Set up an autoblog schedule
Create an Autopilot schedule for a website — how topics are chosen, how often posts go out, how they reach the repo, and how to steer the topic queue.
An Autopilot schedule is the standing instruction for one website's blog: how often a post goes out, how its topic is chosen, what format it uses and how it reaches the repository. Everything the autoblog does follows from it.
Schedules live at ContentSchedule on a website.
Before you start
You need a Builder project with a connected GitHub repository, a plan including Builder, and a website that is not excluded from the Command Center. Publishing also depends on a platform-level switch — see the warning below.
Create the schedule
Select the website
Open BuilderSEO Command Center and pick the website in the switcher.
Open the Schedule view
On the Content tab, create a schedule or edit an existing one to open the Autopilot modal.
Choose how topics are picked
Let Claude plan the topics keeps the queue filled from the site's SEO evidence. Start with my topics writes your list in order, one topic per line, skips topics already covered, then fills the remaining openings.
Decide what the client sees
Tick Show scheduled blog posts in client Content Center to create this month's blog tasks in the client's Content Center for this schedule.
Set the cadence and the publish mode
How often posts go out, and how each one reaches the repository.
Open Advanced
Name, article format, source type, approval mode, first run and time zone.
Save
The card then shows Schedule, Next run, Last run and this month's planned topics.
Settings reference
| Setting | What it changes | Default |
|---|---|---|
| How should topics be chosen? | Let Claude plan the topics keeps the queue filled from SEO evidence. Start with my topics writes your list in order, then fills the rest. | Let Claude plan the topics |
| Show scheduled blog posts in client Content Center. | Creates current-month blog tasks in the client's Content Center for this schedule. Completion and notifications wait for the post to publish. | — |
| Publishing cadence | Once a month, twice a month, three times a month, or one to three posts per week. Daily appears only for a schedule already on a daily cadence. | — |
| Publish mode | Review PR, Auto-merge PR, or Direct push. Draft only appears only for a schedule already stored that way. | — |
| Autopilot name | The display name of the schedule. | — |
| Article format (optional) | Picks a saved template. Leaving it empty means Let Claude choose the format. | — |
| Source type | Where topic candidates come from — keywords, RSS, YouTube, news, competitor gap, content gap, or manual. | — |
| Approval mode | Review required, or Trusted auto-publish. Direct push is refused without trusted auto-publish. | Review required |
| First run | The date the schedule first fires. | — |
| Schedule time zone | The time zone run times are computed in. | — |
| Banned topics | Phrases auto-picked topics must avoid. Capped at 50. | — |
Source types bring their own fields. News adds a country, a time range of 24 hours, 7 days or 30 days, and outlet include and exclude lists. Competitor and content gap add competitor domains, target pages and a Gap focus of balanced, quick win, high volume or competitor overlap.
Publishing depends on a platform-level arm
Writing to a tenant repository is gated by a platform switch. With it off, every repository write comes back as a configuration response instead of a commit, no matter how the schedule is set. If posts draft but never reach GitHub and the error mentions configuration, that is what to ask your platform operator about.
Steering topics
The schedule card carries the month plan, the queued and previous topics, and a Topic steering fold.
Inspect the queue
Use the Queued and Previous segmented control on the card.
Preview topic ideas
Shows sample topics Claude would pick from live SEO evidence, with the source behind each one. Nothing is written and nothing is scheduled.
Ban a topic
Ban this topic on a suggestion, or on the latest run's topic, keeps future auto-picked topics away from it. An Undo link appears after.
Remove a planned topic
The slot stays; Claude picks that opening at run time instead.
No queued topics is normal
An empty queue does not mean the schedule is broken. With Let Claude plan the topics, the topic is chosen at run time from current SEO evidence. The queue only fills when you put topics in it or a plan has been made ahead.
The ban list is capped at 50 phrases per schedule. At the cap you see Ban list is full (50 topics) and must remove one in Edit before banning another.
Checking it will work
The Advanced diagnostics panel at the bottom of the Content tab has a free Check publish readiness button that confirms the topic and publish configuration are ready. It costs nothing.
There is also a diagnostic publish test, which genuinely exercises the whole publish path. Use it only on a trusted full-autopilot website, and only when you mean to publish something.
Optional content lanes
Five extra lanes can run alongside the schedule, under SettingsAutomation & budgetAdvanced. All of them are off by default.
| Lane | What it does |
|---|---|
| Refresh stale posts | A daily refresh brief for posts whose Search Console clicks fell more than 40% against their 90-day pace. Free, maximum two a day |
| Internal-linking sweep | Adds up to three links to each new post from older posts on its keyword, through the live-fix lane |
| Service-area page proposals | Briefs a service-area page when a grid keyword underperforms on two scans. Maximum two a day |
| FAQ / PAA expansion | Needs a fresh desktop runner advertising that capability before it can be armed |
| Promote audit errors automatically | Adds error-tier site-audit checks to the Technical queue. Free, errors only |
Service-area proposals never write or publish
That lane proposes a page and stops. Nothing is drafted and nothing is committed until you act on the proposal yourself.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Ban list is full (50 topics) | The per-schedule cap | Remove a banned phrase in Edit before adding another |
| The card says Limited SEO evidence | The last run had no cached opportunities and used a generic topic | Run SEO setup and research, then Preview topic ideas to confirm candidates |
| Direct push is refused | Approval mode is Review required | Set approval mode to Trusted auto-publish, or publish via a pull request |
| A removed topic reappeared as something else | Removing a planned topic hands that slot back to the runtime topic chooser | Ban the theme, or use Start with my topics |
| Nothing publishes and the error mentions GitHub | No valid GitHub App credential for the workspace | The account owner installs or repairs the GitHub App on the GitHub tile in Settings → Integrations |
| The client sees no blog tasks | Show scheduled blog posts in client Content Center is off for this schedule | Turn it on; tasks are created for the current month |