Automation Hub

The Automation Hub lets you set up rules and schedules to handle routine bid management tasks automatically. Define conditions (e.g., “if ACoS > 30%”) and configure hourly bid multipliers. Guardrails prevent rules from making unsafe changes.

In this guide:

• Build automation rules with conditions
• Use rule templates to get started
• Set up dayparting for hourly bid adjustments
• Configure guardrails and safety thresholds
• Understand autonomy levels per marketplace

Prerequisites

• Permission: advertising_dashboard_basic to view; org:update_advertising to create/edit rules.

Step 1: Open the Automation Hub

Go to Advertising → Automation in the sidebar.

The Automation Hub opens with four tabs: Rules Engine, Dayparting, Event Playbooks, and Guardrails.

Step 2: Create automation rules

The Rules Engine tab has two sub-tabs: Rules (your list of automation rules) and Registry (rule templates and examples). Click + Create New Rule (or Create rule if the list is empty) to build one.

Rule builder

1. Select or create a rule: Choose a template or start from scratch.
2. Define conditions: Build conditions using a recursive DSL.
   • all_of: all conditions must be true
   • any_of: at least one condition must be true
   • not: negate a condition
   • Each condition has a metric (ACoS, spend, etc.), operator (>, <, =), and value
3. Set the action: what the rule does when conditions are met (e.g., “decrease bid by 10%”)
4. Review and save: see the plain-English summary and JSON preview before saving

Example rule

Create a rule to pause underperforming keywords:

• Condition: all_of: [ACoS > 30%, Sales < 1 per week]
• Action: Pause keyword
• Plain-English: “If ACoS is above 30% AND weekly sales are below 1, pause the keyword.”

Backtest a rule

After saving your rule, click Backtest to see how many times the rule would have fired over a date range and estimate the daily impact (e.g., “would fire 4 times, ~$50/day savings”).

Per-marketplace autonomy

Rules can operate at different autonomy levels per marketplace:

• Suggest: rule proposes changes in the Optimization Hub; you approve each one
• Approve: rule auto-approves its own changes; you can still review and rollback
• Autonomous: not available in the normal rule selector, but can be enabled through a separate eligibility workflow

You’ll see autonomy chips on the rule list showing which marketplaces use which mode.

Permission: org:update_advertising is required to create or modify rules. Autonomous mode eligibility is determined by your organization’s automation policies and may require additional setup.

Step 3: Set up dayparting

The Dayparting tab lets you adjust bids by hour of the week.

The 7×24 grid

You see a grid: 7 days (Monday–Sunday) × 24 hours (0–23). Each cell represents one hour and a bid multiplier.

Available multipliers: 0 (Off), 0.5 (half bid), 1 (base bid), 1.5 (1.5× bid), 2 (double bid), 2.5 (2.5× bid), 3 (triple bid).

Edit the grid

Click cells to select a multiplier, or click and drag to paint the same multiplier across multiple hours. Hover over a cell to see the current multiplier.

Example: peak hours boost

Increase bids during peak shopping hours (9–17) and lower them on weekends:

• Paint 9–17 on Mon–Fri with 2 (double bid)
• Paint all 24 hours on Sat–Sun with 0.5 (half bid)

Save and manage schedules

Click Save to create your schedule. Then click Activate to apply it to campaigns.

Once you’ve created a schedule, you can:

• Edit — modify the grid multipliers at any time
• Activate — turn the schedule on so it takes effect
• Deactivate — pause the schedule temporarily without losing your settings
• History — view previous versions of the schedule

When you edit and re-activate a schedule, a new version is created with a timestamped entry in History.

Step 4: Configure guardrails

The Guardrails tab sets safety limits for automation rules.

Permission: org:ads_admin is required to configure guardrails.

• Bid Floor: the minimum bid rules can set for any keyword or target
• Bid Ceiling: the maximum bid rules can set for any keyword or target
• Daily Action Cap: the maximum number of actions rules can execute per day
• Daily Impact Cap: the maximum impact (spend or metric change) rules can create per day
• Protected keywords/search terms/campaigns/ad groups: select entities that rules cannot modify

Edit these values and click Save. An unsaved-changes guard will warn you if you try to leave without saving.

Step 5: Event Playbooks

The Event Playbooks tab lets you create and manage seasonal or event-triggered automation playbooks. You can create playbooks, edit their conditions and actions, activate/deactivate them, and view a calendar showing when they’re active.

Click Create playbook to build a playbook with conditions (e.g., specific dates or Amazon events) and automated actions. Once created, you can activate it to take effect and deactivate it to pause it temporarily.

Troubleshooting

• Rule won’t backtest. Backtest requires sufficient historical data for your chosen date range. Try a wider date range or check if your campaigns have data for the selected period.
• Autonomy chips show “suggest” but I want auto-approval. Autonomy mode eligibility is determined by your organization’s policies. Contact your admin to check if your marketplace qualifies for a different mode.
• “You need org:update_advertising permission” when trying to save a rule. You can view rules but don’t have permission to create or edit them. Ask your admin.
• Guardrails prevent my rule from executing. Review the guardrail thresholds—they may be too restrictive. Loosen them in the Guardrails tab if needed.

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