muapi-youtube-thumbnail
samuraigpt/generative-media-skills
Design high-CTR YouTube thumbnails with striking imagery, bold text, and emotional impact.
What is muapi-youtube-thumbnail?
This skill generates eye-catching YouTube thumbnails optimized for click-through rate. It guides composition planning, image generation via MUAPI, and text overlay placement to ensure thumbnails stand out in YouTube's grid and drive viewer engagement.
- Plans thumbnail composition using emotion-first design and high-contrast principles
- Generates 16:9 aspect ratio images tailored to channel style and topic
- Provides suggested overlay text (3–5 words) with placement and font recommendations
- Incorporates optional subject descriptions (faces, people, objects) for maximum impact
- Leverages MUAPI image generation with vibrant, high-contrast styling
How to install muapi-youtube-thumbnail
npx skills add https://github.com/samuraigpt/generative-media-skills --skill muapi-youtube-thumbnail- MUAPI API key configured (via `muapi auth configure`)
- MUAPI CLI installed and accessible
- Access to post-production tools (Canva, Photoshop) for text overlay application
How to use muapi-youtube-thumbnail
- 1.Provide the video title or topic and optional channel style description
- 2.Optionally describe the subject or person to feature in the thumbnail
- 3.The skill will plan the composition using emotion-first design principles
- 4.The skill generates a 16:9 image via MUAPI image generation
- 5.Review the generated image and suggested overlay text, placement, and font style
- 6.Apply the text overlay in your post-production tool (Canva, Photoshop, etc.)
Use cases
- Creating thumbnails for a new YouTube video before upload
- Designing A/B test variants to compare CTR performance
- Generating thumbnails for educational, gaming, or tech channel content
- Quickly iterating on thumbnail concepts during video production workflow
- Ensuring visual consistency with existing channel branding and style
- YouTube content creators and video producers
- Digital marketers optimizing video performance
- Social media managers handling multiple channels
- Video editors integrating thumbnail design into production pipelines
muapi-youtube-thumbnail FAQ
No. Image models render text unreliably, so the skill provides text suggestions, placement guidance, and font recommendations for you to apply in post-production tools like Canva or Photoshop.
The skill will design an object or scene that dramatizes the topic based on your video title and channel style.
Yes. If you have a channel image or face photo in your session, the skill can incorporate it using `muapi image edit`.
3–5 words maximum. Shorter text with high contrast performs better for CTR in YouTube's grid layout.
16:9, which is the standard YouTube thumbnail format.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from samuraigpt/generative-media-skills.
slug: muapi-youtube-thumbnail name: muapi-youtube-thumbnail version: "1.0.0" description: Design a high-CTR YouTube thumbnail — striking imagery, bold text placement, and emotional face/subject if needed. acceptLicenseTerms: true
YouTube Thumbnail
Design a high-CTR YouTube thumbnail — striking imagery, bold text placement, and emotional face/subject if needed.
Inputs
| Name | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
title | text | yes | — | The video title or topic (e.g. "I tried 7 AI tools in 24 hours — here's what happened"). |
channel_style | text | no | bold, high contrast, bright colors, clean design, YouTube tech aesthetic | Channel brand style (e.g. "dark moody gaming", "bright educational", "minimal corporate"). |
subject_description | text | no | — | Optional description of the person or subject to feature (e.g. "a surprised young man in a hoodie"). |
Steps
Thumbnails are the #1 factor in YouTube CTR. Generate a single, maximum-impact 16:9 image.
Phase A — Plan the composition
Before generating, briefly reason about the best thumbnail formula for this topic:
- Emotion-first: shocked/curious face if relevant + bold text = high CTR
- Text overlay: 3–5 words max, high-contrast (white/yellow on dark, or vice-versa)
- Contrast & saturation: thumbnails compete in a grid — they must pop
Phase B — Generate the thumbnail
- Build the image generation prompt:
- Subject:
{{subject_description}}if provided, otherwise design an object/scene that dramatizes the topic. - Mood: derives from
{{channel_style}}. - Composition: rule-of-thirds, subject on left or right with empty space for text.
- Style tags:
{{channel_style}}, youtube thumbnail composition, ultra detailed, vibrant, high contrast, 16:9.
- Subject:
- Call
muapi image generate(model=gpt-image-2-text-to-image, aspect_ratio=16:9).
Phase C — Text overlay guidance
After generation, return:
- Suggested overlay text: 3–5 bold words that complement the title
{{title}}. - Text placement: where on the canvas to position text (e.g. "bold yellow text, top-right third").
- Font recommendation: style suggestion (e.g. "Impact-style all-caps with black outline").
Notes
- Never put too much text in the prompt — text rendering in image models is unreliable. Guide the user on adding text in post-production (Canva, Photoshop).
- If the user already has a channel image or face photo in the session, use
muapi image editto incorporate it. - Suggest A/B variants only if the user asks.
Trigger Keywords
youtube thumbnail, yt thumbnail, thumbnail, video thumbnail, youtube cover
Notes for the Executing Agent
- This recipe is LLM-orchestrated: read each phase, gather any missing inputs from the user, then call
muapiCLI commands. Usemuapi auth configurefirst ifMUAPI_API_KEYis unset. - For model IDs without a CLI alias yet, fall back to the raw endpoint via
curl -X POST https://api.muapi.ai/api/v1/<endpoint> -H "x-api-key: $MUAPI_API_KEY" -H 'content-type: application/json' -d '{...}'and poll withmuapi predict wait <request_id>. - Substitute
{{input_name}}placeholders with the user's actual inputs before issuing each call.
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