Auto-scheduling is the fastest way to build your event schedule. It places games on the grid for you based on the rules and preferences you choose.
Here's how:
Set Your Preferences and Rules
Rules and preferences guide how Fastbreak builds your schedule. You add them by dragging items from the list on the left into either the Rules area or the Preferences area.
Rules | Preferences |
Required — auto-schedule must follow them. | Flexible — auto-schedule tries to meet them. |
Use them for strict limits (coach conflicts, court restrictions, game spacing rules). | Use them for comfort settings (grouping courts, reducing long waits). |
Focus only on what must be true for your event — not what teams would prefer. | Use preferences for anything that is nice to have but not required. |
If a rule cannot be met, the game will not be placed. | If a preference cannot be met, the game is still placed. |
Order does not matter. | Order does matter — drag to reorder. |
💡 Using fewer total rules + preferences helps auto-scheduling run faster and reduces conflicts.
Here's how to set these:
Go to Scheduling and open your event.
Open the Auto-schedule panel
On the left side, you’ll see a list of all available rules and preferences.
Drag an item into the Rules area if it MUST always be true.
Drag an item into the Preferences area if it would be helpful but not required.
For items in the Preferences list, drag and drop to reorder them. Preferences should be ordered from most important at the top to least important at the bottom. You can also tap the edit icon (pencil) to adjust the settings within a preference or rule.
[Optional] If you need to restart, tap the circular arrow icon to reset to blank and start over.
Return to the Schedule tab when you're done.
Generating Your Schedule
Once your rules, preferences, and matchups are ready, you can generate your schedule. Fastbreak will place games on the grid using your time slots, court availability, and the settings you selected.
Here’s how:
Go to the Schedule tab for your event.
Make sure you’ve selected the correct venue and date at the top of the page.
Review your time slots, courts, and matchups to confirm everything is ready.
[Reminder] Create a restore point of your blank schedule if you haven't already.
Click the Auto-Schedule button.
Choose your date(s). Add more dates if needed for multi-day events.
Select the Game Types to schedule. Only the types you select will be placed.
Set the Job Time Limit (minutes). The default is set to 60 minutes; however, most schedules are completed under 10 minutes.
Click Accept to start auto-scheduling.
The system will work through all games and fill the grid. Most schedules complete in under 10 minutes. You'll receive a confirmation message when it's completed.
The grid updates and shows all placed games once completed.
💡 Auto-scheduling will not move games you’ve already placed manually. If you're using a blended approach, place key games first, then run auto-schedule.
Checking and Adjusting Your Schedule
After auto-scheduling finishes, review the schedule grid to make sure everything was placed the way you expect. Fastbreak highlights issues so you can quickly find and fix them.
Here’s how:
Look over the schedule grid for the venue and date you selected.
All games placed by auto-schedule will appear here.If a game shows a “!” icon, click it to see which rule or preference wasn’t met.
This usually happens when courts or times are too full, a coach has overlapping games, or a spacing rule can’t be satisfied.
Open the Warnings panel at the bottom of the page to see a full list of issues.
Click any warning to jump directly to that game on the grid.
To fix a game quickly, you can drag it to a new time slot or court.
Manual moves stay in place unless you run auto-schedule again.
💡 Not every warning requires a fix. Some simply mean a preference couldn’t be met due to tight spacing or limited court availability. Focus on warnings that affect fairness or event flow.
Resetting Your Schedule
If you want to undo your changes or start fresh, Fastbreak lets you return to an earlier version of your schedule using restore points. This is helpful when you want to try different rule setups, test changes, or clear the grid so you can run auto-schedule again.
To learn how to do this, see the Restore Points article.
💡 Restore points do not affect your matchups or time slot setup. They only control what appears on the schedule grid, so you can experiment without losing your work.