# Autopilot

> How Seovyn earns the right to publish on its own: five clean approvals, the bars a draft must clear, the hold window, the safeguards that take autopilot away, and how to take control back.

Every organization starts in **supervised** mode: you approve every article. Autopilot is earned, it's audited while it runs, and you can step back down whenever you like.

> [!NOTE] Autopilot is on Pro and Scale
> On Free, your approvals still count: once you've earned autopilot, Overview says so, and it switches on the moment you upgrade. Everything on this page about seeing it before it runs works on every plan. See [Plans and usage](/docs/plans-and-usage).

## How it's earned

> [!IMPORTANT] Five clean approvals in a row unlock autopilot
> A rejection starts the count again and teaches Seovyn what to fix.

A **clean approval** is a draft you approve without editing it. The count is on **Overview**, in the **Automation** card: five segments that fill as you approve.

Five in a row isn't quite enough on its own. Your last five approvals must each carry a quality score of at least **70**. An edited draft has no score (editing clears it), so it holds autopilot off until it's no longer among your last five. When both hold, autopilot turns on by itself and you're notified.

Drafts already waiting in your queue when autopilot unlocks get the same treatment as new ones.

## What autopilot publishes

A draft approves itself only if **all** of these are true:

| Bar | Why |
|---|---|
| **No failed hard SEO check** | A missing title or a broken structure needs a person |
| **The Editor reviewed it** | A draft only the automatic checks saw is never published unattended: they can't catch a confident mistake |
| **Its quality score is 75 or more** | By default. The Automation card shows the current bar |
| **It isn't a landing page** | Landing pages always get a human look |
| **Its topic clearly fits your customers** | A topic fit under 70, or an article about a named person, is yours to decide. See [How topics are chosen](/docs/choosing-topics) |
| **It wasn't picked for a spot check** | About one in five drafts that pass everything else is held back for you at random, so autopilot is audited, not just trusted |

A draft that passes is marked **Scheduled** and approves itself after a **hold window**: 12 hours by default. Until then you can read it, edit it, reject it, or **Hold** it. A draft that doesn't pass waits in your queue with the reason, for example "quality score 72 below the 75 bar".

Updates to live articles work the same way: a refreshed version that clears the same bars publishes itself after the same hold. See [Updates and refreshes](/docs/article-updates).

## Safeguards

Seovyn checks every organization's pipeline once an hour and steps in when something has gone wrong. Each step is written to the activity feed on Overview with the reason, and undone on its own.

| What it sees | What it does |
|---|---|
| Recent autopilot articles average below **65** (at least six of them) | Moves you back to supervised, so you review them before they publish |
| Three articles in a row failed to write, or most recent attempts failed | Pauses new writing for 12 hours, then tries again |
| A dozen drafts are waiting and the oldest has waited ten days (supervised) | Pauses new writing until some are reviewed |
| Approved articles keep failing to reach your site, and nothing has published for three days | Pauses new writing until articles go out again. Fix the destination on Publishing |
| Search Console hasn't synced for three days | Tells you, in the activity feed |

## Taking control back

- **Stop one article.** While it's scheduled, **Hold** it, edit it, or reject it.
- **Go back to supervised.** On the Automation card, choose **Switch to supervised**. Every draft waits for you again, and the count starts from zero.
- **Reject while on autopilot.** A rejection puts you straight back in supervised mode. It tells Seovyn its judgment can't be trusted unattended right now.
- **Pace it.** Combine autopilot with [publish pacing](/docs/publishing#spread-articles-out) so articles go out evenly through the day.
- **Your plan still applies.** Autopilot writes within your monthly allowance like everything else. See [Plans and usage](/docs/plans-and-usage).

## See it before it runs

You don't have to take autopilot on trust. While you're still approving everything:

- **Every draft shows autopilot's call.** In the review drawer, **On autopilot** says whether this draft would have published itself, or why it would have waited for you (a score under the bar, a landing page, a weak topic fit). Decide as you normally would and compare.
- **Overview keeps the score.** Once you've decided a few drafts, the **Automation** card shows how often autopilot would have made the same call as you over your last 20 decisions, and names any draft it would have published that you rejected. That's the number to watch before you let it run.

Drafts you edited aren't counted: autopilot never judges a draft a person has changed.

## Getting ready for it

Autopilot switches on once it's earned, so prepare while you're still reviewing:

1. Review enough drafts that the voice feels right, and tune your [brand voice](/docs/brand-voice).
2. Make sure your [site knowledge](/docs/site-knowledge) is accurate: it's what articles state as fact about you.
3. Look at a few published articles on your live site after the first days.

If you'd rather stay hands-on, switch back to supervised and approve everything yourself. That's a perfectly good way to run Seovyn.