Start from a template

Most automations people build are one of a handful of shapes: a keyword that gets your link, a follow-first gate, a comment that turns into a DM. The template library has each of those already wired. You pick one, change the words and the link, and switch it on.

A template is an ordinary step document, so the same library is open to the dashboard, the CLI, the REST API and an AI assistant connected over MCP.

Pick one

In big, click New automation. Instead of an empty canvas you get the library:

Start from scratch comes first. It opens a blank canvas with only the trigger card, the way New automation used to.
Then every template, grouped into Grow your audience, Sell and capture leads and Answer questions. Each card shows its trigger, the keyword it waits for, how many steps it has, and needs a post if it's a comment template.

Click a card and it opens on the canvas with every step already written. You can link straight to one, too: /automations/new?template=<id> opens that template, with the ids from the table below. A link to an id that isn't in the library opens the picker with a notice instead.

First time here? Press Show me around in the corner and Dot walks you through the picker: what the trigger chip means, the comment-to-DM template, the scratch card, and why everything starts paused.

You need the editor role or higher to create an automation.

What's in the library

The Trigger column says what sets it off, and the Keyword column is the word it starts with. A DM or story-reply keyword must be the whole message, and a comment keyword only has to appear as a word in the comment (see Triggers). "Any" means the trigger has no keyword and answers every message of that kind.

Grow your audience

Id	Name	Trigger	Keyword	What it does	What to change
`dm-keyword-link`	Keyword → DM your link	DM	`LINK`	Someone DMs you a word and gets your link straight back.	The keyword, the link.
`dm-follower-gate`	Follow first → DM your link	DM	`VIP`	Asks them to follow, checks that they did, then sends the link. A non-follower is nudged and re-checked, up to two tries, then let go without the link.	The keyword, the three messages, the link, how many re-checks (`max_attempts`).
`comment-keyword-link`	Comment a word → DM your link	Comment	`LINK`	Replies publicly under the comment, then DMs them the link.	The post, the keyword, the public reply, the link.
`comment-giveaway-entry`	Giveaway entry by comment	Comment	`WIN`	Confirms the entry publicly, then DMs the draw date and your rules.	The post, the keyword, the draw date, your rules link.
`story-reply-thanks`	Story reply → thank-you and link	Story reply	Any	Thanks anyone who replies to one of your stories and sends your link.	The message, the link, and keywords if you only want to answer some replies.

Sell and capture leads

Id	Name	Trigger	Keyword	What it does	What to change
`dm-lead-qualifier`	Qualify a lead with a tap	DM	`START`	Asks what they're after with three tappable choices (Free guide, Work with me, Just looking) and sends each answer somewhere different.	The keyword, the three choices, each path's link. A form you built in big works well behind Work with me.

Answer questions

Id	Name	Trigger	Keyword	What it does	What to change
`dm-faq-menu`	FAQ menu	DM	`FAQ`, `HELP`	A menu of your common questions (Prices, Shipping, Talk to a human). Each tap sends the answer, and the last one tells them you'll reply yourself.	The keywords, the topics (up to 13), each answer.
`dm-welcome`	Welcome every new DM	DM	Any	An instant hello to any DM, with your link. It skips story replies, so a story automation can answer those.	The message, the link.

dm-welcome answers every DM, so give your keyword automations priority over it. Only one automation runs per message, and a tie goes to the older one, so a welcome you add after your keyword automations will not steal their messages. See Story replies and your DM automations for how priority is decided.

The two automations a new workspace is seeded with, the Example cards on your Automations list, are dm-keyword-link and dm-follower-gate. See The example we left you.

Every template starts paused

A template opens switched off. Every link in it points at https://example.com, and some messages carry a marker like [DATE — edit this], so a template nobody edited would answer your fans with a placeholder. Starting paused means saving it by accident answers nobody.

To make one live:

Change the keyword, if you want a different word.
Rewrite each message and replace every example.com link with yours.
For a comment template, bind the post (below).
Switch it on at the top of the canvas and press Save.

A paused automation doesn't count toward your active-automation cap. It starts counting when you switch it on.

Comment templates need a post

comment-keyword-link and comment-giveaway-entry watch the comments on one of your posts, and a template can't know which one you mean. They open with No post bound on the trigger card. Click it and pick the post or reel. The automation won't save until a post is bound.

Two rules come with comment automations:

One active comment automation per post. If another active automation already watches that post, saving fails until you switch the other one off. See Triggers.
Text only. A comment automation sends a public reply and plain DMs. There are no tappable choices, and its DM goes out within Instagram's 7-day comment window. That's why both comment templates are two steps: the reply, then one DM.

The picker lists the posts big has synced. If a new post isn't there yet, open the Posts tab (see Manage posts & comments), which refreshes them from Instagram.

Build one with an agent

The library is the same from the terminal and from an AI assistant. The flow is always: list the templates, read one's document, rewrite its keywords, messages and links from what you want, then create it. What gets created is paused, so you read it back and switch it on yourself.

From the CLI

Say you want anyone who comments GUIDE on your latest reel to get your free guide. Start with the comment template:

big rule:templates --trigger comment
big rule:template comment-keyword-link --document > guide.json

Edit guide.json. Change the keyword, the reply and the link, and keep the step ids:

{
  "format": "big.automation/v1",
  "name": "Comment GUIDE → DM the guide",
  "trigger": { "type": "comment", "keywords": ["GUIDE"] },
  "steps": [
    { "id": "public-reply", "reply": "Sent it to your DMs 📩" },
    { "id": "send-link", "dm": "Here's the free guide 👉 https://yourname.example/guide" }
  ]
}

The post isn't in the document. Find its Instagram media id with big posts, where each row shows media:<id>, and pass it with --post:

big posts
big rule:create "Comment GUIDE" --steps guide.json --template comment-keyword-link --post 17912345678901234
big rule:view <id> --steps
big rule:toggle <id> --on

--template with --steps creates your edited document and records which template it came from.
--template on its own creates the template exactly as written, example.com links included, and the CLI warns you to edit it.
A comment document without --post is refused before anything is sent. Repeat --post to watch more than one post.
rule:create makes a paused automation unless you pass --active.

big rule:example still works but is deprecated. It now prints a template's document, and its old names map to dm-follower-gate (follower-gate) and dm-keyword-link (keyword-reply). Use big rule:template <id> --document instead. Every flag is in the CLI reference.

From an AI assistant

Tell your assistant what you want in plain words, for example: "Set up an automation so anyone who DMs me VIP has to follow me first, then gets my link, https://yourname.example/vip." With the MCP server connected, it should:

List the library and pick dm-follower-gate.
Read that template's document.
Rewrite the keyword, the three messages and the example.com link from what you said, and ask you for anything in the template's "what to change" list it doesn't know.
Create it with the edited document and the template id.
Tell you it's paused, so you can read it back and switch it on.

Step	Local server (`big mcp`)	Remote server (`/api/mcp`)
List	`big_rule_templates_list` (`category`, `triggerType`)	`list_automation_templates` (`category`, `trigger_type`)
Read one	`big_rule_template_view` (`templateId`)	`get_automation_template` (`template_id`)
Create	`big_rule_create` (`document`, `templateId`, `postIds`)	`create_automation` (`document`, `template_id`)

category is grow, sell or support, and the trigger filter is dm, comment or story_reply.

Comment templates on the remote server go to the dashboard. The remote server can't list your posts, so create_automation refuses a comment document, creates nothing, and returns a link to /automations/new?template=<id> where you pick the post and finish it on the canvas. The local server can create one: the assistant finds the post with big_posts_list and passes its ig_media_id in postIds.

big_rule_create also starts paused unless the assistant asks for active: true, and that needs confirm: true too. create_automation is always paused.

Over the REST API

GET /api/automation-templates lists the library, and GET /api/automation-templates/:id returns one template with its document. Create it with POST /api/automations, sending your edited document, the template_id, and for a comment document the post_ids. Over REST an automation is created active unless you send "active": false. Details are in the API reference.

Next step

Want to see every step by hand? Build your first automation walks through a comment-to-DM automation on the canvas.

Start from a template

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