Build Viral Generator Tools

Viral Generator Builder is a skill for building shareable generator tools - name generators, quiz makers, avatar creators, personality tests, and calculator tools - engineered around the psychology of sharing. It centers on the screenshot test: every result must look good as a screenshot, include branding subtly, stay readable on mobile, and offer share buttons while still being designed to be screenshotted directly. The core formula is Input (minimal) -> Magic (your algorithm) -> Result (shareable), applied across four named patterns: general generator architecture, quiz builders, name generators, and calculator tools.

Use the Generator Architecture pattern broadly when creating any shareable generator tool; use Quiz Builder Pattern specifically for quiz-style generators, Name Generator Pattern for name/text generators, and Calculator Virality for calculator-style tools. Input design favors low friction: name-only or birthday inputs score High virality (low friction, personal), photo upload is also High (personalized), while multi-question quiz answers are only Medium (more investment). Five result types drive sharing: identity results ("You are a..."), comparison results ("You're 87% like..."), prediction results, score results, and visual results (avatar, badge, certificate).

For quizzes: 5-10 questions run through weighted scoring into one of N results, with 4-8 possible results as the sweet spot - each should feel desirable, distinct, and include a rare result for sharing. Image-choice and this-or-that questions score highest for engagement; text input scores lowest. Scoring itself is a simple weighted tally:

// Simple weighted scoring
const scores = { typeA: 0, typeB: 0, typeC: 0, typeD: 0 };

answers.forEach(answer => {
  scores[answer.type] += answer.weight;
});

const result = Object.entries(scores)
  .sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1])[0][0];

For name generators, four algorithm types are named: deterministic (hash of input, e.g. "Your Star Wars name"), random+seed, AI-powered (LLM generation), and combinatorial (word parts) - the deterministic trick being that the same input always produces the same output, which is what makes it shareable. Result pages need a big bold title, flattering description, shareable image/card, share buttons, a "see what friends got" CTA, and a subtle retake option.

Calculator tools work best on topics with built-in curiosity or stakes: salary/money, age/time, compatibility, worth/value, and predictions. The formula there is to ask interesting inputs, show an impressive calculation, reveal a surprising result, then make it shareable - framing matters ("You could save $45,230 by age 40" over a bare "Result: $45,230"). Five validation checks gate quality: missing social meta tags (HIGH severity - shares look bad without dynamic og:image, og:title, og:description per result), non-deterministic results from Math.random() (breaks consistency for the same input, fixed by seeded random or hash-based selection), no share functionality, no shareable result image, and desktop-first result design (results must be mobile-first since sharing happens on phones). The skill delegates to landing-page-design for conversion pages, seo for search optimization, frontend for implementation code, viral-hooks for share copy, and ai-image-generation for dynamic result images.

Builders creating any shareable generator, quiz, or calculator tool who need the virality mechanics - input friction, result design, screenshot-readiness, and deterministic sharing - already worked out rather than reverse-engineered from scratch.