Subject Line and Preview Text Writer: Free Claude Skill

How it works

Inventory the issueClaude lists every item, marks the lead and puts any tragedy off limits.
Pull the specificsOnly names, numbers and details that appear in the issue can be used.
Draft twelve or moreCandidates span at least four hook types, from curiosity gap to local stake.
Run the self-checkEvery candidate is checked for length, emoji, banned words and the tragedy rule, and any fail is discarded.
Rank and pairSurvivors are ranked by specificity and loop strength, then paired with preview text naming three other items.

Have this ready

The finished issue text
Your covered towns
Any tragedy or crime items to keep out
Your last 5 subject lines
Your platform's preview text limit

What you get back

An issue inventory with the lead marked
A self-check table for every candidate
Discard reasons
Top 3 subject and preview pairs
One recommendation plus an A/B test

A taste of the output

From the worked exampleMade-up town, for illustration

ISSUE INVENTORY
Lead: Kettle Creek mill becoming an $8M food hall
Off limits: memorial 5K (tragedy rule)

TOP 3
1. 🏭 Kettle Creek's old mill becomes an $8M food hall (50 chars)
   Preview: Plus: Sunday library hours, a robotics team headed to state and the Halloween Parade route (90 chars)
   Hook: number or detail.

2. 📚 Your library is about to start opening on Sundays (51 chars)
   Preview: Plus: an $8M food hall in the old mill, a dumpling spot worth the drive and the parade route (92 chars)
   Hook: local stake.

3. 🏭 What's going into the old Kettle Creek mill? (46 chars)
   Hook: curiosity gap.

RECOMMENDATION
Send #1. A/B test against #2.

(Towns and businesses are made up for illustration.)

What's in the download

subject-line-preview-workshop/SKILL.mdThe playbook Claude reads

subject-line-preview-workshop/examples/worked-example.mdA full sample run

subject-line-preview-workshop/references/quality-checks.mdPass or fail checks

subject-line-preview-workshop/templates/operator-worksheet.mdFill-in worksheet

New to skills? Here is how to add one to Claude in about three minutes.

Rather have it done for you?

Turns a week of local news into one edited issue.

lightbreak writes the subject line and preview text with every issue it builds, using these same rules.

See lightbreak

Questions

Why always one emoji at the front?

It gives the eye an anchor in a crowded inbox and signals the topic before a word is read. One is the rule; two starts to look like spam.

Isn't a curiosity gap just clickbait?

Not when the email closes the loop with a real, specific answer. Every detail must be in the issue, and hype words, exclamation points and tragedy teasers are banned outright.

Can I use this before the issue is finished?

You can draft from a summary, but Claude will flag every detail for checking. The best subject lines come from the finished issue, because the subject has to match what readers find inside.