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Hourly

Turn video ideas in a sheet into finished videos in Drive

Every hour the next ready idea in your Videos sheet becomes a video in your Drive, with the link and status written back to the sheet.

Runs
Hourly
Apps
Google Drive, Google Sheets
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
Sheets read+write; Drive drive (or drive.file)

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every hour, take the next Ready idea in my Videos sheet, generate the video with my video API, save it to Drive and write the Drive link and status back.

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 brand plans short social videos in a sheet: an idea, a style and a status column. Turning each idea into a video means copying it into a generator, waiting, downloading the file and uploading it to Drive. It happens in bursts, so the posting calendar has gaps.

Working through the queue one idea an hour keeps a steady supply of finished videos in Drive. The sheet stays the plan, and the status column shows exactly what is ready to post.

What you get out of it

  • A steady flow of content

    One video an hour, every hour, adds up to a full posting calendar without anyone sitting at a generator.

  • The sheet stays the plan

    You add ideas and mark them Ready. Everything else follows from the sheet.

  • Finished files in one place

    Every video lands in the same Drive folder with a link in its row, ready for editing or scheduling.

  • Clear status at a glance

    Each row shows whether its video is waiting, done or failed, so the team knows what to post.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every hour, ClickRuntime reads your Videos sheet and finds the first idea marked Ready.

  2. AI turns the idea into a detailed prompt for your video service.

  3. The video is generated and saved to your Google Drive folder.

  4. The Drive link is written into the row and its status is changed to Done, so it is not made again.

Before it runs live

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

What you get

RunsHourly
Turn video ideas in a sheet into finished videos in Drivetoday, 9:00Succeeded
Google Sheets · VideosThree ways to style the Acme tote bag · Done · https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qw…

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

  • Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
  • 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 Drive 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.
generate_media_from_a_sheet_queue_into_drive.pyexample
from googleapiclient.http import MediaInMemoryUpload
from google.oauth2.credentials import Credentials
from googleapiclient.discovery import build
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, ai

SHEET_ID, FOLDER_ID, VIDEO_API = "your-videos-sheet-id", "your-drive-folder-id", "https://api.your-video-service.com/v1/videos"

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    creds = Credentials(credentials.connection("google", "work"))
    values = build("sheets", "v4", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False).spreadsheets().values()
    rows = values.get(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range="Videos!A2:C").execute().get("values", [])
    ready = next((i for i, r in enumerate(rows, start=2) if len(r) > 1 and r[1] == "Ready"), None)
    if ready is None:
        return {"made": 0}
    prompt = ai.generate(f"Write a detailed prompt for a 15-second vertical video about: {rows[ready - 2][0]}", max_output_tokens=300).text
    job = http.post(VIDEO_API, json={"prompt": prompt}, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('VIDEO_API_KEY')}"},
                    timeout=300).json()
    video = http.get(job["video_url"], timeout=120).content
    f = build("drive", "v3", credentials=creds, cache_discovery=False).files().create(
        body={"name": f"{rows[ready - 2][0][:60]}.mp4", "parents": [FOLDER_ID]},
        media_body=MediaInMemoryUpload(video, mimetype="video/mp4"), fields="webViewLink").execute()
    values.update(spreadsheetId=SHEET_ID, range=f"Videos!B{ready}:C{ready}", valueInputOption="RAW",
                  body={"values": [["Done", f["webViewLink"]]]}).execute()
    return {"made": 1}

FAQ

Common questions

Which video service does it use?
The video generation service you already use, through its API key. The prompt and settings for each video come from the sheet.
What happens if a video fails?
The row is marked as failed with a short note, and the next Ready idea is picked up in the following hour.
Can I control the order?
Ideas are taken from the top of the sheet down, so moving a row up moves it forward in the queue.
What permissions does it need?
Sheets read+write; Drive drive (or drive.file). 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 runs (hourly). Checks that find nothing to do 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 video ideas in a sheet into finished videos in Drive” from your assistant

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