Oannes DM-Shareability Re-engineering — Design

Date: 2026-06-27 Status: Approved (brainstorming → spec) Project: Oannes Content Engine (oannes-engine/)

Goal

Retune content generation so every post is built to be forwarded in a DM — Instagram’s top ranking signal for reaching non-followers is sends-per-reach (confirmed in the 2026-06-27 deep research, from Mosseri Jan 2025), ranked above likes, with watch time the other dominant factor. Our content currently gives a viewer no reason to forward it, which maps directly to our near-zero IG reach. This is roadmap item #1 (highest-confidence lever).

Two mechanisms: (a) forwardable hooks — lead with the most “you have to see this” angle of the claim; (b) explicit direct share-CTAs — Joshua chose the blunt approach: tell the viewer to send/tag.

Scope

Content-generation prompt + render tweak only. No new modules. The reel video itself does not change; the reel’s share-CTA lives in its caption (the feed text on IG/FB/YT). Carousels get an on-slide share treatment because that’s where it’s expected and cheap.

Out of scope (YAGNI): a spoken/on-screen share-CTA inside the reel video — it would break the existing VO↔caption timing for marginal gain. Caption-level CTA is sufficient for reels until there’s evidence otherwise.

Changes

1. src/script/reelscript.ts — buildReelPrompt

• Hook instruction: lead with the single most forwardable angle of the claim — the shocking, specific “you have to see this” detail — as the curiosity gap, not a generic opener.
• Caption instruction: end with a direct share CTA that names a person to send it to (e.g. “Send this to someone who swears it’s swamp gas 👇” / “Tag the skeptic who needs this”), replacing the current “ends with a question.”
• Attribution rule unchanged (the IP/credibility shield).

2. src/script/carouselscript.ts — buildCarouselPrompt + CarouselScript

• Same forwardable-hook instruction.
• Caption ends with a direct share CTA.
• New field shareCta: string on CarouselScript — a claim-specific share line the model generates (e.g. “Send this to someone who thinks it’s all weather balloons”). Required (zod .min(1)).
• slidesFromScript passes shareCta onto the final cta slide as its text.

3. src/render/Carousel.tsx — cta slide branch

• Render the generated share line (text) large (e.g. “SEND THIS TO A SKEPTIC”) with @oannescode smaller underneath — so the last thing a swiper sees is a direct prompt to forward. (Currently hardcodes “FOLLOW FOR MORE / @oannescode”.)

Components touched

Error handling

shareCta is required in the carousel schema — a malformed model response fails zod parse, which generateDaily‘s existing try/catch treats as a carousel-build failure (reel still publishes). No new failure modes.

Testing (TDD, tsc-gated via npm test)

• reelscript.ts: buildReelPrompt asserts the forwardable-hook + direct-share-CTA language.
• carouselscript.ts: prompt asserts the same; parseCarouselScript accepts/validates shareCta; slidesFromScript puts shareCta on the cta slide’s text.
• Existing scriptwriter/carousel tests updated for the new field.
• Follow existing vitest patterns.

Success criteria

Generated reels and carousels consistently (a) open with a forwardable hook and (b) end with a direct “send/tag” CTA; the carousel’s last slide shows the share line. Whether this actually lifts IG sends-per-reach is measured downstream via the existing metrics loop (we already track per-platform stickiness; IG reach climbing off ~0 is the signal to watch over ~2 weeks).

Out of scope (later roadmap items, not this spec)

• Per-post variety / voice rotation (roadmap #2).
• TikTok account-type / trending-audio decision (roadmap #3).