Course and Content Playbooks

This repository stores reusable launch playbooks, course messaging, outreach lists, copy banks, proof libraries, and social post research for DataTalks.Club courses.

Use it when preparing a new live cohort, refreshing course pages, writing newsletter, Slack, Telegram, YouTube, website, or GitHub copy, planning a launch campaign, or mining previous social posts for reusable patterns.

Start Here

For a new cohort:

1. Create or open a folder under campaigns/, for example campaigns/ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp-2026/.
2. Copy the root process templates into campaigns/<course>-<year>/processes/ if they are not already there.
3. Fill 00-cohort-brief.md with the course, dates, registration target, campaign intensity, channels, events, and owners.
4. Use 01-launch-checklist.md to track asset updates, events, promotion tasks, and outreach.
5. Use 02-course-launch-social-system.md to choose campaign phases, post types, cadence, CTAs, and channel adaptations.
6. Fill 02-campaign-calendar.csv with the planned announcement schedule. Replace placeholders such as {{ course_name }}, {{ course_topic }}, and registration links with cohort-specific values.
7. Adapt the relevant course folder's course.yaml, copy-bank/, and proof-library/ assets into the campaign folder when the campaign needs cohort-specific versions.
8. Use typefully/ when you need examples of past course-promotion posts or a taxonomy for social post ideas.
9. After the cohort, complete 03-retrospective.md so next year's launch has numbers, reusable proof, and lessons learned.

Repository Map

Path	Purpose
00-cohort-brief.md	Planning template for cohort basics, registration gap, channel decisions, event decisions, owners, and approval.
01-launch-checklist.md	Execution checklist for asset updates, events, promotion, and outreach.
02-course-launch-social-system.md	Main social launch system: campaign phases, post types, cadence, channel adaptation, metrics, and reusable strategy.
02-campaign-calendar.csv	Campaign calendar skeleton with relative timing, phase, platform, post type, CTA, needed assets, and status.
03-retrospective.md	Post-cohort retrospective template for final numbers, best channels, best posts, repeated questions, and next-year improvements.
influencer-list.csv	Outreach list for practitioners, influencers, communities, and potential amplifiers.
podcast-list.csv	Podcast and guest-appearance outreach list.
scripts/download_typefully_posts.py	Typefully exporter for collecting and filtering course-related social posts.
typefully/	Curated Typefully examples, export manifest, and social post taxonomy.
campaigns/	Cohort-specific campaign workspaces copied from reusable playbooks and course assets.
skills/	Local Codex skills and scripts used for social content, carousels, transcript mining, and video clipping workflows.
*-zoomcamp/	Course-specific metadata, copy banks, proof libraries, and optional course assets.

Course Folders

Each course folder keeps durable course facts and reusable launch assets close together.

Current course folders:

• ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp/
• de-zoomcamp/
• llm-zoomcamp/
• ml-zoomcamp/
• mlops-zoomcamp/

Common structure:

Path	Purpose
course.yaml	Structured source of truth for course metadata: URLs, cadence, delivery, prerequisites, audience, topics, tools, certificate rules, CTAs, and logistics.
copy-bank/faq.md	Reusable FAQ copy and objection-handling snippets.
copy-bank/email/	Email copy and reusable newsletter/module-email templates.
copy-bank/events/	Event descriptions such as course launch sessions and pre-course live Q&A sessions.
copy-bank/website/	Website banner, landing page, and page-copy blocks where available.
copy-bank/github/	GitHub README update blocks where available.
copy-bank/youtube/	YouTube descriptions and pinned comment blocks where available.
copy-bank/telegram/	Telegram pinned posts and module announcement templates.
copy-bank/slack/	Slack-specific support nudges, discussion prompts, and moderator replies where available.
copy-bank/social-media/	Reserved for course-specific social examples, exports, or drafts.
course-assets/	Reserved for course-specific assets that support copy, pages, or campaigns.
proof-library/testimonials.md	Learner quotes and testimonials.
proof-library/previous-cohorts-stats.md	Registration, completion, certificate, GitHub, or cohort metrics.
proof-library/student-projects.md	Student project examples and portfolio proof.

ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp/ is currently the most complete folder. In addition to the shared structure, it has:

• positioning.md: positioning, audience fit, differentiation, claims to use, and claims to avoid.
• audience.md: learner segments and messaging angles.
• curriculum-and-outcomes.md: curriculum framing and learner outcomes.
• faq-and-objections.md: common objections and answer angles.
• copy-bank/README.md: channel map and positioning guardrails.
• Fully drafted email, Telegram, and Slack support sequences.
• Owned-channel blocks for website banners, landing pages, GitHub README updates, and YouTube descriptions or pinned comments.

Use ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp/ as the reference implementation when deepening the copy banks for the other courses.

Campaign Folders

campaigns/ stores campaign-specific copies of reusable assets. Use it for work tied to a particular course cohort, year, registration target, and launch calendar.

Current campaign workspace:

• campaigns/ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp-2026/

Typical structure:

Path	Purpose
campaigns/<course>-<year>/course.yaml	Cohort-specific course metadata and links.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/positioning.md	Campaign-specific positioning, claims, and exclusions.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/audience.md	Audience segments and messaging angles for this cohort.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/curriculum-and-outcomes.md	Curriculum and outcome framing for campaign copy.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/faq-and-objections.md	Cohort-specific FAQ and objection handling.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/processes/	Cohort brief, checklist, campaign calendar, social system, and retrospective.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/copy-bank/	Cohort-specific channel copy.
campaigns/<course>-<year>/proof-library/	Metrics, testimonials, and project proof used by this campaign.

Keep reusable assets in the course folder. Put cohort-specific edits, dates, URLs, and final campaign decisions in campaigns/.

Main Processes

Plan a Cohort Launch

Start from campaigns/<course>-<year>/processes/00-cohort-brief.md. If the campaign folder does not exist yet, create it from the root process templates and the relevant course folder.

The most important decision is whether this is a normal launch or an extra-push launch. Extra-push launches add channels such as alumni outreach, influencer outreach, partner posts, external newsletters, communities, podcasts, short clips, SEO, or paid distribution.

Once the brief is complete, use 01-launch-checklist.md to track execution. The checklist intentionally separates asset updates, events, promotion, and outreach so owners can work in parallel.

Build the Campaign Calendar

Use 02-course-launch-social-system.md first to pick the launch shape. Then fill 02-campaign-calendar.csv in the campaign's processes/ folder.

The calendar columns are:

• Date, Relative week, Relative date: timing.
• Phase: campaign phase such as foundation, awareness, consideration, launch, or urgency.
• Platform: channel or channel group.
• Post type: reusable social pattern.
• Typefully examples: example IDs from the Typefully research.
• Working title / angle: draft idea.
• Audience, Primary CTA, Assets needed: targeting and inputs.
• Why this belongs in this phase: strategy note.
• Status: planning state.

Keep the calendar as the coordination artifact. Drafts can live elsewhere, but every planned campaign item should have a row.

Update Course Copy

Use course.yaml as the structured source of truth before editing prose. Pull durable facts from it: URLs, start dates, duration, prerequisites, tools, module names, certificate rules, submission platform, Slack/Telegram links, and CTAs.

If a campaign has its own campaigns/<course>-<year>/course.yaml, use that for cohort-specific dates and URLs. Use the reusable course folder for durable copy patterns.

Use copy-bank/ for reusable copy:

• Put event descriptions in copy-bank/events/.
• Put newsletter and module email copy in copy-bank/email/.
• Put Telegram announcements in copy-bank/telegram/.
• Put Slack support prompts in copy-bank/slack/.
• Put website and landing page blocks in copy-bank/website/.
• Put GitHub README snippets in copy-bank/github/.
• Put YouTube descriptions and pinned comments in copy-bank/youtube/.
• Put course FAQ and objection-handling copy in copy-bank/faq.md.

Use placeholders such as {{ cohort_year }}, {{ registration_url }}, {{ module_number }}, and {{ module_title }} for values that change by cohort.

Use Proof Responsibly

Use proof-library/ before making performance claims. Proof should come from:

• previous-cohorts-stats.md for numbers.
• testimonials.md for learner quotes.
• student-projects.md for concrete learner output.

Prefer grounded claims over hype. If a claim needs a number or example, put the source in the proof library first.

Close the Loop

After the cohort, fill in the campaign's 03-retrospective.md with final numbers, best-performing channels, best posts, best proof assets, repeated learner questions, and changes for next year. This is the input for the next launch brief.

Typefully Research

The typefully/ folder stores Alexey social post research for posts that mention terms such as zoomcamp or free course.

Important files:

Path	Purpose
typefully/README.md	Detailed export instructions.
typefully/manifest.json	Latest export summary and file pointers.
typefully/typefully-examples.json	Curated normalized examples from the export.
typefully/typefully-examples.csv	Spreadsheet-friendly version of the examples.
typefully/typefully-examples.md	Human-readable post digest.
typefully/post-type-taxonomy.md	Human-readable taxonomy for reusable course social post types.
typefully/post-type-taxonomy.json	Machine-readable taxonomy.
typefully/post-type-taxonomy-analysis.md	Notes and analysis behind the taxonomy.

Run the exporter from the repo root. Use --output-dir typefully when refreshing the central research snapshot:

TYPEFULLY_API_KEY=... python3 scripts/download_typefully_posts.py \
  --social-set-name-match alexey \
  --limit 50 \
  --hydrate-details \
  --output-dir typefully

The script can also write to its default course-specific path under ai-dev-tools-zoomcamp/copy-bank/social-media/typefully/. It writes raw API responses, filtered JSON, filtered CSV, filtered Markdown, and an updated manifest.

Do not commit or store Typefully API keys in this repository.

Outreach Lists

Use influencer-list.csv and podcast-list.csv when the cohort brief selects extra outreach.

Typical workflow:

1. Filter for the course topic and audience fit.
2. Decide the outreach angle from course.yaml, positioning.md, or the copy bank.
3. Track planned outreach separately or add campaign moments to 02-campaign-calendar.csv.
4. Record reusable outcomes or proof in the relevant course folder.

Local Skills

The skills/ folder contains local Codex skills and helper scripts used by this workspace:

• skills/social-content-studio/: structured social post creation and export workflows.
• skills/alexey-carousel-generator/: social carousel and resource-image rendering workflows.
• skills/transcript-post-miner/: transcript analysis for post ideas and clip recommendations.
• skills/video-clip-cutter/: ffmpeg-based clip cutting from timestamp manifests.
• skills/.system/: system skills copied into this workspace.

These are supporting automation assets, not course copy. Edit them only when updating the automation workflow itself.

File Conventions

• Keep durable course facts in course.yaml.
• Keep reusable launch copy in copy-bank/.
• Keep proof points in proof-library/.
• Keep reusable planning templates in the root playbook files.
• Keep campaign execution in campaigns/<course>-<year>/.
• Use placeholders for cohort-specific values.
• Avoid secrets in the repository, especially API keys.
• Preserve source links for stats, testimonials, and examples whenever possible.
• Prefer concrete learner outcomes, project examples, dates, and logistics over vague promotional language.