A daily routine turns other people's viral posts into writing rules

You can have a routine study the best recent posts from a list of accounts every morning and leave you a short file of writing rules before you start drafting. Esther Zhen (@estherzhendwzz) posted the setup shortly after midnight ET on Nov 3, after running it for "3 mornings."

What it replaces#

Working out by hand which posts in a niche landed and why. In the author's words, they "handed my X homework to an agent that studies other people's viral posts before I wake up."

How it works#

"Every day at 8:00 (Shanghai time), a Grok Bot routine reads recent posts from my watchlist of AI accounts." It "ranks by bookmarks and views, not just likes," and "for each winner it notes the hook, format, image and real metrics."

1. The routine writes "one short dated file: winners, a Keep/Start/Stop list, one example hook in my voice, and one reply I could make." The attached card calls it a "dated .md file."
2. A separate 7:30 routine "runs first and finds real AI income cases."
3. Drafting routines at "9:00, 11:30 and 17:30 read both files first, so today's posts already follow today's playbook."
4. The author reviews and publishes: "The agent drafts, I review and publish. It never posts for me."

The post gives a short version of the prompt: "Every day at 8:00, review recent top posts from my watchlist of AI accounts on X. Rank by bookmarks and views, not just likes. For each winner, note the hook, format, image and real metrics. Write a Keep / Start / Stop playbook to a dated file. Real numbers only. Suggest one reply I could make, but never post."

The tally so far: "3 mornings. 13 accounts. 15 Keep/Start/Stop rules." One finding was "Bookmarks beat likes on useful posts." The author says each rule "becomes a visible change in my drafts," starting with "(bookmark it)" on setup posts, "since Series #3."

Earlier posts fit that timeline. Series #3, posted at 12:47 AM ET Nov 1, lists "Routine 2: Competitor teardown, 8:00" and says that day's Start rule was to add "(bookmark it)" to setup posts, which that post does. On Nov 2 the author wrote that what they log per run is "why my 9:00 run can trust the 8:00 one."

Good to know#

• Results are self-reported, and the track record is short. The post counts rules, not reach or followers gained. The account opened on Oct 30 and had 3 followers when we checked.
• Expect stale days. "On Nov 1 the newest posts it found were from Oct 28-29." The author's rule: "say so, never invent fresh ones." When an account returns nothing, "The playbook says that instead of guessing."
• Copy shape, not substance. "Structure only. I borrow a hook shape, never someone's take."
• It can't judge fit. "It will happily say a clickbait hook works. Whether it fits my brand is my call."
• Series #7 doesn't say how the bot reads X, so check that yours can before you schedule it.
• "Never posts" covers this workflow. In a separate Nov 3 post the author says their agent "posted to 抖音 fine" (Douyin), while Xiaohongshu's bot protection blocked the image upload.
• Disclosure: the post ends "Comment or DM "STACK" and I'll send you my full teardown prompt as a template," and the author's profile says "Reply "STACK" on any post." The Nov 3 card's own Start rule is "End with your own template." We didn't request it.

Set it up in Grok Bot#

This one already runs on Grok Bot routines. Cursor's routines page says "Each run spends usage," so the author's full chain (7:30, 8:00 and three drafting runs) is five runs a day.

Starter prompt (ours, untested):

Every weekday at 8 AM, read the last 3 days of public posts from
these accounts: [5 to 8 handles]. Rank them by bookmarks and views.
For the top 5, note the hook, the format, any image, and the real
numbers shown on the post. Save a dated file with Keep, Start and
Stop rules and one example hook in my voice. If the newest posts
are old or an account returned nothing, say so. Don't post or
reply to anything.

Last checked: Nov 3, 2026, 7:18 to 7:22 AM ET. What changed: first published Nov 3.