Configure Channels and Destinations

Overview

Channels describe how you publish—blog, LinkedIn, newsletter, video, podcast, or custom surfaces. Destinations (workspace accounts) describe where a piece lands on that channel: a specific WordPress site, Webflow collection, LinkedIn company page, or other connected integration.

In CntX, channels are configured inside your content strategy (and the same editor for campaign communication strategies). Each selected channel carries:

• Weekly frequency (publications per week on that channel)
• Editorial role (Source, Mixed, Derivative, or Composite)
• Optional effort coefficient and primary source flag for social mixes
• Publishing slots (days and time windows), inherited or overridden per channel
• Destinations / workspace accounts that briefs and publishing flows can inherit

The planning engine uses this matrix with your weekly effort budget to propose a feasible calendar: original pieces on source channels, adaptations on derivative ones, composite pieces such as digests on newsletter channels. Without destinations, briefs may lack a concrete publish target even when topics are sound.

When to use

Configure channels and destinations when you:

• Have goals and pillars defined and need to operationalize where content appears.
• Are about to generate a calendar period or enable auto-briefs.
• Connect or activate a new integration (WordPress, Webflow, social account) and want it selectable on briefs.
• Run a multi-workspace campaign that assigns different destinations per target space.

Defer full channel tuning if you have zero connected accounts—complete integrations first, then map destinations.

Before you start

• An editable content strategy with goals, audiences, and pillars in place.
• Reference channels available in the workspace (global defaults plus any custom channels you created under Content → Channels).
• Integrations connected for each destination you expect to publish to (see Integrations Overview for WordPress, Webflow, analytics, etc.).
• A realistic weekly effort budget on the strategy—the sum of channel frequencies should not exceed what your team can produce.
• For campaigns: confirm per-space destination panels if targets differ by workspace.

Steps

1. Open Content strategy → [your strategy] → Distribution (or Channels and destinations on campaign strategies).
2. Review the header hint: configure channels with typologies and publication frequency aligned to the global weekly budget.
3. Click Add to attach an existing reference channel, or Create a custom channel (name, category: Social, Blog, Email, Video, Podcast, Custom).
4. For each channel, set Frequency per week. The UI shows when allocations exceed the strategy effort budget—adjust until within limits.
5. Set Editorial role for this channel:

– Source — mostly original content that feeds other channels. – Mixed — originals plus adaptations. – Derivative — repurposes or slices source content (typical for secondary social). – Composite — combines multiple items (e.g., weekly newsletter digest).

1. Optionally mark a Primary source channel and set effort coefficients (e.g., 1.0 for LinkedIn originals, 0.3 for cross-posts). The planner uses this to mix originals and derivatives within budget.
2. Expand Advanced settings to configure publishing slots: mode (follow strategy, optimized per channel, manual, or dynamic), preferred days, and time windows.
3. Under Destinations / workspace accounts, select the connected accounts where this channel should publish. Campaign strategies may show corporate vs per-space destination pickers—assign each target workspace explicitly.
4. Save the strategy. Open Channels administration separately only if you need to rename, edit, or retire reference channels used across strategies.
5. Generate or refresh the next calendar period and spot-check briefs for channel, role, and destination metadata before approval.

Expected result

Your strategy lists an explicit channel mix with frequencies, roles, slot preferences, and mapped destinations. Calendar generation proposes items per channel respecting effort math—source channels get foundational pieces; derivative channels get adaptations; composite channels get digests when configured.

Briefs surface destination assets so production and publishing steps know which account to target. Campaign briefs can inherit campaign-level destination choices per workspace. Publishing flows (draft or live) use the same destination mapping when integrations are healthy.

Tips / common issues

• No channels available: Create reference channels first under Content → Channels, then attach them to the strategy.
• Over budget warning: Lower per-channel frequency, raise weekly effort budget, or reduce active channels.
• Missing destinations: Connect the integration, refresh accounts, then re-open strategy channel settings. Briefs without destinations block clean publish handoff.
• Everything marked Source: You will over-produce originals. Mark secondary social as Derivative with lower effort coefficients.
• Slot conflicts: Manual slots per channel override global strategy slots—document overrides for your team.
• Cannot delete a channel: Reference channels in use by strategies must be detached before deletion.
• Campaign vs evergreen: Destination panels differ slightly for multi-workspace campaigns; verify each target space, not only the corporate defaults.
• Integrations healthy check: A configured destination fails at publish time if credentials expired—test with a draft publish after major changes.

Next step

Generate your first editorial period from the strategy (Build Your First Editorial Calendar), review proposed briefs for channel and destination fit, then approve priority briefs to start content generation. Connect or fix any integration that blocks the destinations you selected.