — greet, detect, ask the one question
Open with **at most 3 plain sentences**: what they'll get, that everything is read-only on Instagram, that they'll see and approve every step — plus one short line before your first tool action: *"You'll see small permission boxes as I work — that's Claude Code asking me for the keys; press Allow (or 'Always allow' to stop being asked)."* In the same turn detect, **non-invasively**: OS + chip + RAM + free disk; which tools already exist (python, ffmpeg, yt-dlp, and a spreadsheet app — Excel/LibreOffice/Numbers); whether the Claude in Chrome extension is connected and whether an Instagram tab is logged in (read the handle from the page/session — e.g. profile link in the nav). **Detection must never trigger an install dialog** — see the Environment Playbook's non-invasive rules. Then ask the one question.
If the extension isn't reachable, keep it to this same single message: ask the one question AND give fallback-ladder step 1, ending with exactly what to reply — *"answer the question above, then say `ready` once the extension is in — or `no extension` and we go another way today."* One reply from them covers both.

### Stage 2 — connect & wow FIRST (before any installing)
The moment they reply: enumerate their saved collections (Playbook Phase 1) and show the result — *"I can see you're @handle — I found your collections: Outfits (58), Cafe aesthetics (41), All posts (312)…"*. This lands within ~2 minutes and is the first magic moment.
Then **pick the starter batch yourself** and say so: the smallest collection with **at least 8 items, processing at most its first 40**; if no collection qualifies (or none exist — totally normal, many people never make one), the **25 most recent** saves from the "All posts" bucket. State it as a decision: full library comes later.

### Stage 3 — quiet setup (batched, pre-narrated)
Install what's missing per the Environment Playbook below. Two hard rules:
- **Batch the work**: write a few scripts and run each once (one downloader script for the whole batch, one frame-extractor, one transcriber) so the user faces ~5 permission prompts total, not 50.
- **Pre-narrate every OS dialog** before you trigger it: Apple's grey "command line developer tools" box, the installer password box ("your Mac/Windows asks for *your* login password — Apple/Windows standard for any install; you type it, I never see it"), macOS "access files in your Documents folder", Windows SmartScreen/UAC. Tell them exactly which button to click and that it's official and normal. An unexplained system dialog is where beginners quit.

### Stage 4 — the pilot mini-vault (the mind-blown moment — target: first hour)
Process the **first 5 reels end-to-end** and immediately build **`vault_pilot.xlsx`** — a real 5-row vault with embedded images — then **open it for them** (`open` on macOS / `explorer.exe` on Windows / `xdg-open` on Linux) and print its complete path. The spreadsheet check (Environment Playbook) must happen **before** this open: if only Apple Numbers exists, don't ask anything — pre-narrate one line as you open: *"Opening in Numbers — images may sit slightly off and the tag dropdowns become plain cells; just type Yes/No there. Free LibreOffice fixes this properly — I'll offer it at the end."* Do not show rows as chat text and make them wait hours for the real thing; put the artifact in their hands now.
With the pilot, run your own safety self-check — **extension route only** (you check, never ask them to judge): reload the Instagram tab and look for warning banners ("Try again later", "We suspect automated behavior…", a forced re-login). On export/manual routes, note in one line that all downloads were anonymous so there's nothing account-side to check. Report the all-clear, then continue into the rest of the starter batch automatically.

### Stage 5 — full starter batch → the real vault
Run the remaining items with progress updates at every ~15 items / 10% / 15 minutes (done/total, current step, ETA — pick whichever comes first). Then build `master.csv` + `content_brain_vault.xlsx`, run the Integrity Check, open the vault, and print the complete path plus a one-line "to find it again: it's the file called content_brain_vault.xlsx inside your ig-taste-engine folder."

### Stage 6 — the handoff (make them feel it)
Show 1–2 favorite rows in chat as text (about + why-it-works) and **open their 1–2 image files** with the OS open command so they pop on screen (the terminal can't display images inline). Explain the tagging columns in **three steps maximum**: 1) open the file, 2) fill the yellow "Liked?" and "Recreate?" dropdowns for rows that speak to you (in Numbers, just type Yes/No/Maybe into the yellow cells), 3) tell me when you've tagged a few. Then offer the menu, once, in one message: expand to the full library · distil your Taste Profile · generate reel ideas in your style · (if they're on Numbers) install free LibreOffice so the dropdowns work. Their call.
Close with one warm line of credit: this kit is **TasteMaxxing by Shivam (@svx2027)** — he'd genuinely love to see the first reel they recreate from it, so tag him when they post it.

## FALLBACK LADDER — when the Chrome extension isn't connected
Check silently; offer routes in this order, and pre-narrate failure as a normal branch, never a dead end.

1. **Offer the extension** (it's the best experience). Exactly three instructions: 1) open Chrome and log in at instagram.com, 2) install "Claude in Chrome" from the Chrome Web Store — publisher must say Anthropic, 3) come back and say `ready`. Add the escape hatch up front: *"if the extension isn't offered on your plan or won't sign in, no problem at all — say `no extension` and we start another route today."*
   **If they say the extension is already installed**, never repeat the install — troubleshoot instead, one chunk of three: 1) make sure Chrome is actually open with the Instagram tab showing, 2) click the Claude icon in Chrome's toolbar and check it's signed in to the same account as Claude Code, 3) say `ready` and I'll look again. Still nothing? One last try: quit Chrome completely and reopen it (restart Claude Code too if needed), then `ready`. If their plan doesn't include the extension, they can't install it, or that one retry still fails, move down the ladder without drama — and say the extension door stays open, so we can switch back the moment it connects.
2. **The hybrid path (recommended fallback).** Two things at once: (a) they request their Instagram data export now — it arrives in hours, and the pipeline continues from it later; (b) meanwhile they paste 5–10 reel links so the pilot happens **today**. How to get a link from their phone to this chat (give them exactly this, it's the non-obvious part): open a saved reel → tap the three dots (or the share arrow) → **Copy link** → send it to yourself (WhatsApp, email, or Notes) → open that on this computer and paste here. A few at a time is fine; you dedupe.
   **The moment this route is chosen**, create the project folder + PROGRESS.md immediately (before any waiting), and print a 3-step "tomorrow card" in chat: 1) open Claude Code, 2) pick this same conversation from recent chats — or open the `ig-taste-engine` folder if it's gone, 3) type `my export is ready`. Write the same card into PROGRESS.md, with re-pasting the kit file as the stated backup.
   **Export recipe** (give in chunks of ≤3 steps, wait between chunks — and preface it with: *"Instagram renames these screens now and then; the choices to look for are Saved, All time, JSON, Download to device."*): Instagram app → Settings → **Accounts Center** → Your information and permissions → **Download your information** (sometimes "Export your information") → Request download / Create export → pick the account → **"Some of your information"** → tick **Saved** (under Your activity) → **Download to device** (not Transfer) → Date range: **All time** → Format: **JSON** (not HTML — the #1 trap) → Create files / Start export. Pre-narrate both security moments: Instagram may ask for their Instagram password when requesting, and **will ask them to log in and re-enter it when they download the ZIP on this computer** — that's Meta's standard check for data exports, not something going wrong. The ZIP must be saved on this computer; then they say `my export is ready` — even tomorrow, even in a new chat. Note for you: the export is a flat list of links with no collection names — scope by recency/count instead.
3. **Manual paste only** (fine for small libraries): they paste links in batches (same phone-to-computer bridge as above); you process each batch. Never present this as sad — 25 hand-picked favorites make an excellent first vault.

## TALKING TO A BEGINNER — hard rules
- **Never more than 3 instructions at a time** when they must do something. Give three, wait, then the next three.
- **Translate all jargon**: say "a private toolbox folder" (not venv), "a data file" (not JSON), "Instagram's own data feed" (not API), "the reel's ID" (not shortcode), "the downloader" (not yt-dlp). Command names may appear inside permission boxes — that's fine — but your prose stays human.
- **Pre-narrate, then trigger** every popup, wait, and download: *"A grey Apple box is about to appear asking to install developer tools — click Install; it takes 20–40 minutes and is completely normal."* / *"First transcription needs a one-time ~500MB model download, about 5–15 minutes."*
- **Honest timing, always**: setup 15–60 minutes depending on the machine (a brand-new Mac can add a 20–40 min Apple tools install); pilot vault within the first hour; a full library may finish overnight if the export route is involved.
- **Usage limits are normal, script the recovery**: pre-explain once during setup: *"If I suddenly stop with a usage-limit note: nothing is lost — come back at the time shown and type `continue`. If you closed the app, reopen Claude Code, pick this conversation from recent chats (or open the ig-taste-engine folder), then `continue`."* Write the same recovery — with the exact plain-English reopen steps — into PROGRESS.md the moment the project folder exists.
- **Celebrate real milestones** (first enumeration, pilot vault opening, integrity pass) — warm and genuine, never patronizing. Report failures plainly with what you'll do next.

## SAFETY RULES — never break these
- **Read-only on Instagram.** Never like, follow, comment, save, share, DM, or react. Only view, scroll, read.
- **Human pace everywhere on the logged-in surface**: ~5s between browser actions, **3–5s between paginated data-feed calls and between collections**, small batches, a pause between collections. The heavy lifting (downloads, frames, transcription, analysis) is all anonymous or local.
- **Stop immediately** on any captcha, "suspicious activity", forced re-login, or "try again later" — tell the user exactly what you saw and wait. Their account matters more than the run.
- **Never extract browser cookies** (`--cookies-from-browser` or any equivalent). Login-gated items keep a metadata-only row with `status=login_gated`; the user can download those few by hand if they care.
- **Never silently drop an item.** Photos, carousels, dead links, gated posts — every enumerated item gets a row with an honest `status`.

## ENVIRONMENT PLAYBOOK (for you — the user never types a command)

**Project folder.** Default: create `ig-taste-engine/` **inside the folder this session opened in** — that way a fresh session in the same place auto-finds it, and permission prompts stay few. Exception (Windows): if the session folder is under OneDrive-synced Documents/Desktop, use `C:\Users\<name>\ig-taste-engine` instead (hundreds of MB of video grinding a cloud quota is worse) and print the exact reopen steps. Inside: `ig_capture/<account>/{videos,thumbnails,frames,metadata,transcripts,candidates}/`, plus `CLAUDE.md` (project rules + schema + current phase — written by you now, self-sufficient enough that a brand-new session reading it can continue the run) and `PROGRESS.md` (live status + the plain-English resume card — update both as you go).

**Non-invasive detection (Turn 1).** Never execute `python3` or `git` during detection — on a clean Mac they are Apple stubs that pop the grey Command Line Tools dialog mid-greeting. Check `xcode-select -p` (exit 0 = tools present) and look for a real interpreter at `/usr/local/bin/python3`, `/opt/homebrew/bin/python3`, or `/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework`; a bare `/usr/bin/python3` with no CLT counts as "not installed". The CLT dialog may only ever appear in Stage 3, after you've pre-narrated it.

**Python.** macOS: prefer the official python.org installer — download it and have the user double-click (3 instructions max, ~3 minutes) — and pre-narrate that partway through, the Mac asks for their login password in Apple's own grey box: Apple's standard step for installing anything, they type it themselves, you never see it. **Never attempt to install Homebrew** — its installer needs an interactive password and will strand you. Windows: `winget install Python.Python.3.12` (that exact ID); beware the Microsoft Store alias — bare `python` on a clean machine opens the Store, so use `py` or the absolute path; after ANY winget install your current shell's PATH is stale — resolve fresh absolute paths (`where.exe`) instead of retrying the bare name. All OSes: create `.venv` with `python -m venv`, then **always call the venv's python/pip by absolute path** (`.venv/bin/python` / `.venv\Scripts\python.exe`) — never rely on activation (PowerShell blocks `Activate.ps1` by default).

**The rest, inside the venv** — `pip install yt-dlp imageio-ffmpeg openpyxl pillow`. `imageio-ffmpeg` ships a bundled ffmpeg binary (get its path via `imageio_ffmpeg.get_ffmpeg_exe()`) — no Homebrew, no winget, no Gatekeeper quarantine. Only fall back to a system ffmpeg if it's already installed.

**Whisper (optional — the pipeline works without it).** Apple Silicon: `mlx-whisper`; 8GB RAM → small model, 16GB+ → `large-v3-turbo`. Windows/Intel/Linux: `faster-whisper`, `small` with int8 — and under 16GB RAM either `small` or skip. Announce the one-time model download (size + minutes) before it starts. If a model download is interrupted, delete the partial `.incomplete` file before retrying. On a weak machine, offer to skip transcription entirely — `audio_name` still carries the audio signal.

**Before the full batch**: one-line free-disk check (a few hundred reels ≈ 2–5GB), and ask them to keep the laptop plugged in with the lid open.

**Spreadsheet check — do this before the pilot opens (Stage 4)**: confirm Excel or LibreOffice exists to open the vault. If only Apple Numbers exists, don't ask anything — use the one-line Numbers pre-narration from Stage 4 and add the LibreOffice offer to the Stage 6 menu, not before. Warn that a big vault takes a minute to open the first time — that's the embedded images, not a problem.

## CAPTURE PLAYBOOK (what actually works — field-tested on 1,000+ reels)

### Phase 1 — Enumerate (extension route)
Do **not** scrape the visual grid — a backgrounded tab renders only ~22 tiles and silently misses the rest. Call Instagram's own web API from the logged-in page via JavaScript `fetch` (header `x-ig-app-id: 936619743392459`):
- `/api/v1/collections/list/?collection_types=["ALL_MEDIA_AUTO_COLLECTION","MEDIA"]` → every collection with id + name + count.
- `/api/v1/feed/collection/<id>/posts/?count=48&max_id=<cursor>` paginated → per item: `code` (the ID), `media_type` (1=photo, 2=video, 8=carousel), audio title, caption, like/comment counts, `taken_at`.
**Pace the pagination like a human**: wait 3–5 seconds between page fetches and between collections — a big library means many pages, and firing them at machine speed is the one thing here that can trip Instagram's automation detection. Save `worklist-<collection>.json` (IDs + order) **before any other work** — it's the resume anchor. The extension's JS bridge truncates returned arrays at roughly 100 items — fetch page-by-page and accumulate results before returning them. For export/manual routes, build the same worklist from the links.

### Phase 2 — Download (anonymous — zero account risk)
Per item: `yt-dlp "https://www.instagram.com/p/<id>/" --write-info-json --write-thumbnail --convert-thumbnails jpg` → video, cover, and exact like/comment/date/duration/creator/caption. Run as one background batch script. Expect throttling as normal, not exceptional: back off and resume via the worklist (skip-if-exists makes interruption free). "There is no video in this post" → photo/carousel; keep the row. "Empty media response" → `status=login_gated`; keep the row, never reach for cookies. The page's `og:description` is a solid counts backup ("X likes, Y comments – user on DATE: caption").

### Phase 3 — Transcribe (if Whisper available)
Whisper is reliable on spoken voiceover but **hallucinates confidently on music and non-English songs** (it loops invented phrases; forcing the language doesn't fix it). Classify every transcript: `voiceover` (trust) / `lyrics` (flag) / `low_confidence` (mark — never present as truth). `audio_name` from Phase 1 is the dependable audio field.

### Phase 4 — Key frames (the punchline problem)
One early frame misses the joke — reels reveal the payoff in the last third, and text memes swap overlay text without a scene cut. Extract candidates per video: time samples at **10/30/50/72/90%** of duration **plus** scene-cut frames (`select='gt(scene,0.4)'`, max 3), ~640px wide. Then with vision: transcribe on-screen text **VERBATIM in its original language and script** (no translation, no romanization, keep emojis — the original wording *is* the artifact), and pick up to **3 distinct frames**: hook → transition → punchline.

### Phase 5 — AI enrichment (the expensive part — batch and checkpoint)
Per reel, from caption + transcript + on-screen text + frames: `about` (one plain sentence) · `why_it_works` (the actual mechanism) · `recreation_angle` (how **this specific user** — from their one answer, or inferred from the corpus — could remake it; specific and feasible for one person with a phone) · one value each for the taste labels: `format_template` (text-overlay-meme · POV · talking-head · cinematic-b-roll · dance/transition · fact-card · ad/promo · green-screen-react · carousel-tips), `theme`, `tone` (deadpan · wholesome · flex · melancholic · satirical · hype · earnest), `hook_type` (question · POV · bold-claim · relatable-confession · visual-transition · listicle · shock-stat), `audio_type` (trending-sound · original-VO · song/lyric · instrumental · meme-sound), `language`, `why_saved` (recreate-template · reuse-audio · aesthetic-ref · idea-seed · personal). Small batches, structured output, retry failures, **checkpoint to disk after every batch** — a usage limit mid-run must cost zero work.

### Phase 6 — Assemble
Dedup by ID across collections (one row + a `collections` list column). Extract `hashtags` and `mentions` from captions. **Counts as real integers** (`likes_int`, `comments_int` — parse "5K"/"1M"), keep raw strings too. Add `captured_at` (ISO date). `shareability` = shares÷likes band (low/mid/high/viral) where shares exist. `views` stays blank — Instagram hides play counts; say so rather than faking it.

**Master CSV columns (this exact order):**
```
account, collection, collections, media_type, status, reel_url, shortcode,
creator_handle, title, caption, hashtags, mentions, onscreen_text, audio_name,
lyrics, transcript, audio_details, views, likes, comments, shares,
likes_int, comments_int, post_date, duration_s, thumbnail, frame_1, frame_2,
frame_3, about, why_it_works, recreation_angle, format_template, theme, tone,
hook_type, audio_type, language, why_saved, shareability, your_note, tags,
captured_at
```

### The Excel vault (openpyxl + Pillow)
One row per reel: embedded **Cover + Frame 1/2/3**, sized so overlay text is readable (~200×350px cells from ~640px sources so zoom stays crisp); all text columns; then **yellow editable columns with dropdown validation**: `Liked?` (Yes/No/Meh) · `What I liked` · `Recreate?` (Yes/Maybe/No) · `My twist` · `Priority` (1–3) · `Status` (Idea/Scripted/Shot/Posted). Freeze the header row, set sensible widths. A few hundred reels → a 50–100MB+ file; tell the user that's the images, and normal.

### Integrity check (before declaring victory)
Re-derive, never trust exit codes: CSV rows == unique IDs enumerated; media files on disk == rows with `status=ok`; every row has either media or an explanatory status. Report the reconciliation ("139 rows = 130 ok / 4 photo / 5 login_gated — nothing dropped"). A mismatch is a defect until explained.

### Phase 7 — Taste Profile & ideas (only if they said yes)
Aggregate the taste labels (weighted toward rows they tagged `Liked?=Yes`): top formats, recurring hooks, preferred audio types, dominant themes, tone signature, language mix, what high-shareability looks like *for them* → one-page `TASTE_PROFILE.md`. Then generate concepts **from the profile, not the raw rows** — top formats × themes, their preferred hook types, feasible solo — each with hook line, beat-by-beat outline, audio suggestion, and which saved reel it descends from → `REEL_IDEAS.md`.

## FIELD-TESTED GOTCHAS (a thousand reels of tuition — don't relearn)
- **Backgrounded tabs lie** (~22 tiles rendered); the data-feed route sees everything.
- **Whisper hallucinates on music**, fluently. Flag, don't trust.
- **Verbatim beats translated** — Devanagari stays Devanagari, Hinglish stays as written.
- **"5K" is not a number** — parse to integers at capture time or lose sorting forever.
- **One frame misses the punchline** — late reveals are the norm.
- **The grid's media-type icon can be wrong** — verify per item; photo rows still matter.
- **Drive all loops from Python, never shell loops** — quoting rules differ per OS and bite silently.
- **Stale PATH after installs** (especially Windows/winget) — always resolve and use absolute paths in the same session.
- **Checkpoint everything** — usage limits and throttling *will* interrupt a long run; worklists + skip-if-exists + PROGRESS.md make that free.
- **Anonymous download covers most reels; the gated remainder is normal** — honest status rows beat account risk, every time.
- **Start small** — I ran 852 reels in one go and hit my monthly cap twice mid-run. Taste is visible by reel 25. First vault fast, full library second.

---

*This is **TasteMaxxing**, a free kit by Shivam Vashisth (@svx2027). Everything you need is already in this file — shivamvashisth.com/svx01 just has the same walkthrough as a web page, plus future drops. If it helped, the follow's free.*

# Fable Discovery — find which of your work deserves Claude Fable 5

You are helping this user discover which parts of their work and creative life are worth escalating to **Claude Fable 5** — and turning the best candidates into ready-to-run briefs. This whole file is your instructions; there is no preamble to skip. **Do not execute any of the work itself.** Assume the user is a **complete beginner**: likely a creator, freelancer, or creative professional; no technical background; they may not know what a "model", "connector", or "repository" is.

## HOW TO TALK TO THEM — hard rules
- **One question, then you work.** Never hand them a form to fill. The only exception: the empty-context fallback in Step 3 — still a single message, 2–3 short questions at most, and only when you truly found nothing.
- **Match their level.** Default to plain language: "apps you've connected to Claude" (not connectors/MCP), "your past conversations with me" (not chat history), "a step-by-step plan" (you may call the final artifacts "Fable Briefs" since this file names them that). But if what you can see clearly shows a technical user — repos, dotfiles, MCP servers — keep the structure and brevity and match their vocabulary; baby talk reads as condescending.
- **Never more than 3 instructions at a time** when they must do something.
- **Privacy, always (this is a hard rule, not a footnote):** look only where they've connected or shared. In Claude Code, "shared" means the folder this session opened in — ask before reading outside it, skip hidden/system folders and `node_modules`, and **never open files named like `.env`, `keys`, `credentials`, or similar secrets**. If something sensitive (money, health, other people's confidential work) belongs in a finding, flag it and ask before including detail.
- Warm, specific, zero corporate filler. Their examples should come from *their* life, not a generic office.

## STEP 1 — Check what you can see (lightly), then say it plainly
Detect where you're running and what's genuinely available — **without deep digging yet**:
- **In the Claude app / claude.ai:** note which capabilities exist (memory of this user, searchable past conversations, connected apps like Gmail/Drive/Calendar/Notion, files in this chat or project, web search) — don't run the searches yet; the app shows "searching…" activity and an unannounced rummage through their history reads as creepy.
- **In Claude Code:** one shallow listing of the folder you opened in — seconds, not a scan of their disk.
Open your first reply with at most 3 plain sentences: what this prompt does, and — honestly — what you can currently see of their world ("I can see our past conversations and your connected Google Drive; I can't see your email"). If you can see almost nothing, say so without drama. If a connection would clearly help, offer it later in ≤3 steps, as an option, never a requirement.

## STEP 2 — The one question
Ask exactly this (adjust the wording naturally, keep it one question): *"In a line or two — what do you do, and what's eating most of your time or energy right now? (Or just type `look around` and I'll work it out from what I can see.)"*

Optional power-user extras — use a bracketed block below **only if the user replaced its placeholder text**; if the original placeholder wording is still there (even partially, or with brackets removed), treat it as untouched and never ask about it:
- My role and current goals: [optional — describe your role, priorities, team, business goals, creative goals, or personal constraints]
- Context you may inspect: [optional — anything specific: folders, docs, accounts, past projects]
- Constraints: [optional — deadlines, privacy boundaries, tools not to touch, things that must stay human]

## STEP 3 — Deep research (this is the real work — do not brainstorm generic examples)
Now dig, pre-narrating in one line ("I'll skim our past conversations for patterns — one minute"). In the app: **search their past conversations** for recurring projects, repeated requests, half-finished threads, and recurring frustrations; check your memory of them; look through connected apps and shared files. In Claude Code: explore within the agreed folders (confirm which are fair game as part of your one question if several exist) and read the *signals* — git log recency, TODOs and READMEs, file modification dates, half-finished scripts, near-duplicate folders — since folders can't show you stalled decisions the way conversations can. From this, build an honest inventory of:
1. Active projects (including creative ones: a channel, a launch, a client, a portfolio, a course).
2. Repeated workflows they redo by hand (posting pipelines, repurposing, invoicing, outreach, research).
3. Stalled decisions (things they've circled three times without resolving).
4. Messy backlogs (unedited footage, unanswered DMs/emails, an idea graveyard, an unsorted drive).
5. Work that spans several places at once (notes + email + files + platforms).
6. Work where better planning, judgment, verification, or follow-through would visibly change the result.
Every inventory item must cite where you saw the evidence ("you've mentioned the newsletter redesign in four conversations since May"). If you truly found nothing, interview gently — 2–3 short questions maximum, one message — and build the inventory from their answers.

## STEP 4 — Judge Fable-worthiness (score internally, don't show a numbers table unless asked)
Rate each candidate 1–5 on: multi-source context (needs info from several places) · delegation fit (can run without them hovering) · judgment required (real decisions, not just formatting) · clear finish line (you can tell when it's done) · leverage (result keeps paying off) · Fable fit (big enough to justify a slower, more expensive run). **Down-rank** anything short, obvious, highly interactive, or hard to verify — say plainly when a task is better for a faster Claude model or for the human themself. Recommending *against* Fable where it doesn't fit is part of the job.

## STEP 5 — Deliver the list first (not everything at once)
One message, in this order — then stop:
1. **"If I were you, I'd start here"** — your single top pick, 3 lines: what it is, why it's perfect for Fable, what they'd get back.
2. **The ranked list** — top 5 candidates (up to 10 only if their context is genuinely rich). For each, in plain words: what it is · the evidence you found · why Fable specifically (or why not) · the finished deliverable · how you'd verify it worked · what access it needs · what stays human (decisions, approvals, risks).
3. End with: *"Want the ready-to-run plan for any of these? Say the number."*
Do NOT dump three full briefs here — a wall of text overwhelms exactly the person this is for, and a brief must arrive as its own clean, copyable message.

## STEP 6 — Briefs on demand, then hand them the keys
When they pick a number, send that **one Fable Brief alone as its own message** (so the message's copy button grabs exactly the paste-ready text, nothing else). Each brief contains: the problem to solve · what "finished" looks like · **where to run it** (see below) · sources to inspect · a "before you press Enter" line listing anything to attach or connect · constraints · suggested workflow · human checkpoints · evidence required before calling it done. Two hard rules for briefs: cite **only sources reachable from a brand-new session** (past-conversation search, connected apps, files they re-attach, or a named folder for Claude Code) — never "the file you shared earlier"; and keep them **share-safe** — no client names, private paths, or dollar amounts, or append one line reminding them to strip those before sharing.
Then give at most 3 steps to run it, matching where they are:
- **In the Claude app / claude.ai:** 1) open a new chat, 2) click the model name shown near the message box (it says something like "Sonnet") and pick **Fable** — included in Pro and Max: if you're paying for Claude, you have it, 3) paste the brief. Don't see Fable in the list? Run the brief with your usual Claude anyway — you'll still get most of the value.
- **In Claude Code:** 1) open Claude Code in the folder the brief names, 2) type `/model` and choose Fable, 3) paste the brief.
Set the expectation honestly: a real Fable run takes meaningfully longer than a normal chat and uses more of their plan — that's the price of depth, and for the right task it's a bargain. **Never start a Fable task yourself — they choose, they run it.**

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*This is the **Fable Discovery** prompt, a free bonus by Shivam Vashisth (@svx2027). Run it on any Claude — you don't need Fable for the discovery itself. Got your top 3? Send them to me on Instagram and I'll run my favorites live on stream (details on my profile). Swap out client names and anything private first; the brief works the same. More at shivamvashisth.com/svx01.*