Automations
Automations lists the work that runs on its own for your organization. Each automation says When it runs (on a schedule, or each time an event arrives), its Target (the projects or nodes it runs on) and its Action (Task: one task filed per target each run).
Open it from the sidebar: select Automation, then the Automations tab.
Automations is shown only to Owners and Admins of your organization. Everyone else sees only the Playbooks tab. See Playbooks.
For the steps, see Create an automation and Run, pause or change an automation. For what When, Target and Action mean, see How automations work.
Old addresses still work: the Schedule and Triggers pages, and a cron's or trigger's own page, open the matching Automations page.
The list
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| New automation | Opens the editor for a new automation. |
| Name search | Narrows the list to automations whose name contains what you type. |
| When | Shows All, only Schedule or only Event automations. |
| Status | Shows All, or only Active, Paused or Failing ones. |
Each row is one automation. Select its name to open its page.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name | The automation's name. It wraps rather than being cut short. |
| When | When it runs: the schedule in words, such as every weekday at 09:00, or the event source and what it listens for, such as GitHub: issues opened. |
| Target | The projects or nodes it runs on, such as 3 projects: Billing, Website, Mobile or All nodes (5). Hover it to read a long one in full. |
| Action | What each run does, such as filing a task. |
| Status | Active, Paused or Failing. A failing row says why under its status. |
| Last run | How long ago it last ran, or — never run. |
| Next run | When a schedule runs next, such as in 3h, or — paused. An event automation shows —: it runs when an event arrives. |
When the list is narrow, such as beside an open automation or on a phone, each row becomes a card: the name and status on top, then When, Target and Action, then the last and next run.
Empty states
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| No automations yet | Your organization has no automations. Select New automation to add one. |
| Nothing matches these filters | No automation matches your search, When and Status. Select Clear filters to see them all. |
| Automations unavailable | The list couldn't be read. Nothing was changed. Select Retry. |
If you follow an old link to a cron or trigger that is gone, the list opens with That automation no longer exists. above it.
The editor
The same page creates an automation (New automation) and changes one (its own page). Its sections run top to bottom: About, When, Target, Action.
About
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name | Required. The automation's name in the list. |
| Description | Optional. What it is for. |
When
Pick one: Schedule, Webhook, GitHub or Slack. An event's source can't change after you create the automation, but you can switch it to Schedule.
For a Schedule:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Schedule line | When it runs, in words and as a cron expression, with its next run. Select Edit to change it. |
| Schedule as | A cron expression runs at named times; pick a period, such as day or week, and the times within it. A fixed interval runs every so many seconds, minutes or hours (Every and Unit). Select Done to close the editor. |
| Keep logs | Which runs are recorded under Runs: All (the default), When it acted or Errors only. |
For an event:
| Source | Fields |
|---|---|
| Webhook | Authentication: HMAC signature or Bearer token. |
| GitHub | Events (required, such as issues, pull_request), Actions (such as opened, labeled; empty: every action) and Repository (owner/repo; empty when you create it: the project's own; empty later: any repository). |
| Slack | Channel IDs, such as C0123ABCD. |
An event automation also has Preflight, which decides whether to file at all, and Limits, such as Concurrency cap, Queue depth, Rate limit per hour and Budget (USD). See How automations work.
Under the fields, the page states the rules every run follows: a schedule skips missed runs and any target whose previous task is still open; an event queues a target at its Concurrency cap and skips it once the queue is full.
Target
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Projects, Nodes | What it runs on. Switching clears the choice of the other kind. |
| Run in projects, Run on nodes | Which ones: all, some, or all except some. See Choose what an automation runs on. |
The hint under it says what one run files: one task per project, or one task per node, pinned to it. Above 100 targets, it also says how many tasks each run files.
Action
Task files one task per target each run. Write the task as you would start a task: its description, depth and involvement, attachments, who it is assigned to, and under Advanced its persona, model, priority and Hidden. For an event, the description (and an optional Title) can quote the event with placeholders; the hint under the description lists them.
Saving
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Create | Saves a new automation and opens its page. |
| Save | Saves your changes. The page says Saved. |
| Cancel | On a new automation, goes back to the list. Otherwise, puts back what was saved. |
If something is missing, the line beside the buttons says what, such as Name the automation. or Set a schedule. If you leave with unsaved changes, the page asks first.
An automation's page
At the top are the automation's name and its status: Active, Paused or Failing, with the reason beside it when there is one.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Run now | Runs it once straight away, as a scheduled run or an empty event would. Unavailable while it is paused. |
| Pause, Resume | Stops it running, keeping its settings and runs, and starts it again. |
| Delete | Deletes it and its run history. Filed tasks stay. It asks you to confirm with Delete automation. |
Below the buttons is the editor, then Runs. An event automation also has Setup above the editor, and Test, Dedup entries and State document below Runs:
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Setup | For a webhook or GitHub automation: its address (Copy URL), how each call must carry the secret, and Rotate secret. For GitHub, what to enter in the repository's webhook form. |
| Test | Paste a Sample payload and select Test to see the task it would file, or Run now with this sample to file it. |
| Dedup entries | The events it already filed, so a repeat is dropped. |
| State document | The automation's own stored state. |
Runs
Each run, newest first. A row shows how long ago it ran, why (Schedule tick, Event delivery or Run now), its outcome, such as Filed or Nothing to do, and what happened to its targets, such as 1 filed · 1 skipped: previous still open. Select Load more for older runs. With none recorded, it shows No runs yet.
The run drawer
Select a run to open it beside the page.
| Item | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Title | When it ran, to the second, in your time zone. |
| Cause and outcome | Why it ran and what it came to. |
| Counts | The line of what happened to its targets. A run from before targets were recorded shows Open task instead. |
| Targets | The targets grouped by outcome, what needs attention first: Error, Skipped, Not reached, Queued, then Filed, each with its count, listing each project or node, its reason, and the task it filed. Filed starts folded when other groups are present. |
| Delivery | For an event run: its dedup key and the event's Preview. |
What each outcome means is in How automations work.