Skip to content

Every hour

Turn keywords in a sheet into article drafts in Google Docs

Mark a keyword Ready in your sheet and an outline appears in a new Google Doc, with the link written back to the row.

Runs
Every hour
Apps
Google Docs, Google Sheets
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
Sheet edit; Docs create

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every hour, for each keyword marked Ready in my Content sheet, write an SEO outline in a new Google Doc, add the link to the row and mark it Drafted.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A small content team keeps its keyword plan in a spreadsheet. Turning each row into a brief means opening a blank doc, researching headings and writing the structure, which is the part that keeps slipping when the week gets busy.

Having a first outline waiting in Docs for every approved keyword means writers start from a structure, not a blank page. The sheet stays the single place to see what is planned, drafted and published.

What you get out of it

  • No blank-page starts

    Each writer opens a doc that already has headings and key points. Time goes into the writing and the expertise, not the scaffolding.

  • The plan stays in one sheet

    Status and doc link are written back to the keyword row. Anyone can see at a glance what has been drafted.

  • Approval stays with you

    Only rows you mark Ready are picked up. Nothing is written for keywords that have not been signed off.

  • Consistent briefs across writers

    Every outline follows the same shape. Editing and reviewing several articles a week gets easier.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every hour, ClickRuntime reads your Content sheet and looks for keywords marked Ready.

  2. For each one, AI writes an outline with headings and key points.

  3. The outline is saved in a new Google Doc named after the keyword.

  4. The row is updated to Drafted with a link to the doc, so it is not picked up again.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Google Docs
  • Connect your Google Sheets account and pick the spreadsheets it may use

What you get

RunsEvery hour
Turn keywords in a sheet into article drafts in Google Docstoday, 9:00Succeeded
Google Sheets · Content"invoice automation for contractors": Drafted, outline in Google Docs

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Google Docs and Google Sheets steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
article_drafts_from_a_keyword_sheet.pyexample
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, ai, report_fetched, log

SHEET_ID = "your-spreadsheet-id"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    creds = Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work"))
    sheets = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets()
    rows = sheets.values().get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Content!A2:C").execute().get("values", [])
    ready = [(i + 2, r[0]) for i, r in enumerate(rows) if len(r) > 1 and r[1] == "Ready"]
    report_fetched(len(ready))
    if not ready:
        return {"drafted": 0}
    docs = build("docs", "v1", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False).documents()
    for row, keyword in ready[:10]:
        try:
            outline = ai.generate(f"Write an SEO article outline with H2/H3 headings and bullet points for: {keyword}", max_output_tokens=900).text
        except ai.AIError as e:
            log.warning("AI unavailable", {"code": e.code})
            break
        doc = docs.create(body={"title": keyword}).execute()
        docs.batchUpdate(documentId=doc["documentId"], body={"requests": [{"insertText": {"location": {"index": 1}, "text": outline}}]}).execute()
        sheets.values().update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range=f"Content!B{row}:C{row}", valueInputOption="USER_ENTERED",
            body={"values": [["Drafted", f"https://docs.google.com/document/d/{doc['documentId']}"]]}).execute()
    return {"drafted": len(ready[:10])}

FAQ

Common questions

Does it write the full article or just an outline?
It writes an outline with headings and key points by default. You can ask for a full first draft instead, which is longer and uses more AI tokens per keyword.
Where are the docs saved?
New docs are created in your Google Drive and the link is written into the keyword's row. You can move them into a shared content folder.
Can I add notes for each keyword, like audience or angle?
Yes. Extra columns such as audience, angle or target length can be included in what the outline is based on.
What permissions does it need?
Sheet edit; Docs create. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it checks. Checks that find nothing new and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Turn keywords in a sheet into article drafts in Google Docs” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.