How to create an article from an idea

By the end of this you will have a draft article in Articles, written from an idea Serpio has already researched. Your part takes a couple of minutes. The writing happens in the background, so you can leave the page. Any plan works as long as you have a credit left this month; the Free plan includes three.

Before you start

• Your content focus is confirmed. If the workbench on Home shows Review your content focus, or the header button reads Finish setup, do that first. See Reviewing your content focus.
• You have at least one idea on the workbench. If it reads No new eligible ideas yet, write from your own topic instead: How to create an article from scratch.
• You have a credit left. The Writing credits card on Home shows, for example, 2 of 3 articles used.

Steps

1. 1

   Open Home and find the workbench

   The Idea workbench sits at the top of Home. Each tile shows a title, a short description and up to two keyword tags. The header reads, for example, 8 ideas to explore.

2. 2

   Click the tile title

   The Idea details dialog opens with the title, a brief, and two buttons: Generate article and Plan idea. If you have written from this idea before, the first button reads Use again and a green marker shows Used once.

3. 3

   Check the evidence

   Press More details. You should see Timing, Angle, Reader benefit, Why it fits your brand, Supporting sources with one card per source, and Search keywords. If the sources look thin, pick another tile.

4. 4

   Press Generate article

   The dialog closes and the Generate article form opens. Its header reads Your selected idea is pre-filled. Review it, then generate when ready. and a badge above the topic says From your selected idea. CONTENT NICHE is already set to the idea's focus. You can skip the two previous steps by pressing Use idea on the tile itself.

5. 5

   Adjust the form if you want

   Under KEYWORDS FOR THIS ARTICLE, Serpio shows the terms selected from the idea and your researched keyword opportunities. Leave them automatic, or add and remove terms to override the selection for this article. You can also change TONE, STYLE or TARGET LENGTH, or open Editorial direction · optional. Leave the TOPIC text alone unless you mean to change it: editing it drops the link to the idea's research.

6. 6

   Press Generate

   The button reads Queueing… for a moment. A toast confirms the article is queued, and Articles opens with a progress card headed Generating your article.

7. 7

   Watch the stages, or walk away

   The card moves through Queued, Loading your brand, Building the brief, Researching supporting evidence, Writing the article, Checking article quality and Saving draft. You do not need to keep the tab open.

8. 8

   Open the draft

   When the card reads Draft ready, press Open article. The draft opens in the article workspace with its evidence and quality checks alongside.

What happens next

The draft waits for your review. Back on Home, the tile now shows Used once with an Open article link, the To review tile counts the new draft, and the Writing credits card has moved up by one. If the idea was also in Saved ideas, it is marked as used and leaves the panel and the calendar. Editing and approving are covered in How to edit and approve an article.

If something looks off

• Generate article is greyed out in the dialog. Setup is incomplete, and a Finish setup to generate articles link appears beneath the buttons. Complete setup, then come back.
• The form's main button reads Confirm content focus. The selected focus is unconfirmed. Confirm it in setup; nothing else unblocks the form.
• A dialog says You've hit your monthly limit. This month's credits are used. Press Not now and plan the idea instead, or View plans. The dialog shows when the limit resets.
• The progress card reads Generation paused. Open Error details for the reason, then press Retry generation. Temporary service problems retry on their own, shown as Retrying automatically.
• The From your selected idea badge disappeared after you typed. You edited the topic, so the idea's stored research was detached and Serpio will research your wording fresh. Reopen the idea from the workbench if you want the original back.

Go deeper

• How the idea feed works explains where tiles come from and the checks they pass.
• Generating an article covers the form in depth and what the writer does with the brief.
• Evidence and citations shows how the idea's sources appear in the draft.
• How to save and schedule ideas if you would rather plan than write today.