How the Coach writes articles
How the Coach (Quill) drafts a post, saves it as a WriteStack article, edits existing drafts and pushes them to Substack, and which steps wait for the writer.
Ask the Coach to write a post and it drafts one in a Post card, then saves it as an article draft in WriteStack on its own. It only sends a draft to Substack when you ask, and it never schedules or publishes an article.
Write a post
- Open Coach and ask, for example: "Write a post about the three mistakes I made in my first year."
- The Coach follows its post-writing playbook and matches your style and length from your published posts.
- The draft appears as a Post card. Its status moves from Writing to Saving draft to Draft saved.
The draft is saved on your primary newsletter. If you have more than one newsletter, pick another one from the newsletter menu on the card. Once a draft is on Substack, its newsletter can't change: "This draft is already on Substack, so its newsletter stays put."
The card shows the word count and read time, and has two buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit post | Opens the Post draft panel. |
| Copy | Copies the title, subtitle and body as plain text. |
Edit the draft yourself
Edit post opens the Post draft panel, with the title, subtitle and body and a formatting toolbar. Changes save on their own. The status at the top reads Saving, then Saved. If it reads Couldn't save · Retry, click it to try again.
The panel has no image button. See Images.
Ask the Coach to edit a draft
Ask, for example: "Make the intro shorter in that draft." The Coach:
- Reads the current version of the draft, including your own edits.
- Saves the change in WriteStack. A change to the body replaces the whole body.
- If the draft is already on Substack, asks whether to push the change. With more than one newsletter, it asks which one, with a last option Don't push yet.
It pushes only after you choose. The Coach can edit the title, subtitle and body. It can't change Substack settings like audience, SEO or slug.
If you edited the draft at the same time, the Coach's save is refused and it reads the draft again, so it doesn't overwrite your edit.
Push the draft to Substack
Ask, for example: "Push it to Substack."
- The Coach pushes the draft saved in this chat, or the one you quoted.
- With more than one newsletter and none named, it asks "Which newsletter should I push it to?". Pick one on the question card.
- If the draft is already on another newsletter, it pushes a copy to the one you picked. The original stays where it was.
- It only pushes drafts with a body.
The push needs the browser extension and an open WriteStack tab. Requirements, statuses and errors are on Push an article to Substack.
What waits for you
| Step | Who does it |
|---|---|
| Draft the post | The Coach, when you ask for a post |
| Save it as an article in WriteStack | The Coach, automatically |
| Edit the draft | You, or the Coach when you ask |
| Push it to Substack as a draft | The Coach, only when you ask |
| Push an edit to a draft that is on Substack | The Coach asks first |
| Schedule or publish on Substack | You, on Substack. The Coach can't. |
An AI agent connected over MCP can schedule articles. See Schedule on Substack.
If it doesn't work
| What you see | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Connect a publication to save this post." | WriteStack found no Substack newsletter for your account. Connect Substack. |
| Not saved on the card | The draft couldn't be saved as an article. Use Copy to keep the text. |
| "Save this draft before choosing a newsletter." | Wait for Draft saved, then pick the newsletter. |
| "That newsletter isn't available for articles." | That newsletter is hidden from Articles or no longer on your profile. |
Push an article to Substack
How a WriteStack article becomes a Substack draft, how to schedule and unschedule it on Substack, which Substack settings sync, what the browser extension needs, and what each sync status and error means.
What the Coach can do
What the WriteStack Coach (Quill) knows about your publication, what it can draft, save and schedule for you, and how chats, Memory, Library and Routines work.