Create a brief
Step-by-step guide to the brief wizard.
Create a brief
A brief is the blueprint for an AI-generated article. It defines the topic scope, input sources, editorial tone and structure, and optionally an automated schedule. This guide walks you through the brief wizard from start to finish.
A brief must be attached to a site. If your workspace has no site yet, create one first — then come back to the brief wizard. (Standalone articles don't require a site, but briefs and publishing do.)
What is a brief?
A brief tells EarlyForge exactly what to write about and how to write it. When you trigger generation -- manually or on a schedule -- EarlyForge uses your brief to discover sources, retrieve relevant content, and generate a fully cited article matching your specifications.
Briefs have four states:
- Draft -- Saved but not yet used for generation. You can keep editing.
- Active -- Ready for manual generation or running on a schedule.
- Paused -- Automation is temporarily stopped. Manual generation still works.
- Archived -- No longer in use. Preserved for reference but cannot generate articles.
The brief wizard
Topic
Define what the article is about.
- Title -- A short name for this brief (e.g., "Weekly AI Roundup"). This is for your reference, not the article headline.
- Description -- A sentence or two explaining the scope. EarlyForge uses this as primary context when generating.
- Category -- Pick the category that fits your topic (Technology, AI, Science, Health, Business, Crypto, Sports, and more). This determines which trend data and sources are prioritized.
- Target regions -- Choose one or more regions to focus discovery and sourcing on. Leave it open to draw from coverage worldwide.
Sources
Tell EarlyForge where to find information. You can add specific URLs, upload documents, link active trends, and pick from a curated library of vetted publications.
See the Sources guide for details on each source type.
Tone and structure
Control how the article reads.
- Tone -- Choose a preset: formal, casual, journalistic, or analytical. See the Style and tone guide for examples of each.
- Target length -- Short (~500 words), medium (~1,000 words), or long (~2,000 words).
- Article structure -- The default is introduction, key developments, analysis, conclusion. You can rename, add, remove, and reorder sections.
- Style guide -- If your site has a style guide defined, the brief inherits it automatically. You can override it here.
- Language -- Select the output language from the 28 supported languages.
Schedule
Decide whether articles are generated manually or on a schedule.
- Manual only -- You trigger generation yourself from the brief page. This is the default.
- Automated -- Enable a recurring schedule with a timezone, so EarlyForge generates articles for you on a cadence you choose.
See the Scheduling guide for schedule examples and timezone configuration.
Review
Preview all your settings on a single summary screen. Verify the topic, sources, tone, and schedule. Click Create brief to save.
If you enabled automation, the brief immediately becomes Active and will run at its next scheduled time. Otherwise it starts as a Draft until you activate it.
Start with manual-only briefs while you tune the topic and sources. Once you are satisfied with the output quality, enable automation to generate articles on a schedule.
Generating an article
Once your brief is active, click Generate article on the brief detail page. EarlyForge runs through discovery, content retrieval, and article generation. A typical run completes in about 75 seconds, and you can watch the progress live in the streaming panel that appears during generation.
A monthly AI word budget is on us on every plan (Free 5,000 · Starter 10,000 · Pro 25,000 · Scale 50,000 words/month). To generate beyond that on a paid plan, connect your own AI key for unlimited generation. See Connect your AI for the one-click and manual setup.
Briefs per month by plan
The number of briefs you can create each month depends on your plan.
| Plan | Briefs / month |
|---|---|
| Free | — |
| Starter | 3 |
| Pro | 20 |
| Scale | 100 |
| Enterprise | Custom |
Quotas reset on your billing-cycle date and unused briefs do not roll over.
What's next?
- Scheduling -- Configure automated, recurring generation
- Sources -- Deep dive into source types
- Style and tone -- Fine-tune article tone, structure, and length
- Connect your AI -- Unlock unlimited generation with your own AI key