SiteOps drafts a lot on its own — routines fill the calendar, plans queue posts and emails, the assistant proposes work. The question that matters is not what it can draft but what it may do without you. That is what the autopilot dial answers: one trust level from 0 to 3 that every channel starts from. Until you pick a level, SiteOps runs the project itself — everything it drafts goes out on its own; the dial takes effect the moment you set it. At Manual (0) nothing is drafted or sent without your action. At Assisted (1) SiteOps drafts into the schedule on its own, but nothing fires without your approval. At With veto (2) items are approved by default and fire at their slot — unless you reject them inside the veto window. At Turnkey (3) trusted work fires without a veto, and only exceptions come back to you.
The project level is a default, not a verdict. Every connected channel that publishes something carries its own trust dial right on its row in Settings — approve first, runs alone with a veto window, or runs alone. A channel's own dial overrides the project level in both directions: a brand-new account can stay at approve-first while the rest of the project runs at Turnkey, and vice versa. One exception is carved in stone: ad accounts have no dial to raise. Every ad launch and every ad change waits for your approval, at every level, forever — SiteOps never spends on its own.
How your numbers travel
A new draftroutines, plans, the assistant
The trust diallevel, channel override, guardrails
level 0–3spend capsveto window
The calendardraft, vetoable or approved
Around the dial sit the guardrails, and they hold whatever level you pick. Spend caps park any ad that would pass them, even one you scheduled yourself. The veto window (24 hours by default) is how long a level-2 item holds for a possible no. And the kill switch pauses all execution instantly while drafting continues. Everything the engine does alone is written to the activity feed, so trust is never blind.
Set it up, step by step
0 of 7 done
Settings
Autopilot
Settings
Connections
Trust
Runs alone, 24 h veto
Settings
Ad accounts
Settings
Autopilot
Guardrails
$ a day$ in total
Settings
Autopilot
Guardrails
Settings
Autopilot
Pause everything
Calendar
Activity
If something does not work
I set the level to Turnkey — why do ads still wait for approval?
By design, forever. The level dial never raises ads: every ad launch and every ad change lands as needs-approval at every level. The ad rows in Settings show the pin in place of a dial. SiteOps never spends money on its own.
I hit Pause everything, but new drafts keep appearing.
That is the kill switch working as designed. It freezes execution — nothing sends, posts, emails and ads all hold — but drafting continues, so routines and plans keep filling the queue. When you resume, everything fires from where it stood. If you also want drafting to stop, turn the level down to Manual.
A vetoable item sent before the 24 hours were up.
The veto deadline is the earlier of the item's slot and the full window. An item scheduled 6 hours out gives you 6 hours to veto, then fires at its slot — the window never pushes a send past its scheduled time. If you want more room, reschedule the item further out; the deadline recomputes.
I raised the project level, but one channel still waits for approval.
That channel has its own dial set, and an explicit per-channel setting always wins over the project level. Find its row in Settings and change its Trust select. Also check the amount: an ad over your spend caps and any draft flagged as sensitive waits for you no matter what either dial says.