Whatever tool you use, a good carousel looks like this
Tools change, the structure of a carousel does not:
Slide one is the hook — it makes people stop scrolling. Big headline, real pain, relevant to the reader. If nobody stops, the rest never gets read
Every middle slide says one thing — one point per slide, do not cram. People swipe, they do not read. More than two lines and they skip it
The last slide is the call to action — tell the reader what to do next: follow, comment, save, share. Say nothing and they swipe away
Visual consistency — same fonts, same colors, same layout across the whole set. That is brand recognition, and three seconds is all it takes for someone to know the account is yours
Whether you use Claude, Canva or anything else, the guide below is these four principles in practice.
1
Basic
Phone or computer, the free plan is enough
Setup
What you need
A Claude account (the free plan is fine)
On your phone, download Claude App or on your computer open claude.ai
No design skills, no coding
First step: have Claude write the copy and build the cards
Copy this prompt, fill in the blanks, send it
Same on phone or computer, just paste it into the Claude chat box.
You are an IG content strategist.
My account is about ___(your niche, for example nail art tutorials)
My audience is ___(your audience, for example women aged 20-35 who want to learn nail art)
Style leans ___(professional / friendly / minimal)
Make me a set of 7 IG carousel slides:
1. Write the copy first, the topic is:___
Slide one needs a headline that grabs attention
The last slide carries the call to action
Keep each slide under 30 characters
2. Then turn the copy straight into HTML carousel cards
Each card 1080x1350px (the 4:5 ratio IG carousels use)
Use a bold serif font
Text big enough to fill the frame, not much empty space
Style:dark background, big white text(or any style you want)
Bottom right corner: @your handle
3. Export them as PNG, highest quality you can
Not happy? Keep talking to it:
"slide three is too stiff, make it conversational" / "bigger text" / "switch the background to warm tones"
A few rounds back and forth is normal, keep going until you like it.
Worth knowing:
Claude does not nail it every time, do not ship the first output.
• Text too small → "make the headline bigger, fill the frame"
• Layout feels empty → "center the text, less white space"
• Style too plain → send it a carousel image you like and say "use this style as reference"
Option A, recommended
Generate on your phone → tap to download the PNG
Fastest route, all on the phone, no computer screenshots
Open the Claude App on your phone and paste the prompt above (keep the last line, export them as PNG, highest quality you can)
Claude drops the PNGs into the chat one by one
Tap a PNG → long press → save to Photos (iOS) / download (Android), or tap the download icon at the top right
Once they are all saved, open IG and upload all 10 in one go
Why this beats the old screenshot-on-a-computer route:
• The resolution is whatever Claude exported, nothing gets squashed by a screenshot
• No switching between phone and computer
• No crooked crops from a shaky hand
No PNGs? Tell Claude "export this set as PNGs again, one by one". Still nothing, take the backup route below.
Backup route
Generate on your phone → screenshot on your computer
Plan B for when Claude will not export PNGs
Get the set looking right in the Claude App on your phone
On your computer open claude.ai (same account, the conversation syncs)
Open the same set on the computer and screenshot each card
How to screenshot:
Mac: Cmd + Shift + 4, drag a box over each card
Windows: search for Snipping Tool, then drag a box
Option B, phone only
Claude on your phone + the Canva App
Works with no computer at all
Paste the prompt into the Claude App on your phone and have it write the copy only (no HTML cards needed)
Download Canva App (free), search for IG carousel templates
Pick a template you like and paste in the copy Claude wrote
Adjust the colors, fonts and background image
Download straight from Canva → upload to IG
Option B needs a different prompt: Claude does not need to make HTML here, copy only.
You are an IG content strategist.
My account is about ___(your niche)
My audience is ___(your audience)
Style leans ___(professional / friendly / minimal)
Write me the copy for a 7 slide IG carousel
Topic:___
Slide one needs a headline that grabs attention
The last slide carries the call to action
Keep each slide under 30 characters
I will lay it out in Canva so give me text only
Download the Canva App: iOS / Android (the free plan is plenty)
Bonus move
Drop in a background image and the quality jumps
For Option A: upload an image you like to Claude, then say:
Use this image as the background
Add a semi-transparent dark overlay
Keep the text readable
Free image libraries: Unsplash, Pexels (English keywords work better)
2
Advanced
HTML + automated screenshots, professional quality in batches
If you want higher quality, custom fonts and batch output, this is the method I use myself.
Advanced
What you need
Claude Code (the CLI version) or claude.ai + doing it by hand
Python 3 + Playwright (for the automated screenshots)
Make me an HTML file for a 7 slide IG carousel
Each card is a div with class="card", sized 1080x1350px
Load Noto Serif TC (headlines) and Noto Sans TC (body) from Google Fonts
Background a solid color or gradient, dark
Topic:___
Style reference: dark background, big white text, gold accent #fbbf24
Text big enough to fill the frame
Add page-break-after: always to every div
Give me the full HTML so I can save it as a .html file
How to save it:
Claude gives you a block of HTML code.
1. Copy all of the code
2. Open any text editor (Notepad, VS Code, whatever you have)
3. Paste it in and save it as carousel.html
4. Remember the path you saved it to (you need it in the next step)
Save the script below as screenshot.py, then run python3 screenshot.py:
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright
import os
with sync_playwright() as p:
browser = p.chromium.launch()
page = browser.new_page(viewport={"width": 1080, "height": 1350})
page.goto("file:///YOUR_PATH/carousel.html")
page.wait_for_load_state("networkidle")
cards = page.query_selector_all(".card")
os.makedirs("output", exist_ok=True)
for i, card in enumerate(cards):
card.screenshot(path=f"output/slide-{i+1}.png")
print(f"Done. {len(cards)} images in the output/ folder")
browser.close()
Note:
• Replace YOUR_PATH with the real location where you saved carousel.html
• Mac example: file:///Users/YourName/Desktop/carousel.html
• Windows example: file:///C:/Users/YourName/Desktop/carousel.html
When it finishes, the output folder holds 7 PNGs at 1080x1350, ready to upload to IG.
Why advanced
Why use the advanced method?
Custom fonts — any Google Font, no longer capped by Claude's defaults
Precise layout — CSS controls every margin, color and type size
Batch output — change the copy, rerun once, no re-screenshotting
Background images — no compression, as sharp as the original
Consistency — every carousel matches, which builds brand recognition
Pro Tip
Fully automatic with Claude Code
If you have Claude Code (the CLI version), one sentence runs the whole flow:
Make me an IG carousel, the topic is "___",
use HTML+Playwright to generate 1080x1350 PNGs,
dark background, white text, gold accents, background image from Unsplash,
font Noto Serif TC, save the screenshots to /tmp/carousel/
Claude Code writes the HTML, downloads the background image, runs Playwright and produces the PNGs. You just wait for the result.
Jargon
The words you may not know
HTML
The language of web pages. Every page you see is written in HTML. Claude writes it for you, you do not need to understand it.
CSS
The language that controls how a page looks: colors, fonts, layout. It works alongside HTML.
Playwright
An automated screenshot tool. It opens an invisible browser and captures each card as an image. Free.
Python
A programming language. Playwright runs on it. Macs come with it, nothing extra to install.
Terminal
Where you type commands on your computer. On a Mac press Cmd+Space and search for Terminal.
Claude Code
The advanced version of Claude, running in Terminal. It can work directly with your files and your computer.
Google Fonts
Google's free font library. Noto Serif TC and Noto Sans TC are the Chinese fonts in it.
PNG
An image format. Similar to JPG, better quality, and it supports transparent backgrounds.
1080x1350px
The standard IG carousel size (1080 pixels wide, 1350 tall), a 4:5 ratio.
pip install
The command that installs Python tools. You type it in Terminal, same idea as installing an app from the App Store.
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