Workflow 011: The Repurposing Engine

I post 20 to 30 pieces of content a week.

I make one video.

A repurposing engine watches for each new upload, pulls the transcript, generates every platform's version of the content, files them into the content calendar, and emails a person to review. Mine runs on a schedule through n8n, calls Claude for the writing, and lands everything in Notion.

Same time every week, whether I remember or not.

What this replaces

A full working day, every week, spent turning one video into everything else.

My assistant did this by hand for three years. Grab the transcript. Turn it into a blog post. Rewrite for LinkedIn. Rewrite again for the other platforms. Format each one. File them all.

One video, one day of work. Every week.

Now she gets an email saying it's done and ready to review.

Blueprint

Scheduled trigger, transcript in, a week of content out.

Trigger: a scheduled run shortly after my weekly video goes live. Inputs: the new video, its transcript, and the prompt describing each platform's format and voice. Output: every platform's post, filed in the content calendar as drafts, plus a notification to the person reviewing.

The actual sequence:

1. Run on schedule, timed for just after the weekly upload
2. Check the uploads playlist for recent videos
3. Get durations and filter out Shorts, so it only catches the main video
4. Filter by date to confirm it's this week's
5. If a video is found, pull the transcript
6. Build the prompt and call Claude
7. Parse the output per platform
8. Write everything into the content calendar
9. Email the assistant that it's ready for review

Steps 3 and 4 look like housekeeping and they're the difference between working and not. Without the duration filter it grabs Shorts. Without the date filter it can repurpose the wrong week.

Organize

What had to exist before automating anything:

• A consistent publishing rhythm, so the schedule has something to catch
• Real knowledge of what works on each platform, from your own numbers
• A decision about which platforms you're actually on, and why
• A content calendar with a place for each platform's posts
• A documented manual process, ideally one someone has run for a while
• Someone who owns the review

I didn't start by asking what AI could do. I started by looking at our numbers. What was actually working, how often to post, what each platform rewards. LinkedIn, for example, doesn't respond well to several of the same content type in a row, so the plan had to account for that.

There's no point multiplying a content system you aren't happy with.

Systematize

Two halves: the automation that moves things around, and the prompt that does the writing.

For the automation, I described the outcome to Claude and had it design the build:

I want to automate my content repurposing. Here's the outcome:

Every [DAY] at [TIME], shortly after my weekly video goes live:
1. Check my [PLATFORM] uploads for a new video
2. Filter out short-form videos by duration, and confirm the upload date
   is this week's
3. If a video is found, pull the transcript
4. Send the transcript to Claude with my repurposing prompt
5. Parse the output by platform
6. Create the posts in my content calendar at [TOOL]
7. Email [PERSON] that it's ready for review

Design the workflow. Tell me which tools to use, what each will cost, and
which free tiers cover what I need. Then build it.

Ask me for anything you need rather than assuming, especially my
platform list and my calendar structure.

Then the writing prompt inside it:

You are my content repurposing agent. I'll give you the transcript of my
weekly video. Turn it into this week's content.

My voice rules: [YOUR RULES, OR POINT TO YOUR ME SKILL]
My audience: [WHO, PER PLATFORM]

Produce, from this transcript:
- [PLATFORM]: [FORMAT AND LENGTH]
- [PLATFORM]: [FORMAT AND LENGTH]
- [PLATFORM]: [FORMAT AND LENGTH]
- The newsletter or long-form version

Rules:
- Every platform gets its own version, not the same text reformatted.
- Pull the specific stories and numbers from the transcript. Never invent
  examples I didn't say.
- Match the format each platform actually rewards.
- Never repeat the same angle across two platforms in the same week.

Return each piece labeled by platform so it files correctly.

How to set it up

1. Run the process manually first, for long enough to know what good output looks like.
2. Write down what you do, in order, including the filters and the small checks.
3. Describe the outcome to Claude and let it design the build. Check the tool recommendations rather than accepting them.
4. Connect it, run it live for a few weeks with a person watching every output.
5. Only then trust the schedule.

Do I need to know automation tools to build this?

No. I described what I wanted and Claude produced the map, the tool list, and the costs. My job was connecting it and checking the recommendations were sensible. I didn't accept the tool list on faith, and neither should you.

Assign

Automated: watching for the upload, filtering, pulling the transcript, writing every version, filing it into the calendar, and sending the notification.

Human: the review, and the judgment about what the system should produce in the first place.

Nothing publishes on its own. Everything lands in the calendar as drafts and a person reads them before they go out.

This is the second time in this series where the person doing a job built the agent for it. My assistant ran this manually for three years. That's what made the automation possible: she knew every filter, every edge case, every reason a step existed.

And her day didn't disappear. It moved. Instead of spending a full day reformatting, she reviews the output and spends the rest on work that actually brings in clients, and work she enjoys more.

Rule of thumb from this build: automate the process you've already run by hand, never the one you imagine.

The three manual years weren't wasted time before the automation. They were the specification.

Integrate

The engine sits between publishing and review:

• The weekly video is the input, so the whole system depends on one consistent rhythm
• Claude writes using the same voice rules everything else in my stack uses
• Output lands in the content calendar where the team already works
• The notification goes to the person reviewing, so nobody has to check whether it ran
• Anything that misses gets corrected in the prompt, not just in the post

It's been running for about two months. Same time every Thursday, with or without me.

Tomorrow: the relationship logger. Every meeting and every email, landing in one place automatically.