Building automations

Which automation fires when two match

When one comment matches several of your automations, exactly one fires. How Dartzo chooses, what Pin priority does, and why a save can be refused.

Updated 26 October 2026

Instagram allows one private reply per comment. So when a comment matches more than one of your automations, Dartzo sends one DM, from one automation, and it picks the same winner every time. It never depends on which rule happened to load first. This page explains the order, how to change it, and the check that stops you saving a rule that could never run.

What counts as “the same comment”

Automations only compete with others in the same group:

Trigger	Competes with
Comment on a post or reel	The other active automations on that post. Different posts never interfere.
Reply to my story	Your other Reply to my story automations. One pool for the whole account.
Mention in a story	Your other Mention in a story automations.
Someone DMs a keyword	Your other Someone DMs a keyword automations.

Only rules that could fire right now enter the contest: active (not a draft, not paused), the media filter passes (Limit to Posts or Reels, if you set it), the keywords match and no exclude word is present. Pause a rule and it drops out of the contest, so the next one in the order takes the comment.

How the winner is chosen

Dartzo puts the rules that matched in order and fires the first. The order is, top to bottom:

Pinned rules before unpinned
A rule with Pin priority switched on beats every rule without one.
Higher pin first
Among pinned rules, the larger number fires first.
More specific match type
Exact beats All words, which beats Begins with, which beats Contains, which beats a rule with no keywords (“Reply to any comment”).
The older automation
If everything above ties, the automation created first wins, every time.

Specificity	Match type	Why it ranks there
Highest	Exact (whole word)	The narrowest match.
	All words	Needs every keyword present.
	Begins with	Anchored to the start of a word.
	Contains	Matches anywhere. Most forgiving.
Lowest	No keywords (Reply to any comment)	Matches everything, so it is a fallback.

The one fixed rule

Any rule with keywords always outranks a “Reply to any comment” rule on the same post. The order between the keyword match types is a sensible default, not a law: if you need a different order, pin it. The match types themselves are explained in Keyword match modes. New automations built in the web studio all use Contains, so on the web the “same type” tie-breaks below are the ones you meet most.

An example

A home baker has three rules on her Diwali hamper reel: Rule A on the keyword HAMPER (Contains), Rule B on PRICE (Contains), and Rule C set to Reply to any comment, with a plain thank-you DM.

Comment	Matches	Fires
hamper please	A and C	A. A keyword rule beats the catch-all.
price?	B and C	B
so beautiful 😍	C only	C, as the fallback
hamper price	A, B and C	Needs a decision between A and B (see Pin priority below).

Pin priority: choosing for yourself

In the studio, switch to Advanced and find Pin priority (“Force this rule’s order”). Turn it on and enter a whole number from 0 to 999. The hint under the box reads *Blank = automatic order. Higher runs first.* Reset to auto clears it.

Any pin beats no pin. Even a pin of 0 outranks every unpinned rule.
Higher number wins between two pinned rules. Pinning A at 20 and B at 10 means A fires when both match.
Leave gaps (10, 20, 30) so you can slot a rule in later without renumbering.
A pinned “Reply to any comment” rule is no longer a fallback. It fires first and, because it matches everything, every rule below it stops getting comments. Pin catch-alls low or not at all.

In the baker’s case, pinning Rule A at 20 and Rule B at 10 means a comment saying “hamper price” gets the hamper DM, and “price?” alone still gets the price DM.

The save check that stops dead rules

If two rules tie, the older one wins every time and the newer one would never fire, which is the sort of silent failure Dartzo exists to prevent. So when you publish, Dartzo checks the other rules on the same post (or the same account-wide trigger) and refuses the save in three situations:

The problem	What Dartzo tells you	How to fix it
Two “Reply to any comment” rules on one post	Only one can ever run, and the older always wins.	Edit the existing one, or give the new rule specific keywords.
The same keyword, same match type, on one post	Another automation already replies to that word, so only one can run.	Use a different keyword, or turn on Pin priority on one of them.
Two keyword rules that one comment could match both, with no priority to decide	Only one can reply, so choose which wins.	Pin one of them, or change the keywords so they can’t both match.

The studio shows this as a red alert with an Edit that automation → button that takes you straight to the rule that’s in the way. A rule saved as a draft isn’t checked, because a draft isn’t live and can’t shadow anything. The check runs when you publish it. A keyword rule next to a catch-all is never a conflict, because the keyword rule always wins.

Two details. Different pins count as “decided”, so once one of the rules is pinned the save goes through. And exclude words can make two rules unable to match together (one excludes the other’s only keyword), in which case there is nothing to decide and no refusal.

See the order on your automations list

Open Automations and look at a post with two or more active rules. They are listed in the exact order Dartzo uses, with a chip on each:

Chip	Meaning
Fires 1st, 2nd, 3rd…	The position in the order when a comment matches several rules.
Fallback	A “Reply to any comment” rule that only gets comments no specific rule matched.
Never fires	A rule sitting behind a catch-all that matches everything, so it never gets a turn. Give it a higher pin or remove the catch-all.

Paused rules are listed after the active ones, unranked, because they never fire. If you have at least two active rules on a post, the card also states the rule in a sentence, and the first time you have overlapping rules a dismissible banner reads *Overlapping rules now fire in a clear order*.

What does not change

The loser sends nothing. An outranked rule doesn’t send a second DM, a public reply or anything else for that comment.
A person can still get both rules, one comment at a time. Dartzo sends one message per person, per post, per keyword in a 24-hour window. If a fan later comments a different keyword that matches your other rule, that rule fires for that comment.

Can two of my automations both send a DM for the same comment?

No. Dartzo sends one DM, from one automation, for each comment. If several rules match, the highest-ranked one fires and the others are skipped for that comment.

Why did Dartzo refuse to publish my new automation?

Because it would never fire. Another automation on the same post replies to the same word with the same match type, or both are “Reply to any comment”, or the two could both match one comment and neither is pinned. The message names the problem and links to the automation already doing that job.

What does Pin priority do?

It forces a rule’s place in the order. A pinned rule beats every unpinned rule, and among pinned rules the higher number fires first. The number goes from 0 to 999. Leave it off and Dartzo orders rules by match type and age.

Will a “Reply to any comment” rule block my keyword rules?

Not by default. Keyword rules always outrank it, so it only answers comments no keyword rule matched. The exception is a catch-all you have pinned, which fires first.

If I pause one of two matching rules, what happens?

The paused rule leaves the contest and the other one fires for any comment it matches. Resume it and the normal order returns.