Automations
Run a backend function on a schedule, once, or whenever a table changes. Setting one up, ending it, running it now, reading its runs, archiving, and what happens when the app is offline.
Last updated September 17, 2026
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An automation runs a backend function without anyone pressing anything: a nightly summary email, a reminder the morning before an appointment, a notification the moment an order lands, a tidy-up of old records every Sunday.
Three kinds of trigger
| Trigger | Runs | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring | Every so many minutes, hours, days or weeks, at a time you set | Every day at 08:00, email tomorrow's bookings |
| One time | Once, at a date and time, then switches itself off | Send the launch announcement on Friday at 09:00 |
| When data changes | Whenever rows in a table are created, updated or deleted | When an order is created, notify the kitchen |
A recurring automation can run for ever, or end after a number of runs. Data-change triggers are set by the builder and cannot be edited from the dashboard, but you can rename the automation or point it at a different function.
Setting one up
An automation runs one of your app's backend functions. If the app has none yet, ask the builder for the work you want done and it writes and tests one.
Under Automations press New automation: name it, describe it, pick the function, choose the trigger.
Press Run now to try it immediately, then open Logs on the row to read what it did.
Or simply ask the builder: every weekday at 9, remind anyone whose invoice is more than a week late. It writes the function, tests it and creates the automation.
The Automations tab
- On or off switch per automation.
- Last run with its status: running, finished, failed, or finished because it reached the end you set.
- Run now, Edit, Logs, Duplicate, Archive and Delete on each row.
- Archived keeps switched-off automations you might want back; Restore brings one back.
Runs and logs
Every run records when it started, how long it took, its log lines, its result and any error. A failed run shows the error the function raised. Runs started by you show as such.
When the app is offline
Taking an app offline only closes the site to visitors. Automations keep running on their schedule, and keep using credits for whatever they do, so switch off any you do not want in the meantime.
What a run costs
Only the services the function uses inside the run, such as emails sent or AI called. The run itself is not charged.