Can I limit backfill to specific countries or regions, such as Europe?

Yes. Open the menu on any Backfill page (Rules, Companies, or Feeds) and choose Backfill settings. Job filters there apply to company sources and to every rule — for example Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, or workplace type Remote. Each rule can still tighten its own filters further; it cannot widen past the board-wide set. Remote jobs open to candidates worldwide still match any country filter; to leave them out, turn on Exclude worldwide remote jobs in the same dialog.

Why do worldwide remote jobs appear when I filter by country?

A remote job that accepts candidates from anywhere is workable from every country, so it matches any country filter. To leave these jobs out, open the menu on any Backfill page, choose Backfill settings, turn on Exclude worldwide remote jobs, and save. It applies to your whole board, covering every rule and company source. Remote jobs limited to specific countries or regions still come through, and worldwide remote jobs already backfilled onto your board are removed.

How often does backfill sync new jobs?

Jobs are not instant. After you save an Active rule or enable a company, matching jobs usually appear within a few hours. A full sync of all your sources runs once a day. Shorter on-demand syncs also run throughout the day whenever the scraper finishes extracting new jobs, typically around a dozen times a day. New jobs from your rules and enabled companies appear automatically after each sync.

I created an active backfill rule. How long until jobs appear?

Usually a few hours, not minutes. An Active target-role rule is complete setup, so you do not need to add companies, feeds, or extra settings for jobs to start arriving. Shorter on-demand syncs run throughout the day, and a full sync of every source runs once a day. Check Jobs after that window; if job moderation is set to Aggregated or Both, new listings arrive as drafts. If nothing has arrived after 24 hours, follow the Jobs not appearing checks, then contact support.

How soon after I add a company to backfill will its jobs appear?

Usually within a few hours. Enabling a company (the Automatically add jobs from this company checkbox, or Add to backfill on the Company sources page) queues its careers page for scraping. Jobs land on your board after the scraper finishes and the next sync runs. On-demand syncs run throughout the day, and a full sync of every source runs once a day. A company whose careers page the scraper has not covered before can take longer on its first run. If moderation holds aggregated jobs, new listings arrive as drafts. If the company is still in Backfilling with no jobs after a few days while its careers page shows open roles, contact support with the company name and careers page URL.

Can I start a backfill sync or scrape immediately?

No. There is no manual sync or scrape-now button. Syncs start automatically when the scraper finishes extracting jobs, plus a full sync once a day. Re-adding the company or toggling backfill off and on does not make it faster. If you need a company's jobs on the board right away, add them yourself: post them from the dashboard, or upload a CSV or XML file under Jobs, then Import. Backfill deduplicates by application URL, so jobs you import are not duplicated when the scraper later picks up the same listings.

Do I need to add companies after creating a target-role rule?

No. Target-role rules search Cavuno's whole job pool, so an Active rule with keywords is enough. Companies that match are added to your board automatically when their first job goes live, or when you approve it if job moderation holds aggregated jobs. Add Company sources only when you want jobs from specific employers regardless of your target-role rules; board-wide AI filtering and job filters still apply. The settings that can hide jobs are board-wide Backfill settings filters, a backfill cap or plan job limit, job moderation holding aggregated jobs for approval, or a disabled (Inactive) rule.

Why did a job excluded by my rule still appear?

An exclusion only blocks matches through that target-role rule. Another active rule or a Company source can still bring in the job; Company sources do not use your target-role conditions or exclusions. Check every active rule and the employer in Companies → Backfilling. Then open Backfill settings from the menu on any Backfill page and make Board context specific about which jobs to include and reject. Remove an already-imported unwanted job from Jobs.

How many backfill rules can I have?

There is no limit on the number of rules. Within each rule, you can have up to 50 condition terms and 30 exclude terms, with a maximum of 20 terms per condition group.

Should I use one broad rule or several narrower rules?

Either works — they produce the same result. Multiple rules combine as OR at the board level, so a job that matches any active rule is imported. Use one rule when your criteria fit within the per-rule term caps; split into multiple rules when you have many role variations or want to keep things readable.

Why does my daily backfill email show more jobs than appear in the review queue?

The daily email counts every job that arrived in the last 24 hours, including reposts of previously-approved jobs (expired listings coming back online). Reposts publish automatically because you have already approved them once. Only brand-new jobs enter the review queue, so the count on the review page is usually smaller than the email headline.

For company-based backfill, can I backfill jobs from any company?

Only companies that are already on your job board and have a careers page that Cavuno can access. If the company isn't on your board yet, add it via the Companies page first, then enable backfill. Target-role rules are different — they pull from every company in the underlying job pool, not just companies on your board.

Will backfilled jobs count toward my job limit?

Yes. Backfilled jobs count toward your plan's active jobs limit, as do jobs you publish from the dashboard.

What happens if backfill would exceed my plan's job limit?

New backfill imports pause once you reach your plan's active jobs limit. Existing approved jobs continue to refresh in place (so reposts of previously-imported jobs still update), but no new backfilled jobs are added until slots free up — either by jobs expiring naturally, by you removing jobs, or by upgrading your plan. Employers who post through your public form are not blocked: paying customers can still post even when you are at the limit.

Does hitting the job limit stop employers from posting?

No. The active jobs limit only pauses backfill and jobs you publish from the dashboard. Paying customers are never blocked from posting, even when you are at the limit.

Can I cap how many jobs backfill adds, below my plan's limit?

Yes. Open the menu on any Backfill page (Rules, Companies, or Feeds) and choose Backfill settings. Set the maximum number of backfilled jobs you want live at once; leave the field empty to use only your plan's limit. The cap covers rules, companies, sponsored jobs, and feeds together, and only stops new imports — jobs already on the board stay until they expire.

Can I only import jobs that show pay?

Yes. Open Backfill settings, turn on Only import jobs that show pay, and save. Backfill then imports only jobs that list a salary above 0, including jobs that are relisted after they expired. Jobs already on your board stay as they are. Jobs you or employers post, and jobs from XML feeds, are not affected.

How do I prevent duplicate jobs?

The system automatically deduplicates jobs by URL. If the same job appears from multiple sources, only one copy is imported.

Can I copy an existing target-role rule?

Yes. Open the action menu on the rule and choose Duplicate. The create form opens with that rule's name, conditions, and filters already filled in — the name is prefixed with Copy of. Review or tweak the copy, then save. If you save without changing the match conditions, Cavuno may keep a single rule instead of creating a second one.

Can I pause a rule without deleting it?

Yes. Open the action menu on the rule and choose Disable. The rule stays in the list as Inactive and is skipped for new imports. Choose Enable when you want it to match again.

Configure Backfill

Set up rules-based and company-based backfill to import relevant jobs automatically.

By Abi Tyas Tunggal and Jack Walsh

Cavuno supports two types of backfill: rules-based and company-based. Rules-based backfill is configured on the Backfill page under the Grow section of the sidebar. Company-based backfill can be managed there too, or directly from a company's create/edit form.

Rules-based backfill imports jobs that match specific role criteria — job titles, keywords, seniority levels, and more. Rules apply across all companies in the system.
Company-based backfill imports jobs directly from specific companies' careers pages. You choose which companies to monitor, and all matching jobs from those companies are imported.

You can use both types together. For example, you might set up rules to catch "Data Scientist" roles across all companies, while also backfilling all jobs from a few key companies regardless of role.

Before you begin

Decide whether you need role coverage, named-company coverage, or both. Company-based backfill requires the company to exist on your board with its homepage URL. Also check your plan's active-job limit and decide whether job moderation should hold new aggregated jobs for review.

How target roles and company sources interact

The two are completely independent. Each one will produce jobs on its own:

Target roles match against every company in Cavuno's underlying job pool. You'll get jobs from companies you've never heard of and never added to your board — that's expected. The companies that surface roles this way are added to your board automatically when their first job goes live. If job moderation holds aggregated jobs, a new company is added when you approve its job, and a rejected job leaves nothing behind.
Company sources import jobs from the specific companies you add. Target-role conditions and exclusions do not restrict these imports; board-wide job filters and AI filtering still apply.

You don't need to add a company under Company sources for that company's jobs to come in via a rule — and you don't need a rule for company-based backfill to work. Many boards use rules for broad coverage and add a handful of specific companies for extra coverage.

When you first create your job board, Cavuno's AI generates initial backfill rules based on your board description. For example, an "AI Jobs" board might get rules for ML Engineers and Data Scientists with appropriate matching terms and filters. These appear in your Target roles section automatically.

When jobs appear after you create a rule

Saving an Active target-role rule is complete setup. You do not need to add companies, feeds, or extra settings for matching jobs to start arriving.

Confirm the rule shows Active, not Inactive
Wait for the next sync. Matching jobs usually appear within a few hours. On-demand syncs run throughout the day; a full pass of every source runs once a day
Open Jobs to see them. If job moderation is set to Aggregated or Both, new aggregated jobs arrive as drafts instead of going public

Optional settings can still hide jobs even when the rule is Active: board-wide filters or Board context in Backfill settings, a backfill cap or plan active-jobs limit, or a Posted within cutoff. Company sources are extra coverage for named employers, not a required next step.

If the rule is Active and nothing has arrived after 24 hours, follow Jobs not appearing.

Managing rules-based backfill

Rules-based backfill is managed in the Target roles section of the Backfill page.

Create a rule

Click Add rule
Describe the roles you want in the text field (e.g. "robotics engineer, data scientist")
Click Generate rule to have AI create matching conditions
Review the generated rule and adjust if needed
Click Add rule to save

Rule structure

Each rule has these components:

Rule name: a descriptive label (e.g. "Engineering roles")
Match conditions: one or more condition groups, each with a set of terms. Set whether to match any or all condition groups, and within each group whether to match any or all terms.
Exclude terms: terms that disqualify a job from this rule even if it matches the conditions above. They do not block other active rules or Company sources.
Job filters (optional): further narrow that rule by countries, seniorities, employment types (full-time, part-time, contract), and workplace types (remote, on-site, hybrid). These sit on top of the board-wide job filters in Backfill settings — a rule can tighten them, not widen past them.

Per-rule caps: up to 20 terms in a single condition group, up to 50 condition terms in total across all groups, and up to 30 exclude terms. There is no cap on the number of rules a board can have.

Edit, duplicate, or pause a rule

Click the action menu on the rule row:

Edit — change the name, conditions, or filters
Duplicate — open a new rule prefilled from this one (named Copy of …). Review it, then save. Saving an unchanged copy can join the original rule instead of creating a second row
Disable or Enable — pause matching without deleting the rule. Disabled rules stay in the list as Inactive
Delete — remove the rule

One broad rule vs several narrow rules

Either approach works. Within a rule, condition groups combine according to the any/all setting, and terms within a group combine according to its contains any/all operator. Separate active target-role rules combine as OR — a job can be imported if it matches any of them and passes the board-wide checks.

A worked example: if you want every data centre role across Europe, you can either set up one rule set to match all of two groups (Group 1 ANY of "data centre, data center, datacentre, datacenter", Group 2 ANY of "engineer, technician, manager, operator, …") plus a European countries filter — or you can split it into multiple rules, one per role family, all sharing the same data-centre keywords and country filter. The end result is identical. Choose whichever is easier to read.

Backfill settings

Open the More (⋯) menu next to the search box on the Rules, Companies, or Feeds page and choose Backfill settings. The same dialog is on every Backfill tab.

The dialog has three parts, in this order:

Maximum backfilled jobs caps how many backfilled jobs can be live at once. See Backfill limit.
Job filters decide which jobs backfill imports. They apply to company sources and to every rule; each rule can still tighten its own filters further.
- Countries, Workplace types, Seniorities, and Employment types restrict backfill to matching jobs.
- Exclude worldwide remote jobs leaves out remote jobs open to candidates anywhere in the world. See Leave out worldwide remote jobs.
- Only import jobs that show pay imports only jobs that list a salary. See Only import jobs that show pay.
- Posted within skips jobs that were already older than N days when found. See Only import recently posted jobs.
- Include sponsored jobs adds WhatJobs sponsored listings alongside organic sourcing.
AI filtering checks each job against your Board context.
- Board context (max 500 characters) tells AI filtering which jobs belong on your board and which to reject, including jobs found through target-role rules and Company sources. For example: "Include UK legal operations, legal technology, and in-house counsel roles. Reject general law-firm fee-earning, paralegal, and secretarial roles unless legal operations or technology is central to the job." A broad context that accepts all legal practice roles can also admit general law jobs from Company sources.

Backfill limit

Backfill can fill every slot your plan allows. If that is more than you want — for example while you build up direct employer postings, or to keep a niche board from looking like a firehose — set your own cap in Backfill settings.

Maximum backfilled jobs is the number of backfilled jobs that can be live at the same time. It is one setting for the whole board and covers rules, companies, sponsored jobs, and feeds together.
Leave the field empty to remove the cap; your plan's active jobs limit still applies.

The cap only stops new imports. Jobs already on the board are never unpublished to get under a lower cap — they roll off as they expire, and each sync tops the board back up to the cap as slots free up. Changes take effect on the next sync, which runs daily.

If the problem is which jobs come in rather than how many, tighten your rule conditions, board-wide job filters, or the Board context instead: a cap on its own keeps the same mix, just fewer of them.

To keep one feed from taking most of the room under the board limit, give that feed its own cap with Maximum jobs from this feed on its detail page. See Limit how many jobs a feed adds.

Limit backfill to a country or region

You can restrict backfill so that only jobs from certain countries, or only certain workplace types, reach your board. A European board can import only remote roles located in European countries, for example.

Set those filters once in Backfill settings (the menu on Rules, Companies, or Feeds). They apply to company sources and to every rule.

Each target-role rule can still add its own optional filters to narrow that rule further — for example a backend-only rule that is remote-only, on top of a board-wide Europe country filter. A rule cannot widen past the board-wide set.

Leave out worldwide remote jobs

A remote job that accepts candidates from anywhere is workable from every country, so it matches every country filter. An Australia and New Zealand board with country filters still receives these jobs by default.

To leave them out:

Open the menu next to the search box on any Backfill page and choose Backfill settings
Turn on Exclude worldwide remote jobs
Click Save

The setting applies to your whole board, covering every rule and company source, so you set it once rather than per rule. Remote jobs limited to specific countries or regions still come through, as do on-site and hybrid jobs. Turning it on also removes worldwide remote jobs already backfilled onto your board. Jobs you or employers post directly are never affected. Turn it off to let worldwide remote jobs back in on the next sync.

Only import jobs that show pay

If your board promises pay transparency, backfill can import only jobs that list a salary:

Open the menu next to the search box on any Backfill page and choose Backfill settings
Turn on Only import jobs that show pay
Click Save

Backfill then imports only jobs with a minimum or maximum salary above 0, so unpaid and $0 listings are left out too. The setting covers new jobs and jobs that are relisted after they expired, across every rule, company source, and sponsored listing. Jobs already on your board, including jobs waiting for your review and jobs you paused, stay as they are. Jobs you or employers post, and jobs from XML feeds, are not affected. The setting takes effect on the next sync.

Only import recently posted jobs

A job can stay live on a careers page for months after it was first posted. Backfill will import it unless you set a posted-within cutoff.

Open the menu next to the search box on any Backfill page and choose Backfill settings
Enter a whole number in Posted within, or leave the field empty for no cutoff
Click Save

Backfill skips jobs that were already older than that many days when found. Imported jobs stay while they're open. Tightening the number also expires backfilled jobs that were too old when imported. Clearing the field stops the cutoff and does not bring expired jobs back. Jobs you or employers post, and jobs from XML feeds, are not affected.

Change backfill settings with the API, MCP, or CLI

Agents and scripts can read and change the same board-wide controls through the Operator API, with the same limits and effects as the dialog:

GET /v1/backfill/settings returns jobLimit (Maximum backfilled jobs), maxJobAgeDays (Posted within), excludeWorldwideRemote, requireSalary (Only import jobs that show pay), and sponsoredJobsEnabled. sponsoredJobsConfigurable is false until backfill is set up for your board.
PATCH /v1/backfill/settings changes any of those fields. Send null to clear jobLimit or maxJobAgeDays. Fields you leave out stay as they are.
POST /v1/backfill/blocked-jobs/unblock-all does the same as Unblock all on the Jobs page: backfill may import jobs you removed again. It unblocks 200 jobs straight away and the rest in the background.

Reading needs the backfill.read scope; changes need backfill.manage. MCP agents call the same endpoints through cavuno.request. From the CLI, use cavuno backfill settings get, cavuno backfill settings update --job-limit 2000 --max-job-age-days 30, and cavuno backfill blocked-jobs unblock-all --yes.

Managing company-based backfill

Company-based backfill lets you import jobs directly from specific companies' careers pages. This is managed in the Company sources section of the Backfill page.

The Company sources tabs only show companies that are already part of your job board. To backfill jobs from a new company, you first need to add that company via the Companies page — see Adding a new company to the backfill below.

Adding a new company to the backfill

If the company you want to backfill from isn't on your job board yet, you need to add it first:

Go to your Companies page
Click Add company
Fill in the company name and the company's homepage URL — not the careers page. The scraper handles careers-page discovery automatically from the homepage. The homepage URL is required for backfill to work.
Save the company

Once saved, you can enable backfill for the company in two ways:

From the company form: Open the company you just added and check the Automatically add jobs from this company checkbox. This option appears when a company has a website URL set.

From the Backfill page: Go to Grow → Backfill → Company sources. The company should now appear in the Backfill available tab (or Unsupported if its careers page cannot be accessed). Click the action menu and select Add to backfill.

When jobs from a new company appear

Jobs from a newly enabled company usually appear within a few hours. Enabling the company queues its careers page for scraping, and the jobs land after the scraper finishes and the next sync runs. On-demand syncs run throughout the day, and a full sync runs once a day. A careers page the scraper has not covered before can take longer on its first run.

There is no way to start a sync or scrape manually. If you need a company's jobs live right away, post them or import a CSV or XML file. Backfill skips scraped jobs whose application URL matches a job already published on your board, so you do not get duplicates later.

When one company's careers site lists jobs for several parts of an organization, route those jobs to subsidiaries.

Company sources tabs

The Company sources section has six tabs:

Backfilling: companies you've added to the backfill queue. Jobs will appear on your board as the scraper extracts them. A company stays in this tab once added, even if it isn't currently producing jobs (for example, because it has no open roles right now, or because the scraper hasn't successfully extracted from its careers page yet).
Backfill available: companies in your database where Cavuno has detected a supported careers page, but you haven't yet enabled backfill.
Review: companies where Cavuno found the company in its database but couldn't automatically match it to a known sourcing entry. You can confirm the correct match or dismiss it. Once you confirm a match, the company moves to Backfilling or Backfill available depending on the Automatically add jobs checkbox in the resolve dialog.
Unsupported: companies where Cavuno has confirmed the careers page cannot be accessed or extracted. Backfill works through Cavuno's integrated ATS systems, so companies on a fully custom careers page, or whose only listing is a LinkedIn URL, land here. The Universal Backfill beta extends scraping to many of these pages (contact us to join), and you can always get their jobs onto your board by importing a CSV or XML file or attaching a recurring XML feed under Jobs → Import.
Excluded: companies excluded from backfill. Backfill doesn't add their jobs; they keep their profile and existing jobs, and they can still post jobs themselves. Choose Exclude from backfill from the row menu on the other tabs, and Allow backfill here to let backfill add them again.
Banned: companies you've banned. Their profile and jobs are removed, backfill doesn't add them, and they can't post jobs. Choose Ban company from the row menu, and Unban company here to restore an empty profile; the company stays excluded from backfill.

Enable backfill for an existing company

Open the Backfill available tab
Find the company (use the search box labeled Search companies...)
Click the action menu and select Add to backfill

Disable backfill for a company

Open the Backfilling tab
Find the company
Click the action menu and select Remove from backfill

Resolve companies in the Review tab

Open the Review tab
Click Resolve all to work through the full queue, or click the action menu on a single row and select Resolve
Select the correct match from the list, or select None of these to dismiss the company
Check Automatically add jobs from this company to move the company to Backfilling; leave it unchecked to move it to Backfill available. Click Confirm to proceed, or Skip to defer the current company.

Bulk actions

Select multiple companies using checkboxes. A command bar appears at the bottom with Add to backfill or Remove from backfill for most tabs, or Resolve selected on the Review tab to open a resolve queue for the selected companies.

Company backfill settings

Job filters for company-sourced backfill live in Backfill settings, the same dialog as on the Rules and Feeds tabs. They apply to every company-sourced job and to every rule, and each rule can still tighten its own filters further.

How imported jobs are published

Backfilled jobs are published automatically unless you have set job moderation to Aggregated or Both in Settings. When set, new aggregated jobs arrive as Awaiting approval and require manual approval before appearing on your public board. Updates and reposts to already-approved aggregated jobs publish without re-entering the queue. Jobs that disappear from their source careers page are expired automatically.

If you delete a backfilled job, the system records the exclusion and will not re-import it.

If you unpublish (pause) a backfilled job, it stays off your board: later syncs leave it unpublished, even while the source still lists it. Publish it again yourself to bring it back.

Troubleshooting

Before troubleshooting, verify the result: open Jobs after a completed sync and confirm representative listings match your rules, show the expected source company, and have working application URLs. If moderation covers aggregated jobs, confirm new listings appear as drafts in the review queue instead of publicly.

Company not showing in backfill tabs

The Company sources tabs only list companies that are already on your job board. If the company you're looking for doesn't appear in any tab, go to the Companies page and add it first. Make sure to include the company's homepage URL (not the careers page) — backfill requires it.

Jobs not appearing

A newly created Active target-role rule usually needs a few hours before the first jobs land. That wait is expected, and you do not need to add companies for the rule to work.

If the rule has been Active for more than 24 hours, or you expected jobs from a company source:

Confirm each target-role rule you expect to match shows Active, not Inactive
For company sources, verify the company shows in the Backfilling tab (not just Backfill available)
Check that your rule conditions are not too restrictive
Review board-wide and per-rule filters for conflicts (e.g. filtering to a country where the company has no roles)
Check Jobs for drafts if job moderation holds aggregated jobs for review
Check whether you have hit your plan's active jobs limit or a backfill cap in Backfill settings

A company is in the Backfilling tab but no jobs are appearing

This is expected behaviour in a few situations:

The company has no current open roles. Backfill only imports active listings — if their careers page is empty, nothing comes through.
The scraper accepted the URL but hasn't yet successfully extracted jobs from it. Some careers pages take longer than others to onboard, and the nightly support check may not have moved the company to the Unsupported tab yet.
The company's careers page is protected by anti-bot measures, requires a login, or uses an ATS that's outside current scraper coverage. In this case it should eventually move to Unsupported after the next nightly check.
The company was confirmed via the Review tab but was added to your board before a system update took effect. Jobs should begin appearing within the next sync cycle (typically a few hours). If they don't, contact support.

If a company has been in the Backfilling tab for more than a few days with no jobs and you can see open roles on their careers page, contact support with the company name and careers page URL — we can check whether the scraper has flagged it as supported on its side.

Irrelevant jobs appearing

If a job appears despite an exclusion in one rule, check every path that can import it:

Open Backfill → Rules and review every active rule. A title exclusion in one rule does not override another rule. Tighten broad positive terms and add exclusions to the rule responsible for the match.
Open Backfill → Companies → Backfilling and check whether the employer is enabled. Company sources import its jobs independently of your target-role conditions and exclusions. Remove a company from backfill if you only want its jobs that match your target-role rules; those rules can still bring in relevant jobs from that employer.
On Rules, Companies, or Feeds, open the More (⋯) menu next to the search box and choose Backfill settings. Make Board context specific about both the jobs you want and the ones you reject. AI filtering applies to target-role and company-source jobs. Check board-wide and per-rule job filters too.
Remove unwanted jobs already on the board from Jobs. If you need to inspect every new aggregated job before it goes public, enable job moderation.

A backfill limit reduces the number of live jobs, not the proportion that fit your board.

Next steps

Use job moderation when you want to review new aggregated jobs before publication. If a source is unsupported, use job import or configure a recurring XML feed.