# Clip Autopilot scheduling options

> Set Clip Autopilot's release rule, posting times, post endings, Instagram options and breathing room, and read what each fill did in its run history.

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.conviapro.com/llms.txt).

Clip Autopilot in Convia Pro lets you fine-tune when and how its posts go out: whether clips wait for their episode to release, the time of day each channel posts, how every caption ends and how Instagram posts publish. **Keep breathing room** and the Calendar's **Declutter** keep clips from one episode apart and stop days from overfilling, and each automation's run history shows what every fill did. To set up an automation first, see [Clip Autopilot](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/autopilot.md).

## Only post clips from released episodes

With **Only clips from released episodes** on (it is on unless you turn it off), Clip Autopilot never posts a clip before its episode is out. This applies to automations you set up before the switch existed, too.

| Episode | Will Autopilot pick its clips? |
|---|---|
| The clip is not linked to any episode | Yes, always |
| The episode's **Publish Date** has passed | Yes. The release day counts from midnight in your workspace time zone |
| The **Publish Date** is in the future | Not until that date |
| No **Publish Date**, and its status is marked **Ready to publish** | Yes |
| No **Publish Date**, and its status is not marked, or it has no status | No |

The date decides when there is one. Episodes imported from your RSS feed or YouTube carry their publish date, so their clips flow without any setup.

### Mark a status as Ready to publish

Episodes without a Publish Date need a status marked **Ready to publish**. If none of your statuses is marked, the automation editor warns "No episode status is marked Ready to publish, so episodes without a Publish Date will be held back", with a link to fix it.

1. Click **Fix under Settings, Workflow & Tasks** in the warning. It opens **Settings → Workflow & Tasks** in a new tab, so the editor keeps what you typed.
2. Tick **Ready to publish** on the status, or statuses, that mean an episode is out.
3. Return to the automation editor's tab. The warning clears, and the eligible counts include those episodes' clips.

Clips being held are left out of the eligible counts, and the editor says how many are held and why. Turn the switch off only if you want Autopilot to post teasers ahead of a release.

## Choose Autopilot posting days and times

In Clip Autopilot, each channel has its own posting days and **per day** count, set under **Channels and posting days** in the automation editor's **Channels & days** section. LinkedIn on Monday, Wednesday and Friday alongside TikTok every day is a normal shape.

Autopilot picks the time of day the same way the rest of Convia does: your default posting time for that platform and weekday under **Settings → Publishing**, then the platform's generally best hour, then the start of your posting window. Times are in your workspace time zone. When a day already holds a post, the next one goes to the channel's next posting time, so a channel with two times set uses both.

If a channel posts more than once a day but has fewer posting times set than that on some days, the **What it will do** panel in the editor warns you: the extra posts land 15 minutes after the first. Add another time under **Settings → Publishing** to space them out. See [Calendar & scheduling](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/calendar-and-scheduling.md).

The **Channel consistency** card on your dashboard measures each channel against its Autopilot setup.

## Choose how each Autopilot post ends

In Clip Autopilot, **How each post ends** sets what closes every caption, so a clip post sends people to the full conversation.

- **Link to the full episode** and **Link to the podcast episode** add those links. Anything the episode does not have is skipped.
- **Your own closing line** is added word for word, for example "New episodes every Tuesday".
- Links are left off Instagram and TikTok captions, where they are not clickable.

### Add a first comment to Autopilot posts

Where your plan includes first comments, **First comment** lets you write a comment once and have every Autopilot post fill it in with its own episode's details. Click a token to insert it:

| Token | Filled with |
|---|---|
| `{episode_url}` | The episode link |
| `{podcast_url}` | The podcast episode link |
| `{episode_title}` | The episode title |
| `{guest_name}` | The guest's name |

If a post has nothing to put in place of a token, that post gets no comment rather than a half-finished one. A comment too long for the platform is left off, never cut short.

The caption and the comment are set separately. Untick **Link to the full episode** and put `{episode_url}` in the comment to move the link out of the caption; leave both to have it in both places. On Instagram, a link in a comment is copyable text rather than a clickable link.

First comments work on LinkedIn company pages, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X and Bluesky. TikTok and YouTube do not allow scheduled first comments, and the editor names any of your channels that are skipped. An Instagram, Facebook or Threads account may need reconnecting to allow comments; the editor names the account to reconnect.

## Set Instagram and TikTok options for Autopilot

Each Instagram channel on an Autopilot automation has its own options. Under the channel's row in **Channels & days**, click **Change** beside its format (**Format: account default** until you pick one) to set them. They apply only to the posts this automation creates. The channel's defaults and posts you write by hand are unchanged.

| Option | Choices | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **Publish as** | Reel or Story | A story takes clips of 60 seconds or less, carries no caption and disappears after 24 hours. The eligible count updates when you switch |
| **Also show in feed** | On or off | Off keeps a reel in the Reels tab but out of your profile grid and followers' feeds |
| **Trial reel** | On or off | A trial reel is shown to people who do not follow you first, and you decide in Instagram later whether to share it with followers. Instagram requires around 1,000 followers; if the account is not eligible, the reel publishes as normal |

One automation publishes one format per channel. To mix stories and reels on one account, use two automations.

Autopilot posts start from the default publishing settings you saved for each account. In the approval queue, each TikTok post shows its audience, including **Only me unless set** when no choice has been made yet, so you can set it before approving.

## Keep breathing room between Autopilot posts

Clip Autopilot never doubles up a day itself. But a campaign you launch later, or a bulk clip schedule, can land on a day it already filled, and clips from one episode can end up on neighboring days. With **Keep breathing room** on, every fill first tidies its own channels:

- **Day cap.** On any day that holds more posts than the channel's per-day count, it moves its own posts and bulk clip posts to the next posting day with room. This part only applies while **Skip days that already have a post** is on.
- **Episode gap.** On one platform, two clips from the same episode are kept at least **Days between clips from one episode** apart. New Autopilot posts are placed with that spacing from the start.

What never moves:

- Posts you scheduled yourself, and Autopilot or bulk clip posts you moved to a new date yourself
- Campaign posts
- Anything published, and anything within the next 24 hours
- Posts from an Autopilot automation that has **Keep breathing room** off

Posts only ever move later, never earlier, to the earliest posting day that has room and keeps the episode gap. They keep their time of day, or move 15 minutes later if that time is taken. If no day works, the post stays where it is and the run says so. If a day is over its limit with only posts that cannot move, the run says so and leaves it.

If two Autopilot automations post to the same platform with **Keep breathing room** on, they share one set of rules there: the higher per-day count, all of their posting days and the longer gap.

When posts move, the run's details show how many under **Moved by breathing room**, and the workspace is notified.

### Tidy the calendar now with Declutter

You do not have to wait for the nightly fill to apply **Keep breathing room**.

1. On the **Calendar**, click **Declutter**.
2. Choose **Apply Autopilot rules**. Under **What it checks**, it lists each platform's rules and the automations they come from. Convia checks the next few weeks and lists the **Posts that will move, by day**, with where each one goes.
3. Click **Move** (for example **Move 4 posts**), or close the dialog to change nothing.

If no Autopilot automation has **Keep breathing room** on, the dialog tells you which setting to turn on. **Declutter** appears on the Calendar when your plan includes either Autopilot or bulk clip scheduling.

## Space out clips you scheduled in bulk

**Space out clips** (called Spread out until October 2026) is the other tab in **Declutter**. It spaces one platform's clips over the days ahead, whether or not Autopilot made them. It is useful after scheduling a whole episode's clips at once, for example to finish YouTube Shorts in one sitting and space them afterwards. Space out clips needs bulk clip scheduling on your plan.

1. On the **Calendar**, click **Declutter**. It opens on **Space out clips**. You can also get here from **Space them out** after scheduling clips or finishing several Shorts on YouTube.
2. Pick the **Platform**. The count beside each one is how many clips can move there.
3. Tick **Which clips move**: **Bulk scheduled clips**, **Autopilot clips** and **Scheduled from a connected AI app** (clips an assistant scheduled outside a campaign). Each shows its count.
4. Set the spacing (see the table below). If an active Autopilot automation posts to that platform, the posting days and per-day count start from it, shown as **Using your Autopilot rhythm for** the platform. Click **Change** to set your own for this run.
5. Choose how to place the clips: **Only fix what's off** or **Mix new clips through the whole queue**. Both show how many clips they would move and the day the last one lands.
6. Check the summary and **Clips that will move, by day**, with each clip's episode and why it moves. **Why some clips don't move** lists the rest. Click **Move**.

| Space out clips setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| **Start on** | | The first day clips may move to |
| Posting days | Your Autopilot rhythm, when an active Autopilot automation posts to the platform | The days clips may go out on |
| **Per day** | Your Autopilot rhythm, when an active Autopilot automation posts to the platform | Clips per posting day. Posts already on a day count toward it |
| **Time of day** | | Several clips on one day are staggered by 15 minutes |
| **Days between clips from one episode** | 3, or the gap of an Autopilot automation on the platform with **Keep breathing room** on | 0 turns it off |
| **Keep each episode within** | 60 days | How many days after its episode a clip may go out. Clear it for **No limit**. Applies to episodes not out yet or out within that many days |
| **Cool off big episodes** | Off | Spaces an episode's clips across its window instead of packing them, never closer than the gap above. Twenty clips over 60 days sit 3 days apart. Needs a window |

**Start on**, **Keep each episode within** and **Cool off big episodes** sit under **Advanced**. Convia remembers the choices you set yourself for your workspace; values taken from an Autopilot rhythm are not saved. Space out clips always opens on **Only fix what's off**:

- **Only fix what's off** checks every clip first. A clip that already sits well keeps its day and time. Only clips that share a day, sit too close to another clip from the same episode, or would go out before their episode move, each to the nearest day that works. New clips wait behind the ones already scheduled.
- **Mix new clips through the whole queue** re-places every clip, shuffled across episodes. A new episode goes out sooner, but far more clips change.

A clip never goes out before its own episode. Posts you made by hand, campaign posts, full episodes, anything already public and anything within the next 24 hours stay where they are, and count toward their day. A clip that would land beyond **Keep each episode within** is not pushed out of sight: it stays where it is and is listed under **Why some clips don't move**, so you can raise the per-day count, widen the window, archive some or accept the wait. When the queue is full, the summary says which day the last clip goes out, how far away that is, and what one more clip a day would do.

After you click **Move**, the dialog closes and the work carries on behind any page. A progress card at the bottom right shows how far it has got. **Stop after this clip** ends it early, and **Finish moving** moves the rest later. Closing or reloading Convia stops the run; the next time you open **Declutter**, choose **Finish moving** or **Forget the rest**. Only one set of clips moves at a time across your workspaces.

A clip Space out clips places counts as placed by you, so **Keep breathing room** leaves it alone afterwards. Run Space out clips again with **Mix new clips through the whole queue** to reshuffle.

### Space out clips and YouTube Shorts

Clips already uploaded with **Finish on YouTube** get their new publish time on YouTube too, on a channel that has given Convia permission to change videos after upload. On any other channel, uploaded clips stay where they are and count toward their day, and you change their times in YouTube Studio. A video you made unlisted, or unscheduled in YouTube Studio, is left as it is, and a publish time you changed in YouTube Studio is kept.

> [!NOTE]
> Changing uploaded videos is in preview. A channel in the preview shows **Allow changing videos** on its card on **Social Channels**, and Google shows a notice that the app is not verified yet, which you can continue past from **Advanced**.

Changing a time on YouTube uses part of a daily allowance YouTube gives Convia. If a large run uses it up, Space out clips finishes everything else, and **Finish moving** becomes available once the allowance resets at midnight Pacific time. If YouTube needs reconnecting, Space out clips stops and says so; reconnect it on **Social Channels**, then choose **Finish moving**. See [YouTube publishing](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/youtube-publishing.md).

## Run an Autopilot fill now

**Run now** on a Clip Autopilot automation queues a fill and returns straight away. The work happens on the server, so you can close the tab or move to another page and it still finishes. New drafts appear in the approval queue as each channel is topped up.

| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Fill queued** | The fill has started in the background |
| **Nothing new to queue** | A fill may already be in progress. Open the automation to see its recent runs |
| **A fill is already running** | New drafts appear in the approval queue as each channel is topped up |
| **A fill is retrying** | The last attempt hit an error and is waiting to try again |
| **Nothing to queue** | Every channel either has no posting days set, has no connected account, or is not included in your plan |

## Read the Autopilot run history

Click **Details** on an Autopilot automation to open its page. **Recent runs** lists each channel's fill, with a total of the posts created, the runs and the credits used. Run history is kept for 30 days.

Each run shows the platform, one status, the reason and when it ran. The status is **Created** (with the number of drafts), **Nothing new**, **Skipped**, **Needs attention**, **Retrying**, **Failed** or **In progress**. Click a run for its details:

- **Pool**: **New clips** or **Recycling**, the tier the clips came from. **Recycling** means every eligible clip has already gone out on that channel at least once.
- **Episodes** and **Eligible clips**: how many episodes the fill drew from, and how many clips were eligible.
- **Moved by breathing room**: how many posts **Keep breathing room** moved. **Breathing room check failed** means the tidy could not run.
- **Credits**, and for a retry, **Attempts** and when the next try is due.
- **What this outcome means**, which opens the matching Help topic.

| Status | Reason | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Created** | Added that many drafts to the approval queue | The fill drafted posts | Review them in the approval queue |
| **Nothing new** | **Calendar already full** | Nothing was missing | Nothing |
| **Nothing new** | **Every posting day in the window is full** | Each posting day already holds its per-day count | Add a posting day, raise **per day** or widen the horizon |
| **Skipped** | **No clips left to post** | No eligible clip remains for the channel | Add clips, or lower **Wait before reusing a clip** |
| **Nothing new** | **Every free day is too close to a clip from the same episode** | The episode gap left no valid day | Usually nothing: the next night has a day more of room. Or lower the gap |
| **Skipped** | **Every clip belongs to an episode that has not released yet** | The release rule held every clip | Wait for the release, or set the Publish Date |
| **Needs attention** | **Episodes have no Publish Date, and no status is marked Ready to publish** | Dateless episodes can never pass the release rule | Open the run and click **Fix under Settings, Workflow & Tasks** |
| **Needs attention** | **Out of AI credits** | The fill could not pay for the posts | Top up credits |
| **Needs attention** | **Scheduled-post limit reached** | Your plan's limit on queued posts is reached | Wait for scheduled posts to publish, remove some, or upgrade |
| **Needs attention** | **Monthly post limit reached** | This month's post allowance is reached | Wait for the new month, or upgrade |
| **Skipped** | **Channel paused** | The channel has no posting days, or is switched off | Turn it back on in the editor |
| **Needs attention** | **Not on your plan** | Autopilot or bulk clip scheduling is not included | See [Plans, trials & billing](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/plans-and-billing.md) |
| **Retrying** | **Retrying after an error**, with the attempt number | The last attempt hit an error | Usually nothing: it tries again on its own. The run's details say when |
| **Failed** | A "Couldn't read…" message, **Post generation failed** or **Couldn't save the drafts** | The fill failed after its retries | Click **Run now** to try again, or contact support |

The automation's card on the list shows the most serious recent outcome across its channels, such as **Last run: waiting for episodes to release** or **Fill in progress**.

## Related

- [Clip Autopilot](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/autopilot.md): what Autopilot is, how to set it up, how it picks clips, and its credits and limits.
- [Calendar & scheduling](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/calendar-and-scheduling.md): default posting times, the posting window and bulk clip scheduling.
- [YouTube publishing](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/youtube-publishing.md): Finish on YouTube and the Shorts that Space out clips can move.
- [Approval & review](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/approval-and-review.md): approve the drafts each fill creates.
- [Get draft posts created for you](https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/automate-your-drafts.md): a guide to setting up Autopilot end to end.

---

Source: https://docs.conviapro.com/docs/autopilot-scheduling · Section: Creating with AI · Last updated: 2026-10-03