Automations
An automation is an assembly line you design once and then let run on its own. Every station on the line is a block on a visual canvas: some stations are AI agents that think and write (these use credits), and others are free blocks — reliable machines that sort, filter, count, and move data without spending anything. Something fires the starting whistle — a schedule, a button, or an event in another app like "a new deal was created in HubSpot" — and the line runs from start to finish.
How it works
Key concepts
| Concept | What it is | Analogy |
|---|---|---|
| Automation | A complete process drawn as connected blocks | A recipe: one card per step |
| Trigger | What starts a run — it's the first block on the canvas | The starting whistle |
| AI step | An agent doing a task that needs judgment (uses credits) | A skilled specialist |
| Free block | A logic or action block — filter, condition, loop, database, and more (no credits) | A dependable machine |
| Variable | A {{placeholder}} that pulls in data from an earlier step | A mail-merge field |
| Run | One execution from trigger to finish | The line running once |
| Version | A named save-point you can preview and restore | "Save As" for your automation |
The golden rule: agents for judgment, free blocks for mechanics
If a step needs to understand something — summarize a call, write a reply, decide what a message means — give it to an agent. If a step just needs to do something predictable — keep only orders over $100, look up a customer, send one email through a connected tool, save a row to a database — use a free block.
Agents aren't limited to one small task, though: a single agent step can run a whole multi-part job — researching, creating files, coordinating tools — and that's still the right build when the flow needs dynamism more than strict rules. The reason to mix in free blocks is cost, not capability: they do the mechanical parts for zero credits, every time, identically. A well-built automation often pairs one or two powerful agent steps with free blocks around them, so you only pay for the thinking.
What's next
Choose a Trigger
Schedules, buttons, webhooks, or events from apps like HubSpot, Stripe, and GitHub
App Triggers
Start your automation the moment something happens in another app
Building on the Canvas
Add blocks, connect them, and shape your process visually
AI Steps
Put agents to work inside your automation and route between paths
Logic & Action Blocks
The eight free blocks: condition, filter, switch, tool, database, code, for-each, loop
Testing & Runs
Test safely, watch every step live, and retry from the exact step that failed
Getting started
- Open Automations from the sidebar and create a new automation — you land directly on the canvas.
- Click the first block to choose your trigger: a schedule, a manual button, or an app event.
- Add blocks with the + button: AI steps for thinking, free blocks for everything else.
- Use
{{variables}}to pass data from one step to the next. - Test it, watch the run live, then flip the switch to activate.
Start small: one trigger, one free block, one AI step. Test it, see real data flow through, then grow the line one station at a time.