I canceled another subscription recently. This one lasted three months, although by week five I was back to mainly keeping dates in a Google sheet. This was the third content calendar tool I had tried. I kept thinking it was me, not them, that if I kept looking I could find my content calendar soul mate.

It’s always the same pattern. I see a new tool, I think it might be the one. I subscribe. I spend a lot of time on the initial setup, getting used to the little quirks and idiosyncrasies of the new tool, adapting myself to the flow and terminology, puzzling over features I don’t quite understand.  Wondering if the upgrade features might be the ones I need. I never feel quite ready to go all in. I realize I haven’t cancelled my old subscription, and they keep writing to me, maybe I should take them back, give them another try.

But I decided to try something else this time. People around me are vibe coding their own tools. Why don’t I try building my own content calendar? I was tired of onboarding myself into somebody else’s system, so I gave it a try, and am glad I did.

What I Decided I Needed

Most calendar tools feel like they assume you plan everything weeks in advance. I don't work that way. Some stuff is planned, like our weekly newsletter, monthly podcasts. But more than half our content is reactive. Someone asks a good question in the Slack community, I want to turn that into a post. A competitor launches something interesting, I want to write about it while it's still relevant. I like to say we are agile, but some tools make me feel disorganized.

I needed a calendar that could handle both. Planned stuff gets scheduled. Reactive stuff gets staged until I'm ready.

Also, I kept losing ideas. I'd save a tweet, bookmark an article, have a conversation that would make a great blog post. Then two weeks later I'd stare at the calendar wondering what to write. The ideas existed somewhere—Notion, my notes app, browser bookmarks—but they weren't connected to the calendar.

What I Built

The calendar is simple. Three views: Month for planning, Week for execution, Ideas for everything that's not scheduled yet.

Each content piece tracks the basics: title, status, publish date, platform, who's writing it. But I added fields for the stuff I actually care about. I put the status categories that make sense to me given my non-linear process. I vibed some flashing reminders to annoy me into getting busy when something is stuck too long in a certain stage.

The staging area is probably the part I use most. Anything that seems worth writing about goes there. Customer question, competitor move, article I read, conversation that made me think. I dump it all in. I’ve added AI features here to help me generate ideas and angles, making this more of a brainstorming space over time.

I built the first version of my calendar in less than two hours. I used Creao because of the integrations, I can still export to traditional tools if I need to. Creao has AI features and a search API that I can use, included with my subscription. As well, every Creao app I build comes with an AI assistant so I can interact with my app and the data with chat, something I’m doing more often now because it is so friendly and flexible.

Do I use it?

Yes, I actually use it! That sounds small but I have never consistently used a content calendar before. Like a lot of my subscriptions, I start strong, spend a lot of time learning and configuring, but then I stop.

This one stuck because when something didn't work, I just changed it. The status field was originally three options. I added three more. It took maybe two minutes. I wanted to collaborate with the team so added ownership and assignments.

And I admit, I enjoy building. Shaping and shifting a product into the way it works for me is a rewarding activity. I suspect you are always more inclined to use an app you built yourself.  I don’t have to wait on someone else's roadmap or do things in a way I don’t totally agree with. Best of all, I don’t need to feel like I need to switch all the time. If I see something I like, I can add it myself.

Building Your Version

You don't need my exact setup. You need whatever matches how you work.

If you're starting, there's a content calendar template that covers the basics. It takes about 15 minutes to get running. But then you'll probably spend another hour because you want to customize it.

Or build from scratch. That's what I did. Figure out what views you need, what information matters, how you want to filter things. The actual building takes less time than you'd think.

The hard part isn't the building. The hard part is being honest about how you actually work versus how you think you should work. I kept trying to make myself plan content four weeks out because that's what good marketers do. My calendar now assumes I'm planning one week out and reacting to everything else. It's embarrassing but it's true, and the tool works because it's built for the truth.

What I'm Building Next

The calendar works but I still have problems. I'm manually checking Reddit, Twitter, our community Slack, and about eight news sites every morning for things worth writing about. That's tedious.

So I'm building something that does that for me. Pulls anything getting engagement in the places I watch, flags what seems relevant, drops it into the Ideas section of my calendar automatically. Then I just review what surfaced instead of hunting for it.

I'll probably also build an idea expander at some point. Something where I can dump a rough concept and it asks me questions, helps me figure out if there's actually a full post there or if it's just a tweet. That would save time upfront rather than outlining something that doesn't pan out.

The nice part about building things this way is they can connect. The news aggregator will feed into the calendar. The idea expander will feed into the calendar. But each piece works on its own. I'm not building some complex system. I'm building small tools that solve specific problems, and they happen to work well together.

Start with the calendar. If that solves your problem, stop there. If you keep hitting other problems, build another piece.

Build yours: Content Calendar Template | Start from scratch on Creao

What is Creao?

Creao is a platform for building custom business apps through conversation with AI. Instead of configuring existing tools or hiring developers, you describe what you need and build it yourself. Each app you create comes with a built-in AI assistant and can integrate with your existing tools like Slack, Google Workspace, and others. Apps can work standalone or connect together into AI Workspaces that coordinate automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know how to code to make a content calendar?

No. You describe what you want in plain language. The platform generates the app. If something doesn't work right, you describe what needs to change. Most people have a working calendar in under an hour.

Can I connect my existing tools to my content calendar?

Yes. The calendar can pull from Slack, Google Calendar, Notion, or wherever your content ideas currently live. You can also push scheduled content to your publishing tools.

What if I need to change my content calendar later?

Change it. That's the point. Add fields, change views, adjust workflows. It takes minutes, not tickets to a dev team.

Is this just for content calendars?

No. The same approach works for project trackers, CRMs, inventory systems, dashboards, or any business tool. Content calendar is just one example. The platform works for whatever you need to build.

What happens to my data?

You own your data. Apps you build are yours. You can export data anytime. The platform stores it securely but you maintain control.

Can my team use my content calendar too?

Yes. You can invite team members to use apps you build. They can view, edit, or build their own depending on permissions you set. Teams often start with one person building something useful, then others adopt it or build their own variations.

What features should a content calendar have?

That depends entirely on how you work. At minimum: a way to see what's scheduled, track status, and assign ownership. Beyond that, build for your actual process. If you're reactive like me, you need a staging area for ideas. If you plan months ahead, you need long-range views. If you work across platforms, track where each piece goes.

How is building my own content calendar different from using a spreadsheet?

Spreadsheets work for simple tracking, but they get messy fast. No real views, limited filtering, painful to update, terrible for collaboration. A custom calendar gives you proper month/week/list views, status workflows, filtering by platform or author, and the ability to add features like AI assistance or automated notifications. Plus it can integrate with other tools. Spreadsheets are where calendars go to die slowly.

Can I migrate data from my current content calendar tool?

Usually yes. Most calendar tools let you export to CSV. You can import that data into your Creao calendar—the AI Assistant that comes with every app can help with batch loading and field mapping. It's actually easier than manual import because you can just describe what goes where.

How useful is the AI Assistant?

Very. Every Creao app comes with an AI Assistant. Instead of building complex filtering and search, you can just ask it questions. "Show me everything due this week that needs research" or "What ideas have been sitting untouched for over a month?" The app stores the data and shows you the views. The Assistant helps you work with it conversationally.

Once your data is in, the AI Assistant becomes how you interact with your calendar. Instead of clicking through menus, you can ask it to show you what's stuck in review, reschedule everything from next week, or find all posts related to a specific topic. The app itself is mainly data and visual representation. The Assistant is your interface to it.