Enable Automation

Once you’ve verified the pipeline works end-to-end, you can automate the entire process.

What Gets Automated

Daily Pipeline (6am UTC)

Every morning, the system automatically:

1. Fetches topics from all active sources across all channels
2. Generates scripts for up to 20 draft items
3. Generates voice for up to 20 scripted items
4. Assembles video for 1 voiced item

Hourly Posting

Every hour, the system checks for approved content with a scheduled_for time that has passed, and posts it to YouTube.

Your Daily Workflow

With automation enabled, your job becomes:

1. Morning: Check the Review Queue for newly assembled videos
2. Review: Watch each video, approve the good ones, reject the rest
3. Schedule: Set posting times for approved content (spread across the day for best performance)
4. Done: The system handles the rest

Setting Up Cron Jobs on Render

The cron jobs are configured in render.yaml:

crons:
  - name: daily-pipeline
    schedule: "0 6 * * *"
    command: "curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/pipeline/run-full -H 'Authorization: Bearer $WORKER_API_KEY'"
 
  - name: hourly-posting
    schedule: "0 * * * *"
    command: "curl -X POST http://localhost:8000/pipeline/post-scheduled -H 'Authorization: Bearer $WORKER_API_KEY'"

Deploy this configuration to Render. The cron jobs will run automatically on the schedule.

Tips

• Start manual, then automate. Run the pipeline manually for the first week to understand the output quality. Once you’re happy with the prompt templates and config, enable the cron jobs.
• Batch your reviews. Check the Review Queue once or twice a day rather than after every pipeline run.
• Video assembly is the bottleneck. It processes 1 item per cron run due to memory limits. If you have a backlog, trigger extra runs manually from the Pipeline page.
• Posting time matters. Experiment with different posting hours. Many Shorts creators see best results posting in the afternoon/evening (US time zones).