Reply Mode & Auto-Publish Settings

Reply Mode: Auto Reply vs Require Approval

In Settings, under AI Response Configuration, each star rating (1 through 5) has its own Reply Mode. This lets you handle glowing 5-star reviews differently from critical 1-star ones. Whichever mode you choose, StarReplies always generates an AI draft for the review — Reply Mode only decides what happens to that draft next.

Reply Mode	What happens
Auto Reply	The AI generates a response and publishes it to Google automatically — immediately or after the auto-publish delay you set below the mode. Use this for ratings you trust the AI to handle unattended (commonly 4 and 5 stars).
Require Approval	The AI still writes a draft, but it is held with a Pending status for you to review, edit, and publish manually. Nothing is posted to Google until you approve it. Use this for ratings where you want a human to check every reply (commonly 1-3 stars).

Note

Setting a rating to Require Approval does not stop drafts from being created — you will still find a ready-to-edit response waiting in your queue. It only prevents automatic publishing.

Auto-Publish Timing

When a rating is set to Auto Reply, an Auto-Publish dropdown appears. This controls how long StarReplies waits before posting the response to Google.

Option	What it does
Never (hold for approval)	The draft is generated but never auto-published. It waits in your queue for manual approval — the same effect as Require Approval. This is the default, so nothing is ever posted automatically until you deliberately choose a timing.
Immediately	The response is published to Google as soon as the draft is generated.
After 1 hour	Published about 1 hour after generation.
After 3 hours	Published about 3 hours after generation.
After 6 hours	Published about 6 hours after generation.
After 12 hours	Published about 12 hours after generation.
After 24 hours	Published a full day after generation.

Delayed responses are held with a Scheduled status until their time arrives. StarReplies checks for due responses every 5 minutes, so a response may publish up to a few minutes after its exact scheduled time. A delay gives you a window to catch and edit anything before it goes live, while still letting most replies post without manual work.

Pro Tip

A common setup: 5-star reviews on Auto Reply / Immediately, 4-star on Auto Reply / After 3 hours, and 1-3 star reviews on Require Approval so a person always reviews critical feedback.

The Require Approval Override (Location Level)

Separately from the per-rating Reply Mode, each location has a Require Approval setting. When a location has Require Approval turned on, every AI response for that location is held as Pending for your approval — regardless of the per-rating Reply Mode or auto-publish timing. It is a master safety switch that overrides everything else.

Note

New locations have Require Approval enabled by default, so nothing is auto-published until you intentionally turn it off. Turn it off only once you are comfortable letting StarReplies post replies on its own.

Flagged Keywords Always Require Approval

If you have configured flagged keywords (under Review Filters & Flags in Settings), any review whose text contains one of those words is always held for manual approval — even if that rating is set to Auto Reply with immediate publishing. This ensures sensitive reviews mentioning things like "refund," "lawsuit," or "health" never get an automatic reply.

How to Configure Reply Mode and Auto-Publish

Go to Settings from the left sidebar and open the AI Response Configuration section.
For each star rating (1-5), choose a Reply Mode: Auto Reply or Require Approval.
For any rating set to Auto Reply, pick an Auto-Publish timing: Never, Immediately, or a delay of 1, 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours.
Click Save on that rating's card to apply your changes.
If you want a location to hold every response regardless of these settings, leave that location's Require Approval setting enabled.
Optionally, add flagged keywords under Review Filters & Flags so sensitive reviews are always held for review.

Editing a Scheduled Response

If you edit a response while it is Scheduled for auto-publish, StarReplies treats that as a sign you want to review it yourself. The response is taken out of the auto-publish queue and moved back to Pending, so it will not post automatically. You stay in full control: after editing, review it and publish it manually when you are ready.

Important

Because editing cancels the scheduled auto-publish, a response you edited will never go live on its own. Remember to approve and publish it manually.