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Setting tour constraints

The Router respects the guardrails you give it. Set them tight = focused tours. Set them loose = Router explores more creatively.

When you'd use this

You're configuring a new tour or adjusting an existing draft because the Router gave you something that doesn't fit your body's limits.

The constraints

Drive time / distance

Max drive between shows. Default: 6 hours. Adjust based on your vehicle + driving comfort.

  • Solo van, short-radius: 4 hours. Humane, but you'll play fewer shows per tour.
  • Van with shared driving: 6–8 hours. Standard touring pace.
  • Long hauls (Midwest to East Coast): 10–12 hours. Needs dedicated drive days.

Max consecutive driving days. E.g., "no more than 2 long-drive days in a row."

Rest days

Minimum days off per week. Default: 1. For fourth-album-tours, consider 2 — the recovery matters.

Mandatory day off after high-mileage day. Flag if a drive exceeds your threshold. Router auto-inserts a rest day.

Show density

Max consecutive show nights. Default: 5 in a row. More than that = your voice and your body suffer.

Preferred days of week. Weekend bias vs. weekday shows. Router leans your way but can break if venue availability requires.

Economics

Minimum guarantee per stop. Shows below this floor are skipped. Default: $250 (indie touring typical).

Maximum lodging cost per night. Some markets are expensive. Router will fall back to floor-surfing or cheaper accommodations if lodging exceeds your cap.

Fuel cost target. Mintoor auto-pulls national average + $0.20/gal buffer. Override if you know you're paying more (CA, or premium fuel vehicle).

Per-diem budget per person. Default: $40/day. Food, tolls, incidentals.

Regional preferences

Preferred regions. List cities or states the Router should weight higher. Good for "I haven't played the Pacific Northwest in 3 years."

Avoid regions. Markets you want to skip (personal reasons, past bad shows, whatever).

How constraints interact

The Router tries to satisfy all constraints. If impossible, it:

  1. Reports the conflict in the reasoning paragraph
  2. Suggests which constraint to loosen
  3. Offers alternative routes that satisfy different subsets

Where to set them

Tour detail → Constraints tab. Per-tour overrides for everything. Your profile-level tour defaults (Profile → Settings → Tour defaults) are the starting point.

Still stuck?

  • Every run produces the same route no matter what I change. You might be overconstraining — try loosening one constraint at a time.
  • Router routes through markets I don't want. Add them to the Avoid regions list.