Manage automations
Run, edit, pause, move, and delete automations, read run logs, and find the results of each run.
Open a routine
Click a routine in the List or on the Calendar. Its details open:
- title, date and time, and schedule,
- the assigned bot,
- the instructions,
- the latest run's status, with its output or error.
What you can do
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Run now | Starts a run straight away, without waiting for the schedule. Great for testing. |
| Stop run | Stops a run you started with Run now. It's marked Cancelled. |
| Open thread | Opens the thread the run happened in, when available. |
| Open results thread | Opens the thread the routine posts its results to, when it posts to one of the bot's threads. |
| Run logs | Shows this routine's runs. |
| Edit | Change anything about it, including Post results to and Remember the last run. See Where results go. |
| Pause routine / Resume routine | Stop it running on schedule, without deleting it, or start it again. |
| Delete | Removes the routine. You're asked to confirm. |
Pause, don't delete, if you might want it again.
Move a routine on the calendar
- Drag a routine to a new time or day.
- For a repeating routine, you're asked whether to move the whole series.
- Routines with a custom cron schedule can't be dragged. Use Edit instead.
Calendar shortcuts
Use these while the calendar is open, and you're not typing:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| C | New routine |
| T | Go to today |
| 1 | Day view |
| 3 | 3-day view |
| W | Week view |
| Esc | Close |
Run logs
Switch to Run logs at the top of the Automations page, or click Run logs on a routine.
Each entry shows the bot, the date, how it started (Scheduled or Manual), and its status:
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Running | Working now. |
| Completed | Finished. |
| Failed | Something went wrong. Open it to see the error. |
| Cancelled | Stopped before it finished. |
Use Search run logs and the status filter to find a run. Run logs show the most recent run of each routine.
A failed run keeps a red dot on Tools → Automations until that routine runs again without failing. It also shows in Needs you until then, for up to a week. Opening the run doesn't clear either one.
Find the results
Where a run's results land depends on the routine's Post results to setting. See Where results go.
| Post results to | Find the results |
|---|---|
| One of the bot's threads (the default is the bot's main thread) | Open that thread. Each run's results appear there, after the earlier messages. Or click the routine and choose Open results thread. |
| Create a dedicated results thread | Each run has a new thread of its own in the bot's threads. Click the routine and choose Open thread to jump to the latest one. |
Finished runs from today are also listed under Done today on Today. Click one to open its results.
From there, you can ask follow-up questions, like "Tell me more about the second story," just like any conversation.
The run banner
When you open a thread a routine run happened in, a banner at the top says Run details · and the routine's name, for example Run details · Morning briefing. It has:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Back to results | Opens the routine's results thread. Shown when the routine posts to one of the bot's threads. |
| Run logs | Opens Automations on this routine's run logs. |
Change where results go
- Click the routine, then Edit.
- Under Post results to, choose a thread, Create a dedicated results thread, or Keep current destination to leave it as it is.
- If you chose Create a dedicated results thread, tick Remember the last run if each run should know what the last one reported.
- Click Save.
The change applies from the next run.
When a run fails
- Open the routine and read the latest run's error.
- Click Run now to try again, and watch it in the thread where its results go.
- Common causes:
- a connected app needs reconnecting,
- a secret is missing or out of date,
- the instructions ask something the bot can't do unattended.
- Edit the instructions to make them clearer, and Run now again.
Routines from recipes
Routines that come with a recipe start paused. Open each one, check its instructions and schedule, then click Resume routine.
Routines on the web
Automations you create on the Machine web app appear here too, and the other way round.