Automation rules are the engine behind TheOptimizer’s optimization capabilities. Instead of logging in every few hours to pause underperformers or scale winners, you define the logic once and let the platform act for you around the clock. There are three core reasons to use them: they free up your time by handling repetitive tasks so you can focus on higher-leverage work like creative testing and landing page improvements; they provide 24/7 coverage so a campaign going over budget at 3am or a winner hitting its limit overnight gets handled automatically; and they eliminate human error by executing exactly what you define, every single time.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://theoptimizer.io/docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
1. Navigating the Rules Engine
Accessing Rules
Top Menu Options
Once inside the Rules page, the top menu bar gives you four key options:| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| New Rule (Standard) | Creates a rule that applies to specific campaigns you manually select. New campaigns launched later must be added manually. |
| New Global Rule | Works identically to a Standard Rule in terms of logic, but applies to an entire Ad Account. Any new campaign launched inside the selected account automatically inherits the rule. |
| Load from Template | Opens a library of pre-built rule templates (Stop-Loss, Scaling, Dayparting, and more). A fast way to get started — but always customize the default values before saving. |
| Manage Groups | Lets you organize rules into folders. Groups also let you assign a whole set of rules to a campaign at once, saving significant time as your rule library grows. |
Standard Rules vs. Global Rules
The most important practical difference between the two rule types is what happens when you launch a new campaign. With a Standard Rule, you must manually open the rule and add every new campaign you create. If you forget, those new campaigns are completely unprotected — no automation applies to them. With a Global Rule, you select an Ad Account instead of individual campaigns. Any new campaign you launch inside that account is automatically covered from day one, with no extra steps required.Finding the Right Rule for Your Traffic Source
When you click New Rule, the system loads available rule types for every ad network you have connected. Use these methods to find what you need quickly:
- Search by network name — type “Facebook” to filter only Facebook rules.
- Search by level — type “ad”, “campaign”, or “adset” to see rules at that level.
- Read the icons — each rule shows the logos of ad networks that support it. A rule showing all your connected network logos works across all of them.
Cross-network rules: Rules supported by multiple networks can be applied to campaigns from different ad networks within a single rule. If your Pause Campaign logic is the same for Facebook and TikTok, you can create one rule and add campaigns from both networks — rather than maintaining two separate rules.
Platform Terminology: Widget & Content
Sometimes you might encounter these terms throughout the platform (especially if you are working with native ad networks:2. Creating a Rule: Basic Settings
Click New Rule, select your rule type (for example, “Pause Ads – Facebook”), and you’ll enter the rule builder. The first section is Basic Settings.
Key Configuration Steps
Name your rule
Use a name that describes the logic, not just the type.
Pause Ads – Spend > $50 & 0 Conv tells you everything at a glance; Rule 1 tells you nothing. As your rule library grows, self-explanatory names save a lot of scrolling.Assign a Rule Group (optional)
Assign the rule to a group to keep your dashboard tidy and to bulk-assign rules to campaigns later without selecting them one by one.
Set the Default Data Interval
The time window the system looks at when evaluating all conditions. Options range from Today and Yesterday to Last 3 Days, Last 7 Days, all the way to Last 90 Days. Every condition in the rule uses this interval unless you override it individually (see Section 3).
Configure Exclude Days (optional)
Removes specific recent days from the evaluation window. If your revenue data arrives with a 24-hour delay — common in Search Arbitrage — excluding Today prevents the rule from making decisions based on spend with no corresponding revenue yet. You can exclude up to the last 3 days.
3. Rule Logic: Conditions & Time Frames
The Conditions section is the brain of your automation. Conditions define the exact criteria that must all be true for the rule to execute. Each condition has three parts: a Metric, an Operator, and a Value.
Adding Conditions
Example logic:
Understanding Metric Categories
Metrics in the dropdown are organized into three categories:
| Category | Source |
|---|---|
| Traffic Source Metrics | Data pulled directly from your ad network (Amount Spent, Impressions, Clicks from Facebook or TikTok). |
| Tracker Metrics | Data from your connected tracking platform (conversions, revenue, EPC from Voluum, Binom, etc.). |
| Custom Metrics | Metrics you define yourself by writing a formula inside TheOptimizer — useful for KPIs that combine data from multiple sources. |
Duplicating a Condition
When you need two conditions that are very similar — for example, checking that spend is both greater than 200 — use the duplicate button on the right side of any condition row. This clones the condition so you only need to change the operator or value, rather than rebuilding from scratch.Advanced Logic: Percentage Comparisons
Instead of comparing a metric to a fixed number, you can compare it to another metric. Click the$ icon next to the value field to switch modes:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| $ (Fixed Value) | Default. Compare against a specific number (e.g., Spend > $50). |
| % of Campaign | Compare against a campaign-level metric. Example: “Spend is greater than 20% of Campaign Daily Budget.” |
| % of | Compare against another metric at the same level. Example: “Spend is greater than 50% of Revenue” — an ROI threshold without a fixed number. |
Custom Time Frames (Per Condition)
All conditions use the Default Data Interval by default, but you can override this on a per-condition basis — allowing you to build rules that look at different time windows simultaneously.
Hour of Day Condition
The Hour of Day condition restricts when a rule is allowed to act, independently of whether the other conditions are met. If you only select Monday 9am–5pm, the rule will not take any action outside those hours — even if all other conditions are true.Configure the grid
A grid appears with days on the vertical axis and hours on the horizontal axis. Click individual cells, or use the shortcuts: Weekdays, Weekends, Working Hours, Select All, and Clear All. You can also click an hour header to select that hour across all days, or click a day label to select all hours for that day.
If you use an Hour of Day condition, set the rule’s execution frequency to Every 1 Hour. Running it every 10 minutes is redundant and clutters your execution logs.
4. Rule Actions
The Rule Actions section defines what the rule does when all conditions are met. There are four main action types.1. Status Actions (Pause / Activate)
The simplest action type. When conditions are met, the entity (ad, adset, or campaign) is paused or activated. No further configuration is needed — the action is fully defined by the rule type you selected.2. Budget & Bid Adjustments
For change-budget and change-bid rule types, configure the action in the Rule Action section:
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Set To | Forces the budget or bid to an exact value — a fixed number or a percentage of another metric. |
| Increase By | Adds to the current value by a fixed amount or a percentage. Useful for incremental scaling. |
| Decrease By | Subtracts from the current value by a fixed amount or a percentage. Useful for gradually pulling back on underperformers. |
Budget Safety Rails: Floor & Ceiling
When using Increase By or Decrease By, you can set a minimum and maximum budget value to prevent the rule from adjusting beyond safe limits:- Min Budget (Floor) — The rule will never reduce the budget below this value, even if the decrease amount would go lower.
- Max Budget (Ceiling) — The rule will never increase the budget above this value, even if the increase amount would go higher.
3. Cloning Actions
Cloning rules automatically duplicate a campaign, adset, or ad when conditions are met. Two additional fields appear:
- Number of Copies — How many clones to create each time the rule fires.
- Adjust budget before cloning — Optionally set the budget on the cloned copy to a specific value at creation time, rather than inheriting the original’s current budget.
- Destination — By default, clones land in the same campaign. Enable Change Cloned Ad Destination to redirect them to a specific adset, campaign, or even a different ad account.
4. Dayparting
Dayparting rules let you schedule exactly when a campaign runs.Dayparting is only available at the campaign level. It cannot be applied to ads or adsets.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Pause on selected hours, otherwise do nothing | Pauses during selected hours only. Outside those hours, the campaign is left in its current state. |
| Pause on selected hours, otherwise start | The most commonly used option. Pauses during selected hours and actively ensures the campaign is running at all other times. |
5. Scope and Filtering
Once the logic and action are defined, you control exactly which entities the rule monitors and acts on.Filtering: Include or Exclude Specific Items
The filter section lets you narrow or exclude specific items within your selected campaigns:| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Include | Overrides the campaign selection scope. Even if you have 100 campaigns selected, the rule will only act on the specific items you list here. |
| Exclude | The rule applies to everything across all selected campaigns, except the items you list. Use this to protect specific ads (e.g., those with “DO NOT TOUCH” in the name) while automating everything else. |
Select Campaigns
Every rule — regardless of whether it acts on ads, adsets, or campaigns — requires you to specify which campaigns it monitors. The rule evaluates entities within those campaigns only.- Manual Selection — Search for specific campaigns and check them one by one.
- Smart Filtering — Use the filter sidebar to auto-select all campaigns matching a naming pattern (e.g., all campaigns containing “US_2026”).
If you are creating a Global Rule, this section asks you to select Ad Accounts instead of individual campaigns.
6. Scheduling & Frequency
This setting controls how often TheOptimizer evaluates your conditions and potentially fires the rule.| Frequency | Best For |
|---|---|
| Every 10 min – Every 1 Hour | Stop-loss rules where you need to react quickly to bad performance. |
| As Soon as Conditions Are Met | Time-sensitive actions. The system continuously checks and fires the moment all conditions become true. |
| Once Daily / Daily at Specific Time | Budget resets or full-day performance reviews. You can set the exact time (e.g., 8:00am UTC). |
| Weekly | Rules that only need to run once a week — e.g., reviewing and adjusting budgets every Monday morning. |
If your rule includes an Hour of Day condition, set the frequency to Every 1 Hour. Running it every 10 minutes is redundant — the rule won’t act outside the specified hours regardless — and it clutters your execution logs.
7. Notifications & Alerts
The final step controls whether the rule acts, notifies you, or both.Execution Modes
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Execute & Alert | The rule makes the change and sends you a notification listing all items that triggered it. |
| Execute | The rule makes the change silently. No notification is sent. Use for well-established automations you trust completely. |
| Alert Only | Sends a notification but makes no changes whatsoever. The rule becomes a monitoring and alerting tool. |