Hook Generator

Workflow

Generate hooks for platform P from spine S:
- [ ] Step 1: Pull best_hook_candidates + thesis + opening claim from spine
- [ ] Step 2: Apply platform hook rules (see below)
- [ ] Step 3: Generate 3-5 candidates
- [ ] Step 4: Score each: attention (1-5), voice-fidelity (1-5), truth-fidelity (1-5)
- [ ] Step 5: Drop any hook scoring <4 on voice-fidelity
- [ ] Step 6: Return sorted list

Platform hook rules

Platform	Length cap	Pattern	Notes
Substack Note	1–2 sentences	confession preferred	Can use em-dash reframe; closest to essay opener
X (hook tweet)	≤240 chars	confession or bold claim	No question unless genuine; no "here's what I learned"
LinkedIn	≤210 chars total (first 1–2 lines)	practitioner confession	"I spent four months…" > "I had a realization…"
Cross-post	N/A	third-person positioning	"In this piece, Kushal argues…"

Worked example

Platform: X. Spine from The Execution Gap.

Candidates:

1. Confession (attention 5, voice 5, truth 5): "I have been meaning to open a Kalshi account for months. Not casually — the way you mean to clean the garage."
2. Reframe (attention 4, voice 5, truth 5): "This isn't a story about prediction markets. It's a story about the distance between learning about something and actually doing it."
3. Bold claim (attention 4, voice 4, truth 5): "Most 'learning' about a domain is substitution for doing the thing."
4. Question (attention 3, voice 3, truth 5) — DROPPED: "Why do so many of us substitute learning for doing?" — too generic for the writer's voice.

Return 3 candidates (dropped the one below voice-fidelity 4).

Guardrails

1. Never generate a hook that promises something the essay doesn't deliver.
2. Never use "AI is transforming…" / "In today's fast-paced…" / "Let's explore…" in any hook.
3. Don't start with a stat unless the stat is in the essay.
4. Don't propose a hook whose voice-fidelity score is <4 — drop it, don't include.
5. Per platform, stay within the length cap — a 300-char X hook that would fit in two tweets is not a hook, it's a thread.
6. Cross-post hook uses third person; never "I" in that variant.