Your pipeline should move itself
Build rules in plain language - when a status changes, when a stage moves, when a publish date is set - and let Timeliner do the moving, assigning, dating and pricing for you.
RULES
Approved → next stage
Status · Approved
Assign the Colorist
Stage · Grading
Brief due 21d before publish
Publish date set
Nudge after 3 days idle
Status · In revision
WHEN
THEN
When this happens, then do that
No scripts and no third-party automation account. Pick a trigger, add actions, and read the whole rule back as a sentence before you switch it on.
Triggers you'd actually use
A status change, a stage move, a new version upload, a publish date being scheduled, or a date column being set.
Conditions that narrow it down
Only while the task sits in a given stage - or only for vertical video under 90 seconds.
Several actions per rule
Chain them: move the stage, assign the right person, set the deadline, notify the team - in one rule.
RULES
Approved → next stage
Status · Approved
Assign the Colorist
Stage · Grading
Brief due 21d before publish
Publish date set
Nudge after 3 days idle
Status · In revision
WHEN
THEN
More than moving cards across a board
Automations write the fields that actually run an agency - assignment, deadlines, time estimates, pricing and posting time.
Assign by role, not by name
"Assign the Colorist" resolves when the rule runs, so hiring someone new never means editing your rules.
Deadlines, start dates and estimates
Set the internal or external deadline relative to the moment the rule fires, and book the hours while you're at it.
Apply a pricing template
Task type becomes Reel, and the Reel client price, editor pay and time estimate land on the task automatically.
Assign, deadline, estimate and pricing actions
Screenshot placeholderWork backwards from the publish date
Set a post's publish date and every upstream deadline places itself - brief, shoot, edit, review - counted backwards from the date it has to go live.
Anchor on the publish date
"Brief due 21 days before publish" is one rule, not a calculation somebody redoes every month.
Move the date, move the chain
Reschedule the post and every deadline anchored to it recomputes - no cascade to fix by hand.
Or simply wait
Delay a rule's actions by a few days; Timeliner re-checks the task when the time comes and skips anything that already moved on.
Deadlines counted backward from the publish date
Screenshot placeholderOff by default. Auditable always.
Automations only earn their place if you can trust them. Every rule keeps a run history, and the workspace master switch starts in the off position.
A full run history per rule
Which actions ran, which were skipped, and exactly why - for every single firing.
One master switch
Turn every automation off without deleting a rule, then turn them back on when you're ready.
Every source, one engine
Board moves, bulk actions, client approvals on share links, the public API and Janet all run the same rules.
Run history with per-action outcomes
Screenshot placeholderAlso included
Multi-status triggers
Approved or Posted, one rule.
Assign & unassign
By member or by sub-role.
Backward scheduling
Deadlines from a publish date.
Pricing templates
Price, pay and estimate in one action.
Run history
Every run, every outcome, logged.
API & AI access
Create rules from Claude, GPT or the API.
Frequently asked questions
Agency, Scale and Enterprise. Per-trigger notification controls are available from Studio; the stage-and-status rules engine is the Agency-and-up surface.
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