Hook generator for YouTube Shorts

What this tool does

The hook is the first sentence a viewer hears or reads in a Short. This tool gives you a short list to start from, so you are not staring at a blank box after you have already picked the moment to clip.

• Five opening lines built from the topic, the result and the audience you type, in styles such as question, bold claim, mistake and story.
• If you paste a transcript excerpt, it ranks the sentences already in it and puts the best one first, word for word. Opening on a line you really say is the safest hook.
• A text call to action for the end of the clip, plus up to two hashtag ideas.
• A check for a line you wrote yourself: word count, spoken length, filler openers and the YouTube title limit.

Everything happens in the page. Nothing is uploaded, no request is sent while you type, and nothing is saved when you close the tab.

How to use it

1. Type the topic of the clip as a short noun phrase, for example podcast editing.
2. Add a result only if the clip really shows one. Write it as a short phrase, for example edit time cut from 6 hours to 2. Leave it empty and the result-first style is skipped.
3. Add the audience if you want a line that speaks to them directly.
4. Paste the transcript of the clip if you have it. Timestamps and speaker names are ignored.
5. Press Show different lines until one sounds like you. Change the wording to match how you talk.
6. Read the line against the clip. If the clip does not deliver what the line says, drop the line.

Pick the moment first. If you are still choosing what to cut from a long recording, the first 3 seconds guide and the guide to hooks for YouTube Shorts cover that step.

The limits it applies, and whose they are

Some limits below come from YouTube's own pages and some are KeyMo's rules of thumb. The tool labels each one, and so does this table.

Worked examples

Example 1. Topic: podcast editing. Result: edit time cut from 6 hours to 2. Audience: podcast hosts. With the default settings the tool returns these five lines, and warns that the result-first line is 13 words, over KeyMo's 12-word rule of thumb.

Example 2. You paste a transcript that starts with a greeting. The sentence "So, welcome back everyone." scores -3 and is left out. "We grew from 400 to 10,000 subscribers in 90 days." scores 4 because it is short and has numbers. "The biggest mistake was changing the topic every video." also scores 4. "I think it was kind of random." scores 0 because of the hedge. The tool puts the first of the 4s at the top, unchanged.

Example 3. You type "So, hey guys, today I want to talk about how I edit my podcast clips every single week". The check reports 18 words, about 7.2 seconds spoken, and two warnings: too long, and it starts with a filler opener. Cutting it to "How I edit a week of podcast clips" clears both.

What it cannot do

• It does not use AI or a language model. It fills templates, so a line can read a little stiff. Edit it.
• It cannot tell whether a line is true for your clip. YouTube's spam policy covers titles and descriptions that mislead people about what a video contains, so a hook that promises more than the clip gives is a risk to the channel, not only to retention.
• It does not predict views. YouTube says its recommendation system looks for videos that suit each viewer and weighs how viewers respond, so no opening line can promise a result.
• It cannot see your video. Use YouTube's own Get feedback button in the app, which analyses hook and pacing, once the video is uploaded.

Where KeyMo fits

KeyMo does not write hooks, and this tool is not part of a KeyMo plan. KeyMo cuts clips from long videos. It scores each clip out of 10 with a one-line reason, keeps only clips that score 7 or higher, and exports vertical 9:16 clips at 1080x1920 with captions you can style. Use KeyMo to find and cut the moments, then use this page to word the first line. See pricing for plans.

If you want to understand the idea first, read what a hook and a cold open are.