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VIRAL SWIPE FILE

How to write hooks that stop the scroll, from real viral videos

Hook templates wear out fast. This method starts from the openings of real videos that held attention in your niche and turns them into hooks in your own words.

Start from real hooks, not templates

A list of hook templates gives you the words without the video they opened, and every account using the same list ends up sounding the same. Start from hooks that worked for real accounts in your niche, read with the first seconds they opened, and write your own from there.

The manual method

  1. Collect a few dozen hooks from your niche. Take them from posts that beat their account's usual views, not only from the biggest accounts.
  2. Read each hook with its first frame. Note what is said, what is written on screen and what the viewer sees. A hook is often the three together.
  3. Sort them by structure. A question to the viewer, a bold claim, a "them vs me" contrast, a story that starts mid-scene, a choice to make. The structure is what you reuse.
  4. Write yours in the same structures. Keep the shape, change the subject to your video, and say it the way you speak.
  5. Write three, film one, test the others. Try different hooks on the same idea and keep the one that holds viewers past the opening.

Where Viral Swipe File fits

Viral Swipe File ranks every video by viral factor: its views divided by the account's usual views. A video at x20 did twenty times its creator's normal numbers, whatever the size of the account. Every video's hook is pulled out as text, next to its views and viral factor.

  • Each niche page lists its top hooks, so you can read what opened the most viral videos in your niche in one place.
  • Search by keyword for your topic and read the hooks of the videos that come back.
  • Each hook links to its video, so you can watch the first seconds before you borrow the structure.

Ask your AI agent

Connect Viral Swipe File to Claude, ChatGPT or Grok once (setup: /agents) and your agent searches the library, reads each video's hook and links every video it cites. It's free to connect: 50 agent questions a day on the Free plan. Ask it to read the hooks of a niche's most viral videos and write yours in their structures, so you start from real posts instead of a blank prompt.

Try it with your AI agent

Copy this prompt and fill in the brackets. Not connected yet? Paste the setup prompt into Claude, ChatGPT or another agent first; you sign in with a free account when asked.

Using Viral Swipe File, find the 20 most viral videos in the [niche] niche and read their hooks. Group the hooks by structure, then write ten hooks for my video about [topic] that follow the strongest structures, in a plain spoken voice. Link the video behind each structure.

Free: 50 agent questions a day, hooks and captions included. No card. Setup for each AI agent

Start with these pages

FAQ

How long should a hook be?
Short enough to land in the first seconds. Many of the strongest hooks are one line on screen or one spoken sentence, backed by a visual that makes the viewer want the rest.
Why do my hooks sound like AI?
Usually because they start from a template or a blank prompt. Start from hooks real viewers responded to, keep their structure and write the words the way you speak.
Does Viral Swipe File tag hooks by type?
Not yet. Each video has its hook as text, with its niche, formats, views and viral factor, so you can sort hooks by structure yourself or ask your AI agent to.

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