Short answer
By default, when your Upwork profile runs low on connects, Lancer pauses your campaigns so it never tries to bid without enough connects. Turn on Auto Connects and Lancer will instead automatically buy more connects for you and keep bidding — so you never miss jobs because you ran out.
Why this matters
Running out of connects is one of the most common reasons campaigns quietly stop. Upwork requires connects to submit (and to boost) proposals, so the moment your balance is too low, bidding halts until you top up. Auto Connects removes that gap.
How to turn it on
Go to the Campaigns page.
Open Settings (your organization-wide defaults).
Toggle Enable Auto Connects on.
Choose the Connects amount to buy each time it fires — 150 or 300 connects.
This is an organization-wide setting — it applies across all of your campaigns, and it saves automatically.
How it works
Whenever your connects run low, Lancer purchases your chosen amount (150 or 300) on your Upwork account and continues bidding.
There's no limit on how many times it can top up — it buys more connects whenever it needs to, so your campaigns keep running.
Connects are an Upwork cost and are billed by Upwork as usual.
Good news on cost: when you boost a proposal and get outbid, or the client never views your proposal, Upwork refunds those connects. So your real cost per lead is usually much lower than it first looks — see Boosting and Connects refunds.
Turning it off
Flip the same toggle off and Lancer will go back to pausing campaigns when connects run low, instead of buying more.