Mato watches your content sources, trends, and news in your niche, and turns what it finds into episode ideas. Ideas show up on your show's home page, on the show's Ideas page under Plan in the sidebar, and in the Ideas rail beside the calendar once your show has episodes.
Before your first episode
Open your show and its home page shows a handful of idea cards right away, each tagged Trending, News, Content gap, or Listener request with a one-line reason. Click Use this topic on any card to open the episode generator with that idea pre-filled. See Find your way around show home for the rest of that page.
If Mato is still drafting your first batch, you will see placeholder cards for a couple of minutes while it works. No need to refresh; they fill in on their own.
The Ideas rail
Once your show has episodes, click Calendar under Plan in the sidebar to find the Ideas rail on the right side of the calendar. A count next to the Ideas heading shows how many are pending. The rail lists six at a time, with an "N more" link if there are more and Show fewer to collapse it again.
Each idea shows a source tag (Trending, In the news, Seasonal, Gap in your catalog, People search this, From an interview, or Suggestion), its title, and a meta line noting how many sources back it and how soon it expires.
Find new ideas. Click the button above the list to request a fresh batch. It shows a short "Finding ideas..." state while it runs, then loads the new set automatically.
Turn an idea into an episode. Click its title to open the Make an episode wizard with that idea already filled in. From there you can edit it like any other prompt before generating.
Pin an idea to a date. Drag an idea card onto a day on the calendar to pin it as that day's topic. Mato confirms with an undo option, in case you drop it on the wrong day. You cannot pin an idea to a day that has already passed, and a day that already holds a pinned idea needs to be swapped rather than stacked. See Plan calendar for everything else the calendar does.
If your schedule has no rhythm set up yet, ideas still work the same way: open one directly to make an episode from it, rather than pinning it to a date.
What the source tags mean
- Trending: a topic gaining traction in your niche right now
- In the news: recent coverage relevant to your show
- Seasonal: tied to a time of year or recurring event
- Gap in your catalog: something your show has not covered yet
- People search this: a query people are actively searching for
- From an interview: pulled from something a past guest said
- Suggestion: a general AI-generated idea that does not fit the other categories
When ideas run out
If the rail shows "No ideas yet," click Find new ideas to generate a fresh batch. If loading fails, a Try again button appears in its place.