Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx skills add yaxeen/storytelling-skills --skill email-hooksgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/yaxeen/storytelling-skillsWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/yaxeen/storytelling-skills/email-hooks)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/yaxeen/storytelling-skills/email-hooks"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/yaxeen/storytelling-skills/email-hooks/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/yaxeen/storytelling-skills/email-hooks"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/yaxeen/storytelling-skills/email-hooks.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.00044 | $0.01485 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00022 | $0.00743 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00009 | $0.00297 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00004 | $0.00148 |
Grade A, and why
email-hooks scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 12d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 111 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Email Hooks
- Email has two hooks before any content is read: the subject line (earns the open) and the first line (earns the read).
- The inbox is a feed — the subject competes with dozens of others in a half-second scan.
- Built on the six levers — see storytelling-hooks. Recap: 1. Curiosity gap · 2. Emotional mirror · 3. Conflict engine · 4. Relatability · 5. Pattern + surprise · 6. Three-act.
When to Use
- Writing a subject line, preview text, or email opener.
- Newsletters, broadcasts, sequences, cold/warm outreach, launches.
- Diagnosing low open rate (subject problem) or low click rate (body/CTA problem).
- Any niche or business.
The Inbox Stack (Quick Reference)
| Element | Job | Lever focus |
|---|---|---|
| Subject line | Earn the open | 1, 4, 5 |
| Preview text | Extend the gap (don't repeat subject) | 1, 2 |
| First line | Earn the read, open a loop | 1, 4 |
| Body | Build tension → deliver value | 3, 6 |
| CTA | One action | 1 |
Subject Line Formulas
- Curiosity gap: "The mistake hiding in your [thing]."
- Specificity: "How I [result] with [oddly specific detail]." Concrete > vague.
- Stakes: "Don't [common action] until you read this."
- Pattern break: "Forget [common advice]."
- Question that's 'about me': "Is your [thing] secretly [problem]?"
- Rules:
- Short — front-load the hook word. Visible length varies by client (~35–45 chars on mobile, ~70 on desktop); make the hook land inside the first ~35 characters and keep the whole line under ~50.
- Lowercase/personal tone often outperforms shouty caps.
- One idea; avoid two competing gaps.
- No false promise — the body must pay it off or trust (and deliverability) erodes.
Generation Workflow
- Intake. Confirm: the offer/message, exact audience and list warmth, sender voice, goal (clicks / replies / sales), and email type (value newsletter vs launch/promo). Ask if missing when the user can respond; otherwise state assumptions up front — never invent prices, dates, or claims silently.
- Variants. Write 3–5 subject lines across different formulas, each with its paired preview text. Label the formula. Read patterns.md (same folder) for subject+preview pair structures, opening lines, and CTA lines — adapt, don't copy.
- Select. Recommend one pair and say why (which gap, who it qualifies, char count).
- Write the body per Body Flow, sized ~150–300 words for most emails; longer only when the story earns it.
- Check against the checklist and state the result.
What ships with it
1 file beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 12d ago First seen · 111 lines · 44 tokens per session scan A 62ebbb9ae738
email-hooks is a skill published in the GitHub repository yaxeen/storytelling-skills (9 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 44 tokens to every session and 1,485 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.
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