# What an automation is, and the master switch

An X automation watches one X account or phrase and posts what it finds into one authorized Telegram group, using its own message preset. A bot holds up to 10 at once.

## Definition and the three types

> **Beta**
>
> X automations are currently in beta.

One automation = one source → one authorized Telegram group → its own message preset. Nothing is shared between automations — each holds its own settings, image and message text, even when two automations point at the same group.

A bot holds up to **10** automations, in any mix of the three types below. The `type` field defaults to `feed`: any value other than `phrase` or `follow` becomes a feed automation.

*The "Which automation?" picker*

| Card | Copy | Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Posts from Feed | Every new post from one account | `feed` |
| Phrase Filter | Every new post on X containing a phrase | `phrase` |
| Follow Tracker | Every new account one account follows | `follow` |

#### Deleting an automation

| Input | Output |
| --- | --- |
| Confirm-modal text | `Delete the automation for <source>? Its message preset and image go with it.` |

*Deleting removes one automation, permanently, along with its image. The master switch below pauses every automation at once and deletes none.*

## The master switch

#### The flag

| Setting | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Name | `twitter_automation_enabled` |
| Default | Off |
| Scope | All of the bot's automations at once — never one entry alone |

The switch pauses and resumes every automation on the bot together. It never deletes one — a paused automation keeps its settings and reappears exactly as configured once resumed.

*Three equivalent ways to flip it*

| Where | Who | Effect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Dashboard → Beta → Automations — the toggle reading **Automations on** / **Automations off** | The bot's owner | Writes the flag, then restarts the bot |
| `/menu` (or `/options`, `/help`) → **✨ Extra Features** → **🐦 X Automation** → **On** / **Off** | The bot's owner or a Memescale platform admin | Writes the flag live, no restart — takes effect on the bot's next poll, within 5 seconds |
| The platform-admin Automations tab, on any bot | A Memescale platform admin | Same as the dashboard toggle: writes the flag, then restarts the bot |

> **Note**
>
> Flipping the switch from either dashboard path restarts the whole bot, not just X automations — a brief interruption for everything the bot does. The Telegram menu path never restarts anything.

## The watermark law

Enabling an automation, changing its source, or a restart of the bot process all mean **from this moment**. History is **never** replayed.

#### What counts as "enabling"

There is no per-automation enable switch — only the master switch above. "Enabling" means the automation becoming runnable again: the master switch turning on, or its destination group being reauthorized after having been deauthorized.

Turning the master switch off stops all polling immediately — no X requests are made for any entry while it is off. Turning it back on re-arms every entry's watermark at that moment; posts published while it was off do not retroactively announce.

#### What counts as "its source"

| Type | What re-arms it |
| --- | --- |
| Feed, Follow tracker | The tracked handle changing |
| Phrase | The phrase, the minimum-follower gate, or the check-mark gate changing — any one of the three |

Changing anything else on an automation — its message, image, link, buttons, rules, recap or topic routing — never touches the watermark.

Editing a feed or follow automation's tracked handle from `@old` to `@new` re-arms it: the watermark resets to now, and `@new`'s posts or follows from before that moment never announce.

## Telegram command surface

**No owner command creates or edits an automation.** The only owner commands in reach are `/menu`, `/options`, and `/help` — three aliases for the same settings menu — and the only automation-related control on that menu is the master on/off switch above. Automations themselves are configured at memescale.ai; the dashboard is the only door.

The feature's own menu description says as much: `X alerts (account feed / phrase filter / follow tracker) set at memescale.ai`.

| Command | Who may send it | What it opens |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `/menu`, `/options`, `/help` | The bot's owner or a Memescale platform admin — never a Telegram group's own admins | The settings menu → **✨ Extra Features** → **🐦 X Automation** → **On** / **Off** |

> **Note**
>
> A press from anyone else gets the alert `Owner / admins only`.

## Groups and deauthorization

An automation's destination group must already be authorized for the bot before it can be picked when creating the automation.

> **Warning**
>
> Deauthorizing the group silently stops every automation posting into it. No error, no message in the group — the automation stops announcing.

* [Groups and access](#menu-access-groups)

Reauthorizing the group afterward resumes its automations under the same watermark law above: nothing from the gap is announced.

> **Note**
>
> Creating any automation also requires the bot itself to be fully provisioned: a Telegram bot with its webhook server already configured. An unprovisioned bot answers `Bot webhook server not configured`; a non-Telegram bot answers `X automations are only available for Telegram bots`.