# Manage automations

Run, edit, pause, move, and delete automations, read run logs, and find the results of each run.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/automations/manage

## Open a routine

![A routine's details with Run now, Edit, Pause, and Delete](/images/docs/desktop/routine-detail.webp)

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

![Clicking Run now and watching the run complete](/images/docs/desktop/anim-routine-run-now.webp)

| 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](/docs/desktop/automations/create#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

![Run logs listing recent runs, one of them failed](/images/docs/desktop/run-logs.webp)

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](/docs/desktop/automations/create#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](/docs/desktop/bots/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

1. Click the routine, then **Edit**.
2. Under **Post results to**, choose a thread, **Create a dedicated results
   thread**, or **Keep current destination** to leave it as it is.
3. If you chose **Create a dedicated results thread**, tick **Remember the
   last run** if each run should know what the last one reported.
4. Click **Save**.

![Editing a routine: Post results to and Remember the last run](/images/docs/desktop/routine-results.webp)

The change applies from the next run.

## When a run fails

1. Open the routine and read the latest run's error.
2. Click **Run now** to try again, and watch it in the thread where its
   results go.
3. 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.
4. **Edit** the instructions to make them clearer, and **Run now** again.

## Routines from recipes

Routines that come with a [recipe](/docs/desktop/bots/recipes) 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.