---
title: Automations
description: Run an agent on a schedule or in response to an event — without a human in the loop
icon: Zap
---

import Callout from "../../../../components/ui/Callout.astro";

## What is an automation?

An **automation** is an agent run that happens on its own — on a schedule, or when something occurs in a connected service. No one needs to be watching. The agent runs, does its job, and the result shows up in [Monitoring](/en/studio/monitoring).

Every automation belongs to a specific [agent](/en/studio/agents). It runs *that* agent with *its* tools — the automation just decides when to fire and what prompt to start with.

Each automation has:

- **An agent** — the one doing the work
- **A prompt** — what it should do each time it runs
- **A model** — which AI provider and credentials to use
- **A trigger** — when it fires (schedule, event, or webhook)

<Callout type="warning">
  Automations approve all tool calls automatically — there's no human review step. Attach only the tools the agent actually needs so it can't do more than you intend.
</Callout>

## Where they live

You manage automations in two places:

- **Inside an agent** — open the agent and click the **Automations** tab. You'll see the automations attached to this specific agent, and you can create new ones in context.
- **Settings → Automations** — the org-wide list of every automation across every agent, useful for overview, audit, or housekeeping.

## When to use automations

- **Scheduled tasks** — daily reports, data syncs, cleanup jobs
- **Event-driven workflows** — new order → start fulfillment, new ticket → triage, deployment → send notification
- **Anything that should run without someone triggering it manually**

If you want a human in the loop — reviewing actions before they happen — open the agent and chat with it directly, or use [Decopilot](/en/studio/decopilot/overview). Automations are for work you've already validated and want hands-free.

## Creating an automation

1. Open the agent you want to run
2. Click the **Automations** tab
3. Click **New automation**
4. Write the prompt — what should the agent do each run?
5. Pick a model and credentials
6. Add a trigger (schedule, event, or webhook)
7. Activate it

## Triggers

### Schedule

Runs the automation on a recurring schedule. Times are in UTC.

| Expression | When it runs |
|---|---|
| `0 9 * * *` | Every day at 9:00 AM |
| `0 */6 * * *` | Every 6 hours |
| `0 9 * * 1` | Every Monday at 9:00 AM |
| `*/5 * * * *` | Every 5 minutes |

Minimum interval is 5 minutes — `*/5 * * * *` is the tightest schedule allowed. If the system restarts, missed runs are caught and fired on the next cycle.

### Event

Fires when a connected service publishes a matching event. You specify the connection, the event type, and optional filters — only events that match all filters trigger the automation.

### Webhook

Fires when an external system sends an HTTP request to a dedicated URL. When you add a webhook trigger, Studio mints a one-time URL and a secret token (shown once) — POST to that URL to run the automation. You can rotate the token if it's ever exposed.

## Limits

- Maximum 10 automation runs across your organization at once
- Each run times out after 5 minutes
- Event payloads are capped at 1 MB

If the person who created an automation leaves the organization, it's automatically deactivated.

---

**Next:** Design what your automation will run in [Agents](/en/studio/agents), or track results in [Monitoring](/en/studio/monitoring).
