How do RunSignl automations work?
Keyword automations send a DM when someone comments or replies to a story — how to build one, what the statuses mean, and why saving one does not make it live.
What an automation is
An automation is a rule: when this happens, do this. RunSignl supports two triggers today.
- Comment → DM. Someone comments a word you choose on your posts, and they get your direct message.
- Story reply → DM. Someone replies to one of your stories with a word you choose, and they get your direct message. Instagram only, and there is no public reply — a story reply is already private.
That is the whole list. Anything else you may have seen described is not something you can build today.
Building one
- Open Engage → Automations (or start from a Quick Start).
- Choose the trigger and the account it runs on.
- Set your keywords — the words people will comment or reply.
- Choose the scope: any of your posts, or one specific post.
- Write the direct message they receive.
- Optionally add up to three buttons (a title and a link each).
- Save. It is now a Draft.
- Review the summary and activate it.
Matching options
- Whole word (recommended) — "free" never matches "carefree".
- Exact comment — the whole comment must be the keyword.
- Anywhere — the keyword may appear inside another word.
You can also add exclude keywords (it never fires when the comment also contains one), allow close misspellings, and set a delay before the DM is sent.
For comment automations you can add a public reply posted under their comment, with its own delay. On Instagram you can also require that the person follows the account — Instagram enforces that check at send time, not RunSignl.
Saving is not activating
Saving an automation does not make it live. The summary you confirm at activation is generated from the exact values that will be used, so what you read is what will happen.
The status you see is the truth about both what you asked for and what has actually been confirmed:
- Draft — saved, not live.
- Ready to activate — complete and waiting for you.
- Activation pending — activation is being confirmed.
- Active — confirmed live.
- Paused — live once, currently stopped.
- Failed — activation did not complete. RunSignl says which cause applies.
- Disconnected — the account it runs on is no longer connected.
Once active, an automation keeps working when RunSignl is closed — it does not depend on your browser being open.
Automations and Reply Assistant do not collide
An active keyword automation owns its comment. When a comment matches one, Reply Assistant stands down and does not draft or send anything for it. That is what makes a double response impossible.
Ownership requires all of it to line up: the same account, the automation confirmed live, the right trigger for that surface, a scope that covers the post, and the keyword actually matching under that automation's own matching mode and exclusions.
Automations are also independent of your reply levels. They keep running whatever you have set for Comments, DMs or Story replies — and they always answer first.
What automations do not do
- They do not reply to inbound DMs. No DM trigger is available to build today.
- They do not welcome new followers. No trigger exists for that, and RunSignl will not fake one by watching your follower list.
- They do not post content.
Requirements
A connected Instagram account, and an owner or editor role.
Last checked against the live product on .