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Set up Autopilot

Give a project a schedule and a queue of approved topics, and Autopilot writes, illustrates and — if you allow it — publishes an article on each run.

Before you start

  • A project with its profile filled in — Autopilot uses its audience, tone and language.

  • A plan that includes Autopilot — see the pricing page.

  • Enough credits for the articles you schedule. Each run is charged like an article you generate yourself.

  • Optional: a connected CMS, if Autopilot should publish — see Connect WordPress.

Steps

  1. Step 1: Open the project’s schedule

    Choose Autopilot in the sidebar. Find the project under Autopilot schedules by project and choose Set up.

  2. Step 2: Decide when to publish

    Under When to publish, choose a Frequency (Every day, Weekly, Every other week, Monthly or Specific days), the Time zone, the Days or Day of the month, and the Hour and Minute. Articles per month caps how many articles a month the schedule may write.

  3. Step 3: Decide what to write

    Under What to write, choose the Topic source. Whichever you pick, Autopilot only ever writes topics that are in the project’s queue — it never invents one.

    Set the Target audience (defaults to the project’s), voice, Language, Target country, length, Include an FAQ section, Include a key takeaways section and any Brand instructions every article should follow.

  4. Step 4: Decide what to do with each article

    Under What to do with it:

    • Generate a featured image — included with the article at no extra charge on plans with images.
    • Publishing destination — a connected CMS, or Keep drafts in the app only.
    • Publish as — Create a draft in the CMS, Schedule it in the CMS or Publish it immediately.
    • Wait for my review before publishing — the article is written and charged either way; this gate only controls publishing.

  5. Step 5: Create the schedule

    Choose Create schedule. New schedules stay paused until you turn them on.

  6. Step 6: Fill the topic queue

    Open the project’s Topic queue. Add a topic with a Target keyword and an optional Working title, or choose Import from map to queue the topics of a topical map. Each run takes the next topic in the queue.

  7. Step 7: Turn it on

    Back on Autopilot, choose Resume on the project. The Next run column shows when the first article will be written.

What you’ll see

On each scheduled run Autopilot takes the next queued topic, writes the article (and its image), and then publishes it, holds it for your review, or keeps it as a draft — as you configured. Every run is listed on the Calendar.

Troubleshooting

“Autopilot is not included on” your plan

Your plan does not run Autopilot. Your schedules, topics and past runs are kept; compare plans on the pricing page.

“Nothing queued yet” and no runs happen

Autopilot writes only queued topics. Add topics or import them from a topical map.

“Articles will publish unread”

With review off and Publish it immediately, articles go to your live site with no human step. Consider Create a draft in the CMS until you trust the output.

I cannot turn review off

On some plans, publishing to a CMS from Autopilot always needs your review. Approve each run as described in Review and manage Autopilot runs.

Related guides

  • Review and manage Autopilot runs

    Approve or reject articles waiting for review, retry or cancel a run, pause a schedule, and understand why Autopilot paused itself.

  • Build a topical map

    Turn one seed topic into a pillar page plus three supporting clusters, with intent, priority, a suggested publishing order and internal links.

  • Publish an article to your CMS

    Send the saved version of an article to a connected site as a draft, immediately, or at a scheduled time — and follow every attempt in the publishing history.