Automations
Send a saved prompt to a workspace's agent on a schedule, even when nobody has the workspace open. Schedules, run limits, what each run records, and how to pause, stop or remove one.
On this page9 sections
An automation sends a saved prompt into a workspace's own conversation with the agent, on a schedule: the same as if someone had typed it, at a set time, with nobody watching. It works even when nobody has the workspace open. The workspace wakes up, the agent does the work, and the result is in the conversation when you next look.
Use it for work that repeats: a daily check of new invoices, an hourly look at a queue, a weekly summary.
Where to find it#
Open a workspace and choose Automations (the clock icon) in the left bar. It opens as a tab inside the workspace. On a phone, it is in More actions.
Automations are available in ordinary workspaces. They are not offered in a service's workspace or an engagement.
| You can | With |
|---|---|
| See the automations and their history | Access to open the workspace |
| Create, edit, run, pause, resume, stop and remove them | can edit on the workspace |
Create an automation#
Choose New automation and fill in:
- Label: a name for it. The conversation it writes to carries this name.
- Prompt: what to send to the agent each time. Write it as you would type it into the conversation. The agent decides how to do the work.
- Run limits: see Run limits.
- Schedule: see Schedules.
Then choose Create. The automation is active at once. Use Run now to try it straight away.
A workspace can have up to 10 active automations.
Schedules#
| Frequency | You choose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Daily (the default) | A time of day. New automations start at 09:00. | Every day at 9:00 AM |
| Hourly | The minute past the hour. | Every hour at :15 |
| Weekly | One or more weekdays and a time. | Every Monday and Thursday at 9:10 AM |
The Timezone starts as your browser's. Next runs shows the next three times it will run, in that timezone, so you can check the schedule before you save it.
Automations can run at most once an hour.
A few rules apply to every schedule:
- A missed time is skipped, not made up. If a scheduled time is not picked up within 15 minutes of when it was due, it is recorded as skipped and the automation waits for its next time. A run that was picked up in time but held up on its way, for example during a short outage, is retried and can start later.
- One run at a time. If the previous run has not finished when the next time comes, the next time is skipped.
- Each scheduled time sends the prompt at most once, even across retries and our own updates. Once the prompt is sent, what the agent then does is its own work.
Run limits#
Each automation has limits on a single run, because nobody is watching it.
| Limit | Default | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum run time (minutes) | 15 | The run is stopped when it reaches this time. |
| Maximum spend per run (USD) | 1 | The run is stopped when its model spend reaches this amount. A request already in progress can take the final cost a little above it. |
| Pause after consecutive failures | 3 | After this many failed runs in a row, the automation pauses itself and says so. |
A run stopped by a limit is recorded as Failed, with the limit it reached, for example Stopped — maximum run time reached. A run that succeeds resets the count of failures. So does resuming the automation.
The limits apply to the run the automation starts. Work the agent continues afterwards in the same conversation, such as working through its Task List, is ordinary work in the workspace.
What a run records#
Each automation shows its status and next run time. Expand run history shows each run: when it ran, whether it was Scheduled or Run now, and how it ended.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Waiting to start, Starting… | The run is on its way to the workspace. |
| Queued, Running | The prompt was sent and the agent has it or is working on it. |
| Completed | The agent finished. Finished with nothing open means its Task List had nothing left for a person. |
| Needs attention | The run needs a person, for example it finished but left something open, or the workspace could not be checked. |
| Failed | The run ended with an error or reached a limit. |
| Cancelled | A person stopped it, marked it resolved, or the automation was changed before the run started. |
| Skipped | The time was missed or the previous run had not finished. |
| Unconfirmed | The platform could not confirm whether the prompt ran, for example because the automation was paused or removed while the prompt was being sent. It may or may not have run; to end it if it is still running, see Stop a run. |
The agent's work is in the workspace's conversation named after the automation. Each reply there shows what it cost, and the conversation header shows the total.
When a run needs you#
- A run that needs attention appears under Needs you on Home and in Fibo's message about your work. When you have dealt with it, choose Mark resolved in the run history.
- A run that failed is reported in Fibo's message. Choose Acknowledge in the run history to say you have seen it. The failure stays in the history.
Fibo's messages go to the people who should hear about the workspace. See Notifications.
Pause, resume, edit and remove#
- Pause stops future runs. A run already sent, or already on its way, keeps going: see Stop a run. Editing a paused automation keeps it paused.
- Resume starts the schedule again and resets the count of failures.
- Edit changes the label, prompt, limits or schedule.
Resume and Edit wait while a run is still open: while it is queued or running, while it needs attention (until you Mark resolved), or while a stop is still being confirmed. Let the run finish, stop it, or resolve it first.
- Remove stops the automation for good and ends its access to the workspace. It cannot be turned back on; create a new automation to replace it.
Archiving a workspace stops its automations.
Stop a run#
While a run is queued or running, Stop this run appears in its history. The run ends within seconds. Confirming that the workspace stopped can take a few minutes; until then the run shows Retry stop, and the platform keeps checking on its own.
You can also stop the agent from the conversation, as with any other work. That is the way to end a run that no longer offers Stop this run:
- a run shown as Unconfirmed, after a pause or removal raced with it being sent;
- any run of an automation that has been removed, since its row is gone.
Open the automation's conversation and stop the agent there. After an automation is removed, its conversation is named Scheduled automation.
What an automation can do#
An automation is given its own access to the workspace when it is created, which it uses each time it runs. Pausing or removing it stops new runs from being scheduled at once and takes that access away. A run that was already on its way can still reach the workspace while the change takes effect. To end it, see Stop a run.
The agent works in the workspace exactly as it does when you type to it: with the same files, skills, data sources and connections.