# Generate the first draft, Yolo or Guided

URL: https://engiprose.com/help/create-a-proposal/generate-the-first-draft
Updated: 2026-08-31
Audience: member

Draft every section at once with Yolo, or work through the editor one section at a time with Guided.

Once your sections and requirement links are in place, the Generate step
offers two ways to get a first draft. This choice is made once per proposal,
not per section.

:::checklist title="What you'll do"
- Confirm your setup on the Generate step
- Choose Yolo for a full draft, or Guided to write section by section
- Understand the Yolo confirmation dialog before you commit
:::

## Ready to generate

The Generate step opens with a summary of what the AI will draft against:
your RFP and details, the assigned author, and your section list, including
a warning if any requirements are still unlinked. "N requirements aren't yet
linked to a section. They will not appear in the AI prompt unless you link
them on [Stage 3](/help/create-a-proposal/review-requirements-and-matches) or
demote them to customer notes."

Below the summary are the two generation modes:

:::figure src="/help-figures/create-a-proposal/generate-the-first-draft-1.png" alt="The Generate Proposal Draft panel with a Yolo full draft card and a Guided section by section card side by side" caption="Choosing how to draft" route="/proposals/$proposalId/setup/generate"
:::

**Yolo** drafts every section at once, in a couple of minutes, and works
best when your requirement matches are strong. **Guided** opens the editor
so you generate and review one section at a time, staying in control the
whole way. Neither mode is a per-section setting: you pick one for the whole
proposal.

## The Yolo confirmation

Selecting **Generate full draft** opens a confirmation before anything runs:

:::annotated-figure src="/help-figures/create-a-proposal/generate-the-first-draft-2.png" alt="The Generate Full Proposal Draft confirmation dialog listing every section, an estimated token usage figure, and Cancel and Generate Draft buttons" caption="The Yolo confirmation dialog" route="/proposals/$proposalId/setup/generate"
1. Every section that will be drafted
2. The estimated AI token usage for this run
3. **Generate Draft** and **Cancel**: the dialog's two exits, bottom right
:::

"Generate Full Proposal Draft: The AI will generate content for each section
below using your firm's prior winning proposals." The dialog lists every
section it will draft, along with "Will generate N of N sections" and an
estimated token cost. If the RFP is unusually unfamiliar territory for your
firm, the dialog adds: "Novel RFP: Yolo will draft every section using the
available matches, even when those matches are limited."

Select **Generate Draft** to start, or **Cancel** to go back and choose
Guided instead.

:::warning
If your firm's AI token allowance is already used up, the dialog shows a
banner in place of the estimate and Generate Draft stays disabled until
tokens are available again.
:::

## If drafting stops partway

Yolo can also run out of allowance mid-draft. The Generate step then reads
"Generation paused: AI token limit reached", followed by "Some sections were
drafted before your AI token allowance for this billing period ran out." and
one of two closing sentences, depending on your role:

- For an Organization Admin: "Continue editing manually or purchase
  additional tokens."
- For everyone else: "Continue editing manually or contact your Organization
  Admin to purchase additional tokens."

The sections that were drafted are kept. Open the editor to keep working on
the rest by hand, or come back once more tokens are available. An
organization that has never had an allowance sees "Generation paused: no AI
token allowance" instead, with the same closing sentence.

::::faq title="Common questions"
:::q question="Can I switch from Guided to Yolo partway through?"
Yes, the Generate step is always available; choosing Yolo drafts every
section the same way it would have from the start.
:::
:::q question="Does Yolo draft every section, even ones I've already written?"
Yes. The confirmation always lists every section in your proposal; there's
no way to draft only some of them from this dialog.
:::
::::