How I Use Claude Code to Make INSANE Instagram Carousels
A step-by-step demo of turning a Pinterest screenshot into a branded, reusable carousel system using a design system MD file, Higgsfield MCP, and a slash-command skill.
Posted
3 months ago
Duration
Format
Tutorial
educational
Views
55.2K
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57 · 43
Big Idea
The argument in one line.
Generic AI carousels come from generic prompts -- giving Claude a design system converted from a real visual reference is the single change that makes every output look intentional and on-brand.
Who This Is For
Read if. Skip if.
READ IF YOU ARE…
You are posting AI-generated carousels on Instagram and they all look like each other and nothing like your brand.
You use Claude regularly and want to stop re-explaining your aesthetic every session.
You want a repeatable content workflow where one slash-command produces a full carousel from a topic.
You are comfortable with Claude chat and ready to take one step into Claude Code.
SKIP IF…
You already have a polished design system and a mature image-generation workflow.
You are not creating social content and have no interest in Instagram carousels.
TL;DR
The full version, fast.
The problem with AI carousels is that everyone uses the same vague prompts and gets the same generic output. The fix is a design system -- a color palette, type hierarchy, and layout rules extracted from a real visual reference -- stored as a markdown file that Claude can read. One screenshot of a Pinterest design you like, one prompt to Claude chat, and you have a design system. Connect Higgsfield via MCP for image generation, drop your design system MD into the project folder, and Claude Code will translate it into precise image prompts automatically. Encode the full workflow as a Claude Code skill and you reduce carousel creation to a single slash command plus a topic.
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Hook stating that AI carousels are generic because prompts are generic. Before/after teaser.
00:30 – 01:20
02 · Why they look the same + the fix
Claude needs references, not vague prompts. The solution is a design system from a real reference.
01:20 – 02:19
03 · Find design references on Pinterest
Search graphic design on Pinterest, find a style you want to clone.
02:19 – 03:24
04 · Build a design system with one prompt
Screenshot the reference, drop into Claude chat with the prompt: turn this into a design system in an HTML file and a design MD file.
03:24 – 04:40
05 · Design system + MD file walkthrough
Claude generates HTML design system and MD file. Explains what a design MD file is. Download all.
04:40 – 04:53
06 · Extend beyond carousels + Claude Code setup
Design system reusable for landing pages, emails. Switch to Claude Code, open project folder.
04:53 – 06:26
07 · Connect Higgsfield MCP
Go to higgsfield.ai/mcp, add as custom connector in Claude Code settings, sign in, set always-allow.
06:26 – 07:38
08 · Test the design system with Higgsfield
Unzip design system into project folder. Prompt Claude Code to generate an image from the design system. Claude reads the MD file and writes the image prompt automatically.
07:38 – 08:13
09 · Viral carousel structure framework
Hook, Pain, Steps, Result, CTA -- five-slide structure that converts.
08:13 – 10:19
10 · Create and run the Aurora Carousel Skill
Paste skill-creation prompt into Claude Code. Skill saved as /aurora. Restart Claude, invoke with /aurora + topic. Skill asks onboarding questions first run, bakes answers in.
10:19 – 10:55
11 · Full carousel output + schedule with Blotato
Complete carousel generated: all slides, caption, LinkedIn post. Blotato for scheduling.
10:55 – 11:11
12 · Outro + CTA
Final community push at $9. Subscribe CTA.
Atomic Insights
Lines worth screenshotting.
The reason AI carousels all look the same is that everyone uses the same prompt -- not because AI cannot produce variety.
One screenshot from Pinterest plus a single prompt to Claude chat is the entire first step toward a branded design system.
A design MD file converts visual decisions into language Claude can read -- color values, type hierarchy, spacing rules, component behavior.
Once a design system exists, it works for more than carousels -- landing pages, emails, and newsletters can all pull from the same file.
Claude Code reads files in the open project folder by default; putting your design MD there requires zero extra setup.
MCPs let Claude Code call Higgsfield directly -- you describe what you want in plain English and Claude writes the actual image prompt itself.
The carousel structure that works: Hook, Pain, Steps, Result, CTA -- five slides, one purpose each.
A Claude Code skill is just a written-down set of steps; once saved, a slash command runs the full workflow on any topic without re-explaining anything.
Skills can ask onboarding questions the first time and bake the answers in so they never ask again.
Blotato connects the output directly to a scheduling queue -- caption, LinkedIn post, and Instagram slot are all generated with the carousel.
The host positions the community as the actual product; the tutorial is the proof-of-concept that earns the click.
Takeaway
One file that makes every Claude output consistent.
WHAT TO LEARN
Giving Claude a design system in plain text -- not a vague style description -- is what separates outputs that look intentional from outputs that look generated.
A design system does not have to be hand-crafted. One screenshot of something you like and one prompt to Claude chat produces a complete color palette, type hierarchy, and layout rules in minutes.
The markdown version of a design system is the file that actually matters for consistency. Claude reads it at the start of every session and applies the same rules without being re-briefed.
MCPs eliminate the copy-paste step. When Claude Code connects to an image generator directly, it writes the image prompt itself based on your design system -- you describe the subject, Claude handles the translation.
Skills turn a multi-step process into a single invocation. Any workflow you repeat more than twice is worth encoding as a slash command so the steps never drift and the output never varies.
The carousel structure that earns follows is sequential: hook the viewer, name their pain, show the steps, prove the result, then ask for an action. Each slide has one job and no more.
Onboarding questions on first run are a feature, not friction. Baking the answers into a skill means the tool knows your audience, your offer, and your voice without you repeating it.
Glossary
Terms worth knowing.
Design system
A documented set of visual rules -- colors, type scales, spacing, component behavior -- that enforces consistency across every piece of output. Here it is generated by Claude from a single screenshot.
Design MD file
A markdown version of a design system written in language Claude can parse. It is the actual input you give Claude Code so it applies the right style without being re-briefed each session.
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
A standard that lets Claude Code talk directly to external services like Higgsfield. Once connected, Claude can call the service as a tool and pass structured prompts without the user visiting the external site.
Higgsfield
An AI image and video generation platform with an MCP connector that lets Claude Code generate on-brand visuals by sending it a prompt automatically derived from your design system.
Skill (Claude Code)
A saved set of step-by-step instructions stored in your Claude Code project. Invoked with a slash command, it runs the same workflow every time on whatever input you provide.
Blotato
A third-party scheduling service that can auto-post generated carousels and captions to Instagram and LinkedIn on a set schedule.
“Claude works so much better when you have references.”
Universal principle in one tight sentence, zero setup needed→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
02:49
“Turn this into a design system in an HTML file and a design MD file. That is it.”
The entire method in one prompt→ TikTok hook↗ Tweet quote
07:17
“I could not write this prompt if I tried.”
Genuine reaction moment about AI writing its own prompt→ newsletter pull-quote↗ Tweet quote
08:18
“A skill is just: you write down the steps for Claude to follow, it goes ahead and follows them so you get the same result every single time.”
Plain-English definition of a concept most people overcomplicate→ IG reel cold open↗ Tweet quote
The Script
Word for word.
Read-along
Don't just watch it. Burn it in.
See every word as it's spoken — crank it to 2× and still catch all of it. The same dual-channel trick behind Amazon's Kindle + Audible.
17px
metaphoranalogy
It has never been easier to generate viral Instagram carousels using quad code, but the problem is they all look the same. So in this video, I'm gonna show you exactly how to go from carousels that look like this to beautiful custom carousels that look like this all in a couple of minutes. And if we haven't met yet, my name is Duncan Rogoff.
I'm a former art director for brands like Apple, PlayStation, and Nissan, and I now run a 6 figure AI agency. If you wanna get access to anything we build today along with tons of done for you prompts and skills for Cloud Code, just check the link in the description. So the reason that most carousels all look the same is because people are coming into Claude and they're saying something like make me a cool Instagram carousel.
But Claude works so much better when you have references. But there is a very specific way to do this and all it takes is one single prompt. So in order to get started, like just come over to Pinterest, I typed in graphic design and you can just start scrolling.
You can start to see what you like and you can see based off my carousels, I really like some of these that came up and so that's what I used to create my carousels from. What works for me may not work for you. Just go ahead and find something you like.
So since I was going with that cool retro style, I thought for this, it'd be cool to go with something a little bit more modern, kinda like this fuzzy gradient world that we got going on here. So it is really easy to recreate this style now. And all you need is what's known as a design system and a design MD file.
And I will break down exactly what those are. So the first thing that you're going to do is you just need to take a screenshot of this. I'm going to pop over into Claude.
Now I'm just going to be using basic Claude chat and I'm gonna drop in this screenshot here. I'm using the desktop app and I'm just in the chat over here, co work and not even code, just in the basic chat. And all you need is a single prompt.
And this is the prompt. Turn this into a design system in an HTML file and a design MD file. That's it.
So I'm going to copy this. I'm just gonna come back over here and I'm gonna paste this in. So this is going to get to work.
Now what is a design system and what is a design MD file? A design system is basically everything that makes up your design. It is all of the colors.
It is all of the type. It is how things are laid out. What is the spacing between elements?
It is what do the components look like? Are they buttons? How do you treat your images and things like that?
For the system that I created for my carousels, this is what the design system looks like. It's pretty incredible, and Claude did this in a couple of minutes. It breaks out all of the rules of the system.
It creates an entire color palette for me. It creates an entire text hierarchy. It creates all of the composition and all of the layout.
So how are these going to look inside of your carousel? And it just goes on and on with all of these references and things like that. It's pretty incredible.
And so this is great as a designer or someone visual to be able to look at this and understand what exactly is going on. But what Claude actually needs is something that is called the design MD file. And before you tune out, like I'm not gonna read through all this, but this is essentially this visual system turned into language that Claude understands.
And so a design MD file basically just decodes what are the main decisions that go into making this design and then puts it together in that format that we saw to basically talk about the colors and the type and the spacing again to create consistent outputs in a way that Claude can understand. So check this out. Literally from this single prompt, I created this entire design system.
It creates all of the laws or the rules. It creates all of the color palettes, both the darks and the lights. It goes ahead and actually creates these backgrounds, these beautiful gradient backgrounds for us, all of the typography and all of the different pieces that we might need for this design system.
And then of course, it goes ahead and also creates that MD file which looks like this here, which again is what you actually give to Claude to teach it what you wanna do. So all you have to do is click download all and we can start building out our carousels. And if you're like me and you start thinking ahead, once you have established this design system, you don't just have to use it for your carousels.
If you go and you look at this little website that I built for this video today, you can see it follows the same design system. So if you're building a landing page or you're building emails or a newsletter or whatever, you can use that same design system to basically establish your brand. And so what I'm gonna do now is I'm gonna come back into the Claude desktop app and I'm just gonna switch over to code so we can actually start coding.
Give me two seconds. If you're just getting started with Claude code and you wanna learn how to build real things and turn your skills into income, just check the link in the description. You can get started today for only $9.
All you have to do is down here, just make sure that you're inside of a folder somewhere on your computer. Just go ahead, click open folder. You can put a folder on your desktop and we can just go ahead and name this like YouTube carousel.
It really doesn't matter, but just so you have everything all in one place and click open and you are ready to start building. If you've never used Claude code before, this is the time to not be scared like it's really just like talking to chat, but instead this can actually do things for you. And so in order to build out our beautiful carousel graphics, we're going to be using a site called Higgs field.
This generates all of your images, all of your videos, literally connect to this once and you can pretty much build anything for your brand. You can see everything here is absolutely beautiful.
But what's cool about Quad is we no longer have to do this like manually inside of the website itself. What we're gonna be using is something known as the Higgs Field MCP, and MCP stands for model context protocol. It's basically just a way for Claude code to talk to Higgs Field to generate all of your images, and it's really easy to install.
All you have to do is come over to higgsfield.ai/mcp, and then you're gonna open the Quad settings, and you're just going to add a custom connector. So I'm going to copy this.
And if we come back into Quad, all we have to do is click the plus at the bottom. It's probably behind my head, but just come into connectors and then click the little gear for manage connectors. And you can see this is where you integrate with basically all of the other platforms that you use, like all of the Google platforms or Notion or Slack or whatever.
In order to connect to Higgs Field, click the plus up here, come to add custom connector, and we can just name this Higgs Field. And then we want to just paste in that code or this link that we got from Higgs field itself and all we have to do is click add. You can see we are not connected to Higgs field.
All we have to do is sign in with our account. Once we're here, I'm just gonna click allow. This takes a couple of seconds and it says I am now connected to Higgs field.
Awesome. And we can see now that I have this connector in my list over here, this is everything that it's allowed to do. Generate all of the images, generate all of the videos and so on and so on.
And what we can do if we want, we can just go ahead and say always allow so we don't need human approval for Higgs field to go ahead and do things. And so now QuadCode can basically do anything that Higgs field can do. And just to show that this works, can just click the plus again, come into connectors, and you can see that we have Higgs field right here, all toggled on, and we're good to go.
And so what I'm gonna do now is I'm just gonna open up this YT carousel folder that we created. I'm gonna unzip the gradient design system that we created and I'm just gonna go ahead and rename this design system.
And so now because we are inside of the folder inside of Qualit, it can read this design system. And let's just test it out. I want you to use the Higgs field connector and generate an image about AI and robotics based off of the design system that is inside of the yt carousel folder.
And so what's cool is we can actually see Quad working here. So it basically went ahead and looked at the files inside the folder. It found our design system markdown file and it's just gonna go ahead and read that and then send everything off to Higgs field to generate an image for us.
Now we can see that it translated our design system into an image prompt for Higgs field. We want a cinematic editorial photograph of a humanoid robot torso and face emerging from deep near black void darkness whipped by volumetric atmosphere.
Again, I couldn't write this prompt if I tried. So I'm just gonna say allow always and it should generate an image for us. So it went ahead and said the image is generated and complete and all you have to do is click show image and then open this link and now we can see this image here that it generated with very minimal instruction from me all in our style.
You can see there's no text on this yet, but that's what we're about to fix next. There are a bunch of different schools of thought on what makes a good or a viral Instagram carousel. You can find information all over the place.
I have found that this structure tends to work for me, but there's a million ways to do this. One, you wanna make sure the cover leads with a hook. You want to, two, address the pain.
So what pain is your audience experiencing? Name it directly. You wanna list out these steps to solve that problem.
So like a numbered list, like do step one, two, and three. Share the result at the end of implementing these steps and then have some sort of CTA. A lot of people will have a CTA to like join this or get this offer or comment this word and I'll send you a thing.
You've seen it all the time. Now what we wanna do is not only turn this style into an Instagram carousel, but we want to turn this into what's known as a skill, which is a repeatable set of instructions so Quad can run this skill every single time to generate carousels in our style on any topic that we choose. If you are unfamiliar with what a skill is, don't overthink it.
All it is is you write down the steps for Quad to follow, it goes ahead and follows them so you get the same result every single time. So I've created a prompt that will do this all for you. This is going to create a Claude code skill to generate a Instagram carousel using your design system starting with the hook, the pain points, all the steps to follow, and the CTA.
I'll leave a link in the description where you can access it for only $9 along with the exact systems that we use to grow income, build websites, apps, and your content. So I'm just going to copy this prompt here and I'm gonna come back into Claude and I'm going to paste this in. So we can see here that in a couple of minutes, our skill is done.
It is live, the Aurora carousel skill. So all we need to do is give it a topic and it's going to create the carousel for us. In order to access a new skill, you either need to restart Claude or just be in a new session.
So I'm just gonna restart Cloud real quick, and then I'll come back. So now that I've restarted and I'm back in Cloud, I can use the same chat. I'm just gonna type slash and Aurora, and it's probably behind my head, but we can see here that I have the Aurora carousel skill.
And so now all we have to do is give it a topic. So inside the community, I just have this lesson about how to bring your memory over to Quad if you've been using this somewhere else. So I'm just gonna copy this lesson, I'm just gonna give it all as context to QuadCode for the Carousel and I'm just gonna paste this in and see what we get.
And so you can see here that this is asking me a couple of questions like who is this carousel targeting? So who is my audience? What is my actual offer?
And kind of like what is the voice that I want to use? And so what's cool about this is that it's asking me these questions. I can fill this in now and I can say, hey, update our skill with this information.
So now moving forward, anytime we use the skill, it's not gonna have to ask me these questions again. And so I just answered these questions pretty basically. I just said it's for non founders who are new to Claude.
The CTA is gonna lead to the Claude Code Club. And for the tone of voice, literally just said use your best judgment. So check this out.
In just a couple of minutes, we have generated all of the slides for us, all of the steps, the hook, the CTA at the end. Right? So this is super cool all in our brand design system.
If you wanna go ahead and make changes to this, you have all of these structure already set up for you, and you can just say, hey, Claude. Update my scale to maybe we wanna move the text a little bit higher up. Right?
Like, no big deal. And what's cool is this went ahead and it generated an Instagram caption for you and a LinkedIn post. So you can just copy and paste this over to LinkedIn, or you could use a third party service like Bloatato to schedule this all out for you automatically.
So now all you have to do to create a carousel is come into Claude, type in Aurora carousel, give it a topic to research or write on, and it's gonna go ahead and do everything for you. If you wanna keep learning how to build your personal brand with Clogd Code, just check out this video right here.
If you wanna learn how to use Clogd to grow your income, grab the link in the description. It's only $9 to get started. I'll see you inside.
The Hook
The bait, then the rug-pull.
Generic AI carousels have a tell: they look like every other generic AI carousel. Duncan Rogoff, a former art director for Apple and PlayStation who now runs an AI agency, opens by naming the problem before the title card fades -- and then spends eleven minutes solving it with one screenshot, one markdown file, and a slash command.
Frameworks
Named ideas worth stealing.
07:38list
Hook, Pain, Steps, Result, Join
Hook (cover slide, grab attention)
Pain (name the problem directly)
Steps (numbered list, what to do)
Result (specific outcome from following the steps)
Join/CTA (comment keyword, join offer, etc.)
Five-slide carousel structure. Each slide has one job.
Steal forany content marketing carousel or lead-gen slide deck
01:25model
Design System pipeline
Screenshot a visual reference, one Claude chat prompt, Claude outputs HTML design system plus MD file, give the MD to Claude Code, get consistent branded outputs every session.
Steal forany brand consistency workflow using Claude for content or design
CTA Breakdown
How they asked for the click.
VERBAL ASK
04:01product
“If you wanna get access to anything we build today along with tons of done for you prompts and skills for Claude Code, just check the link in the description. You can get started today for only $9.”
Pitched twice at natural transition points. Before/After GUESSING vs BUILDING visual shown on screen during second pitch. Low price point removes friction.
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