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When to use custom automations

Template automations cover the six most common SEO workflows out of the box. Use a custom automation when you need something more specific:
  • A recurring report that pulls GSC + AI visibility data and summarizes trends
  • A keyword hygiene job that adds tracked prompts or flags stale articles
  • A multi-step content workflow that doesn’t map to a single specialist agent
  • A scheduled check that posts to Slack when setup health blockers appear
Custom automations give you the same scheduling, notifications, and activity logging as templates — but you write the instructions and choose which tools the automation may call.

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Create a custom automation

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From the Automations page

  1. Go to Automations → New automation
  2. Choose Custom
  3. Fill in:
    • Name — descriptive label
    • Instructions — what the automation should do each run (be specific)
    • Allowed tools — check the tools it may call (grouped by category)
    • Schedule — cron preset or manual-only
    • Notifications — optional email/Slack on completion
  4. Save and enable

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From Agent chat

Ask Sight AI Agent to create one for you:
The agent uses the createCustomAction tool to propose name, instructions, tools, and schedule. Review and confirm before it saves.
Automations run with auto-confirm — state-changing tools execute without a second approval prompt. Only grant tools your instructions actually need, especially mutating ones (generate article, sync, add keywords, send outreach).

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Tool catalog overview

Tools are grouped in the builder by category: Mutating tools are flagged in the builder so you can see which selections change live data. See the complete list with descriptions in the Automation tools reference.

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MCP connector tools

If your team has connected MCP connectors, an additional tool group appears in the picker for each enabled connector — Ahrefs, HubSpot, Notion, Zapier, and others. Tools are grouped by provider name.
Connector tools granted on an automation run with auto-confirm during scheduled runs, even if they’re set to Ask first in chat. Only grant connector tools your instructions actually need.

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Execution limits

Custom automations run on Claude Opus with these guardrails: Template automations use the dedicated specialist engines instead and have their own action budgets (typically 2–10 actions per run).

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Example custom automations

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Weekly SEO digest

Instructions:
Tools: get_search_overview, get_ai_visibility_summary, get_search_queries, listTrackedPrompts Schedule: Weekly — Monday at 9 AM UTC

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Keyword gap filler

Instructions:
Tools: get_keywords_summary, list_keywords, get_article_limits, generate_article, get_article Schedule: Every weekday at 9 AM UTC

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Post-publish sync check

Instructions:
Tools: list_articles, get_cms_status, get_article_sync_status, sync_article Schedule: Daily at 6 PM UTC

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Instructions that work well

Good custom automation instructions are:
  • Specific — “Generate up to 2 articles” not “generate some articles”
  • Bounded — include max counts, score thresholds, or date ranges
  • Conditional — “Skip if CMS is not connected” or “Only act on opportunities above score 65”
  • Output-oriented — “Write a 5-bullet summary of actions taken” helps the activity log
Site memory (facts the agent remembers about your site) is injected automatically into every run, so you don’t need to repeat brand voice or competitor names in every automation.

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Custom vs. template: decision guide

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API and MCP

Custom automations created in the UI are stored per site and are not yet exposed on the v1 REST or MCP API. Programmatic agent control today uses the legacy agent config endpoints:
  • GET/PUT /api/v1/sites/{siteId}/agents/{agentKey}
  • POST /api/v1/sites/{siteId}/agents/{agentKey}/run
See Agents API reference and MCP setup for programmatic access to template agent keys.

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Next steps