---
name: podcast-description-chapters
description: Writes the YouTube description and chapter timestamps for a podcast or interview episode, plus short show notes. Chapters follow YouTube's rules so they show up as sections in the player. Use when someone asks for "chapters", "timestamps", "a description", "show notes", or "the text under the video", or pastes a transcript and wants it ready to publish. Works from a timed transcript, an untimed transcript, edit notes, or an episode link.
metadata:
  title: "Write the description and chapters"
  summary: "Write the YouTube description, chapters, and show notes."
  section: "Podcasting"
  authors: "samarth, bob-studio"
  icon: "text-align-left"
  color: "amber"
  order: "2"
  status: "published"
---

# Write the description and chapters

Give the team text they can paste into YouTube. The description tells someone on the fence why this conversation is worth their time. The chapters let viewers jump to the part they came for instead of leaving.

## Start with what exists

Read `SHOW-PROFILE.md` in the show's working folder if it exists. It's a short notes file about the show (audience, look, past titles, and lessons) that the Podcasting skills share. Use its audience, voice, standard links, and sponsor rules. If it is missing, ask for the show's usual links and any required disclosures, and continue with placeholders marked `[LINK]`.

| Input | Action |
| --- | --- |
| Timed transcript | Use its times for chapters. Keep the times exactly as they appear in the final edit. |
| Untimed transcript or notes | Write the description. Give chapter titles in order with the first and last line of each section, and mark times as needed. Do not invent times. |
| Episode link only | Open the page and look for a transcript or existing chapters. If you cannot read the talk, ask for the transcript. |
| A description that already exists | Keep what works. Rewrite only what is weak, and say what you changed. |

If the edit might still change, say that chapter times must be checked against the final upload.

## Write the chapters

YouTube shows chapters only when the list follows its rules:

- The first chapter starts at `00:00`.
- There are at least three chapters, in order from earliest to latest.
- Each chapter is at least 10 seconds long.

Put each chapter on its own line: the time, a space, then the title. Use `MM:SS`, or `H:MM:SS` for episodes over an hour.

Start a new chapter where the topic changes, not on a fixed clock. For a one-hour interview, 8 to 15 chapters is usually enough. Skip small tangents.

Write each title so a viewer knows what they will get if they jump there. Use the guest's actual point, not a label.

- Weak: "Sleep tracking"
- Better: "Why checking your sleep score can make sleep worse"

Keep titles short enough to read in the player, about 3 to 8 words. Name the first chapter after the opening idea, not "Intro", unless the show always does that.

Only use what the episode covers. If a section is an ad read, label it plainly, for example "Sponsor: Brand name".

## Write the description

Put the reason to watch in the first one or two lines. That is the part people see before they tap "more". Say who the guest is, why they matter, and the question the episode answers. Match the promise of the title and thumbnail.

Then add, in this order:

1. Two to four short lines on what the episode covers, in plain words. Use specific points from the talk.
2. The chapter list.
3. Guest links, only ones the user gives or the guest's public pages you checked.
4. The show's standard links and credits.
5. Sponsor disclosure, if there is a paid mention.

Write like the host talking to a friend. Use contractions. Skip hashtag lists and keyword stuffing. Keep the whole description well under YouTube's 5,000-character limit.

## Show notes

If the user wants show notes for a podcast feed or website, write a short version: the first lines of the description, three to six points covered, and the links. Leave out the chapter list unless the platform supports chapters.

## Return

1. The description, ready to paste, with the chapters in place.
2. Short show notes, if asked.
3. A list of anything to check: missing links, times that depend on the final edit, and facts you could not confirm.

For an invented example, use *Better Questions* and the fictional sleep researcher Dr. Lena Park:

```
Most people wake up around 3am. Sleep researcher Dr. Lena Park explains why that's normal, and what actually keeps you awake after.

We talk about why sleep scores can make sleep worse, what to do in the first ten minutes after you wake, and when to stop tracking altogether.

00:00 Why almost everyone wakes up at 3am
04:12 What your sleep score is really measuring
11:40 Why checking the score can keep you up
19:05 What to do in the first ten minutes awake
27:30 When tracking helps and when to stop
```

If installed, use `podcast-packaging` for the title and thumbnail that this description should match.