ChatGPT Carousel Prompt: Copy, Paste, Get the Slides
The ChatGPT carousel prompt that works is short: “Write an 8-slide Instagram carousel about [topic] for [reader]. Slide 1 is a hook under 12 words. Slides 2 to 7 hold one idea each, a short title and at most 2 sentences. Slide 8 is one ask and my handle. Use only facts I give you.” It names the topic, the reader, the slide count, a length limit per slide and a fixed shape. The full version below adds a goal and the material, and you can paste it as is. The catch comes after: ChatGPT returns text, and someone still has to turn it into images. At the end of this post is the way to skip that step, by connecting Karou so ChatGPT hands you finished slides and a PDF in the same chat.
What is a ChatGPT carousel prompt that works?
Copy this, fill in the brackets, paste it into ChatGPT:
Write an Instagram carousel about [topic] for [who reads it].
Goal: [save / share / comment / click the link in bio].
Rules:
- [8] slides.
- Slide 1 is the hook: under 12 words, a specific claim or a question
only the right reader says yes to. No "In this post".
- Slides 2 to [7]: one idea each. A short title (under 10 words)
and at most 2 sentences under it.
- One slide may be a list of 3 to 5 items, or one number with a label.
- Slide [8] closes: one ask and my handle [@handle].
- Use only facts I give you. If you need a number you don't have,
write [number] instead of inventing one.
- Plain words. No emoji, no hashtags on the slides.
Material: [paste your post, notes, thread or newsletter]
Swap “Instagram” for “LinkedIn” and the goal for “comment” when it is a LinkedIn document post. The rest holds.
Why do most ChatGPT carousel prompts fail?
Ask “make me a carousel about pricing” and you get ten slides of paragraphs. That is not a model problem, it is a missing brief. Five rules in the prompt above do most of the work:
| Rule | What it fixes |
|---|---|
| Hook under 12 words | Slide 1 decides the swipe. Long hooks read as a caption, not a headline. 40 hook ideas |
| One idea, 2 sentences max | Text that does not fit gets shrunk, and small text does not get read. How much text fits |
| A fixed slide count | Without it you get 15 slides of filler or 4 that end too early. How many slides |
| “[number] instead of inventing” | Models fill gaps with plausible numbers. A bracket you can fill beats a stat you cannot back. |
| One ask on the last slide | Two calls to action split the click. The last slide |
What does the prompt not solve?
Here is the usual afternoon. ChatGPT writes eight clean slides in thirty seconds. You open a design editor, pick a template, paste slide 1, fix the line break, paste slide 2, notice slide 4 is too long, go back to ChatGPT, shorten it, paste it again, export, rename the files, and make a PDF for LinkedIn. The writing took a minute. The slides took most of an hour.
Asking ChatGPT to draw the slides as images does not fix it. Image models can still garble long text, and each slide comes out in a slightly different style, so the carousel does not look like one piece.
That hour, every week, is how a plan to post a carousel weekly turns into one a month.
How do you get the slides back in ChatGPT, not just the text?
Connect Karou to ChatGPT once. After that, the same prompt ends with files instead of text:
- ChatGPT writes the slides, as above.
- It sends them to Karou, which lays them out on a template (bold, clean or editorial) in 4:5, 1:1 or 9:16.
- The slide thumbnails show in the chat, with links to a PNG per slide, a ZIP and a PDF for LinkedIn.
- To change a slide, say so in plain words (“make slide 4 shorter”). Karou re-renders the same carousel, and edits do not count against your daily limit.
Karou never writes the slides and sends nothing to a model: ChatGPT does the writing you already pay for, Karou does the layout. If a slide is too long for the template, Karou tells ChatGPT which slide and how much to cut, so it fixes its own text before you see it.
Add one line to the prompt above to use it: “Then render it with Karou, clean template, 4:5.”
What does it cost?
| Free | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Carousels | 3 a day | As many as you post (fair use 100 a day) |
| Templates | The 3 Karou templates | Up to 20 of your own: colors, fonts, handle, footer |
| Files | PNG, ZIP, PDF | PNG, ZIP, PDF |
| Watermark | Small karou.si mark | None |
| Price | $0, no card | Free for 14 days, then $12 a month or $97 a year |
How do you connect Karou to ChatGPT?
- Create a free account with your email or Google.
- In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Connectors (on some plans, developer mode has to be on), and add a custom MCP server with the URL
https://karou.si/mcpand OAuth. - Sign in to Karou and choose Allow.
The setup guide has the same steps for Claude, Cursor and Claude Code. If you write in Claude, how to make a carousel with Claude is the same run there.
FAQ
Can ChatGPT make a carousel by itself?
It writes the slide text well. Drawing the slides is weaker: long text in generated images can come out garbled, and every slide looks a little different. Use it for the words, and a renderer or editor for the slides.
What is the best ChatGPT prompt for a LinkedIn carousel?
The prompt above with “LinkedIn” and a goal of comments. LinkedIn wants a PDF document; see LinkedIn carousel PDF size for the format.
How many slides should I ask for?
Eight to ten covers most topics: a hook, six to eight ideas, a close. Ask for fewer when the idea is small.
Can I turn an existing post into a carousel with this prompt?
Yes, paste it as the material. Turn a thread or newsletter into a carousel shows the full run.
Do I need ChatGPT Plus?
You need a ChatGPT plan that lets you add custom connectors. Karou’s free plan needs only an email.
Paste the prompt, then let ChatGPT hand you the slides: start free with Karou, or see Pro pricing.