Chapter 04 · Ideas and planning
Planning a week of content
A practical routine for shortlisting ideas, putting reminders on the calendar, generating on the planned day, approving and publishing, and staying inside your monthly credits.
Updated Sep 19, 2026 · 5 min read
On this page
Serpio gives you ideas, a calendar and a writer. It does not run them for you. That is deliberate: every article starts when you press Generate, and every publish happens under rules you set. Here is a routine that turns those parts into a steady week without surprises.
Before the week starts
- Confirm your content focus and voice. Until both are set, Home shows Give your writer the right starting point with a Complete setup link, and the workbench cannot save or generate. See Reviewing your content focus and Setting your voice.
- Check the Writing credits card on Home. It reads, for example, 12 of 30 articles used. Credits reset on the first of the month, UTC, and are shared across every site on your account.
- Decide how scheduled articles leave the building. The Scheduled delivery card lists destinations as Automatic or Review first. If you have no connection yet, exports still work. See Publishing overview.
Day one: read the feed and shortlist
- 1
Refresh once
Press Refresh in the Idea workbench so the collection reflects anything you wrote last week. Reloading the page does not do this.
- 2
Open, do not skim
Click each promising title. More details shows Timing, Angle, Reader benefit and Supporting sources. An idea with one thin source is a weaker bet than one with three.
- 3
Star the maybes
The star saves an idea without a date. It lands in Saved ideas as your backlog.
- 4
Plan the definites
Plan idea opens Schedule idea. Choose a day and press Add to calendar for that day. Spread three to five ideas across the week rather than stacking them on Monday.
- 5
Send feedback on the misses
Give feedback on this idea with Not relevant or Already covered removes that idea from future collections for this site.
How many to plan depends on your credits, not on the size of the feed. Ten ideas a day is what Serpio shows, not what it expects you to write.
The calendar is a reminder, not a robot
Planned ideas appear in amber on the Content calendar on the day you chose. Drag one to another day to reschedule. When automation is active, that day's next violet scheduler slot uses the planned idea first; when paused, the date remains a reminder.
On each planned day: generate and review
- 1
Open Home
The Saved ideas panel lists planned ideas with a Planned date. Press Use idea on today's.
- 2
Check the form
The Generate article form opens pre-filled from the idea. Adjust TONE, STYLE and TARGET LENGTH, add an outline under Editorial direction · optional if you have one, and press Generate.
- 3
Follow progress in Articles
The card reads Generating your article and walks through stages such as Researching supporting evidence and Checking article quality. You do not need to keep the tab open.
- 4
Review the draft
Draft ready gives you Open article. Read the evidence and the quality checks before you approve. See Quality checks and Evidence and citations.
Once the draft is saved, the planned idea is marked as used and leaves the calendar. The article takes its place on the same day.
Approve, then publish or export
The Scheduled delivery card shows the effective setting for every destination. Review first keeps scheduler-created output in Serpio; Automatic sends it according to the destination's draft or live setting. Manually generated articles always wait for Publish. See manual and scheduled publishing.
For connected destinations such as WordPress, Ghost, Blogger, DEV or a webhook, send from the article workspace. Without a connection, use a guided export and paste into your CMS. See Guided exports and Publishing without a connection. The Sent tile counts articles delivered in the last seven days.
Budgeting credits across the month
| Rule | What it means for planning |
|---|---|
| Credits count per UTC month | The period runs from the first of the month at 00:00 UTC. The Writing credits card and the limit dialog show the reset date. |
| Shared across sites | Every site on your account draws from the same pool. Plan the account, not one site. |
| Only completed articles count | A failed or paused generation costs nothing. Retrying it does not double count. |
| Saving and planning are free | Shortlist as much as you like. Ideas do not spend anything until a draft is saved. |
A simple budget: divide the month's remaining credits by the weeks left, plan that many ideas, and keep two in reserve for a timely angle. When the limit is reached, the You've hit your monthly limit dialog appears on Articles, and your saved ideas stay available to plan. Plan ceilings such as Up to 4×/day cadence describe the most a plan allows, not a schedule Serpio runs. See Plans and credits.
Common questions
Can I plan the whole month at once?
Plan idea offers the next seven days. Plan a week, then drag ideas to later dates on the calendar if you want a longer horizon.
What if a planned idea no longer fits by the time its day arrives?
Remove it from the calendar and pick another from the feed or your backlog. Nothing was spent.
Should I generate everything on Monday and publish through the week?
You can. Drafts wait until you approve them. Just remember that credits are used when drafts are saved, not when they publish.
Related guides
Calendar and cadence
What the Content calendar shows, how planned ideas fill automated slots, and how to configure your writing cadence.
Read guideManual and scheduled publishing
How manually generated articles differ from scheduler-created articles, and how each destination controls scheduled delivery.
Read guidePlans and writing credits
The four Serpio plans side by side, how monthly writing credits are counted and shared across sites, where to see usage, and what happens when you run out.
Read guide