Automations

Automations let you set something up once and have Cooper do it for you. An automation has one trigger (what starts it) and an ordered list of steps (what it does). It can send a morning brief every weekday, tell a foreman when a task lands on them, chase an RFI until someone answers, or ask Cooper AI to read new mail from a client. Office admins and project managers use Automations to stop chasing routine work, and everyone uses the Needs attention view to see what is waiting on them.

Every automation you create is saved paused. You preview it, test it with Run now, and switch it on yourself. Once it is on, every run is recorded step by step, so you can always see what it did, what it sent and why it did or did not run.

Key conceptsCopy Anchor Link

Open AutomationsCopy Anchor Link

1. In the sidebar, open Brain.
2. Click Automations.

The page opens at /connect/automations. In Cooper AI (AI Team), the Set up an automation link in the sessions sidebar also brings you here.

You see Automations only if your role includes Brain → Automations → Read. See Permissions.

Old links that still workCopy Anchor Link

The old Watches page at /connect/watches no longer exists as its own screen. Opening it shows "Opening Automations…" and sends you to /connect/automations. Old tab links land on the matching view:

Links that Cooper sends you, for example in a notification, can also open a specific record: ?automation=<id> opens an automation's details, ?run=<id> opens a run, and ?view=paused (or enabled, attention, mine, legacy) opens a filtered view. Cooper reads these once and then removes them from the address bar, so a copied address opens the plain page.

Find your way around the Automations pageCopy Anchor Link

The top of the page has three buttons:

• Refresh reloads every list.
• Templates opens the template gallery.
• New automation opens the builder.

Under them, a strip of counts shows how many automations are enabled, paused, need a look and are on the older engine. Each count is a button that opens that view. At the right of the strip, Engine live · checked 2 min ago confirms that Cooper is running automations. If it says Engine switched off here or Engine not started here, a red banner explains that automations can be created and previewed but nothing on this server will run them.

The left rail has two groups. On narrow screens the same items appear as a row of chips above the list.

The Enabled, Paused, Needs a look and Mine views only include new-engine automations.

Read the automations listCopy Anchor Link

Narrow screens hide Trigger, Steps and Last run. The trigger then shows under the name.

What each state meansCopy Anchor Link

When Cooper pauses an automation by itself (repeated failures, the daily limit, a trigger it cannot check, or the monthly budget), the owner gets an in-app notification that links to it, at most once per reason per day.

Search, filter and sort automationsCopy Anchor Link

• Search: type in Search name, trigger or step above the table. It matches names, descriptions, trigger sentences and step names.
• Tags: once anyone has tagged an automation, a row of tag chips appears above the table. Click a tag to show only automations with it, or All tags to clear it.
• Sort: click the Automation, Trigger, State or Last run column header. Click it again to reverse the order. Sorting by State puts the worst state first.

If nothing matches, click Show all automations.

Create an automation from a templateCopy Anchor Link

Templates are the fastest way to a working automation. Each one asks a few questions and saves a paused copy that belongs to you.

Your copy is independent. A later version of the template does not change it, and you can change every part of it in the builder.

Template areasCopy Anchor Link

Templates your team saved from older rules appear below the gallery under Saved by you and your team. See Save an older rule as a template.

Build an automation from scratchCopy Anchor Link

The builder is a four-stage wizard: Name it, When it runs, What it does and Check and save.

Cooper shows "Saved and paused. Preview it, then enable it when you are happy." and opens the automation's details.

While you work:

• The In plain words band above every stage reads your draft back as a When / Then sentence, including the gaps, such as "something happens — pick which event below".
• The stepper at the top shows Step 1 of 4 and a hint. Click any stage you have already visited to jump back to it. A stage with something missing shows a warning mark.
• Next refuses to move on while the stage has a problem and lists it under Finish these first, for example "Give the automation a name." or "Add at least one step."
• Back and Cancel are in the panel footer.

Choose a triggerCopy Anchor Link

In When it runs, pick one of five triggers.

On a scheduleCopy Anchor Link

Runs at a time you choose. A new automation starts as every weekday at 09:00.

A blue line confirms the schedule in words, such as "Every weekday at 08:00". Times use your organization's timezone, not your browser's.

When something happensCopy Anchor Link

Runs when a matching activity is recorded in Cooper, such as a task being completed or an RFI being created.

Click Change event to pick a different one.

While something is trueCopy Anchor Link

Checks your records on a cadence and runs when a condition becomes true.

The automation runs again only when the answer changes. A condition that stays true stays quiet.

When mail arrivesCopy Anchor Link

Checks the mailboxes you have connected and runs once for every new message that matches. Under Which messages, add at least one condition, such as a sender, a domain or a word in the subject. Without one, it would match every message you receive. Only mail that arrives after you switch the automation on counts, so turning it on does not work through a backlog. You need a connected mailbox. See Mail.

Only when I run itCopy Anchor Link

Nothing starts the automation on its own. You use Run now whenever you want it to happen. This is useful for a checklist you run by hand, or for testing steps before giving them a trigger.

Add stepsCopy Anchor Link

In What it does, each step runs after the one above it. A step can read what an earlier step produced.

Use the up and down arrows to reorder steps and the bin to remove one. Each step has a short name such as step_1. Branches and fallbacks point at steps by that name.

ActionsCopy Anchor Link

In Who to message, Who to notify, Who to email, Who owns it and Who to send it to, leaving the field empty means the automation's owner. People fields only list teammates with a Cooper login, so an automation cannot message an outside address.

For Ask Cooper AI to do something:

• Cost cap for this run defaults to $2 and is never more than what is left of the monthly budget.
• How the agent works: focused (the default) does the job itself in up to 25 turns. thorough may plan and hand parts to other agents, up to 60 turns, and costs more.
• Send the answer in chat when it is ready is on for a new step. Turn it off for a step that acts rather than reports.
• A finished step only means the agent run was queued. The run details show the agent run's own status and answer.

To take a task off the board, use Update a project task and set the status to Cancelled or Archived.

Configure waits, branches and approvalsCopy Anchor Link

Wait a whileCopy Anchor Link

Set Pause for as a number of minutes, hours or days (up to 90 days). The run picks up by itself. Nothing is lost if Cooper restarts while it waits.

Wait for something to happenCopy Anchor Link

1. Under Wait until this is recorded, click Choose what to wait for and pick an event. For an emailed reply, choose Activity logged.
2. Under Only when it is about the same thing, click Match a field to add up to five matches, such as metadata.emailThreadId equal to a value from an earlier step. Without a match, the run continues on the next activity of that kind anywhere in the organization.
3. Set Give up after (3 days by default).
4. In If nothing arrives, choose Carry on with the next step or jump to another step.

Choose a pathCopy Anchor Link

Click Add a condition (up to 10). For each, enter the value to look at (for example steps.reply.output.satisfied), a comparison (is, is not, is at least, is at most, is more than, is less than, contains, has a value, is empty), a value, and then go to a step. Conditions are checked top to bottom and the first that fits wins. Otherwise go to sets where everything else goes. Values you can look at lists the values available.

Ask someone firstCopy Anchor Link

The people you name get an in-app notification linking to the run. See Approve or refuse a waiting run.

Do it for each oneCopy Anchor Link

Items run one after another, never all at once.

Stop hereCopy Anchor Link

Choose Record the run as: Completed — it did what it was meant to, or Cancelled — it stopped on purpose without acting.

Set limits, visibility, working hours and tagsCopy Anchor Link

The Check and save stage holds the settings that apply to the whole automation.

Working hours use the automation's own clock: its schedule timezone if it has one, otherwise the company clock.

Preview an automationCopy Anchor Link

Preview shows what every step would do with today's data, without sending, creating or starting anything.

1. Open the row menu and click Preview, or click Preview in the automation's details.
2. The Preview: panel lists each step with Ready, Needs a real trigger (it uses values that only exist when the trigger fires, listed under Filled in at run time) or Cannot run (with the reason).
3. Where a step sends text, the exact message is shown. For a condition or mail trigger, Right now in shows how many groups match at the moment.
4. Click Refresh preview after you change something.

Test an automation with Run nowCopy Anchor Link

Run now performs every step for real, once, immediately. It works on a paused automation, so you can test it before you switch it on. It ignores the daily limit and working hours, but not the monthly budget.

1. Open the row menu and click Run now, or click Run now in the automation's details.
2. For a When something happens automation, the Run it against a real event window lists recent events the rule would have run on. Pick one and click Run with this event, so the steps get the same values a real run would. Run without one runs with every event value missing.
3. Cooper shows "Started. Open Runs to watch it." and opens the run.

For a condition or mail automation, Run now uses a sample of what currently matches.

Turn an automation on or pause itCopy Anchor Link

• In the list: click the switch in the On column.
• In the details: click Enable or Pause.
• Several at once: tick the checkboxes of new-engine rows (or the header checkbox for all of them). The bar shows "N selected" with Enable, Pause, Archive and Clear. Cooper reports how many it changed and names any it could not change, such as ones you don't own. You can change up to 100 at a time.

Pausing does not cancel runs already in flight. They finish. Re-enabling an automation that Cooper paused clears the pause and its failure count.

Open an automation's detailsCopy Anchor Link

Click a row (or press Enter on it). The details panel shows:

• The state: the health pill, Runs once or Ongoing, Visible to the team or Only me, working hours and tags, and a sentence explaining the state.
• Collecting for its next summary: for a once-a-day summary, how many events it has collected and when it runs.
• The controls: Enable/Pause, Run now, Preview, Edit, Duplicate, and, at the far end, Hand over and Archive.
• What it does: the trigger and every step in order, with the paths out of a branch or wait.
• How it is doing: Runs, Failed, Last run and Today (runs used of the daily limit). Spent this month and Monthly budget appear when there is spending or a budget.
• Times it did not run: see the next section.
• Recent runs: this automation's runs, with the same filters as the Runs view.
• History: earlier versions. See See and restore earlier versions.

If you don't own the automation, a note says "You can read this one, not change it". You can still preview it, duplicate it and read its runs.

Find out why an automation did not runCopy Anchor Link

When an automation's trigger fired but no run started, Cooper records why. The Times it did not run section in the details lists these for two weeks, with a count per reason. It appears only when there is something in it. Click Show all N to see more than five.

Watch runs and read run detailsCopy Anchor Link

Click Runs in the rail to see every run of the automations you can see, newest first.

• Filter by status: All, Failed, Completed, Waiting or Stopped.
• Choose a time: Any time, Last 24 hours, Last 7 days or Last 30 days.
• Search with Name, or what the failure said.
• Click Clear to reset the filters, or Refresh to reload.

The list shows the 50 most recent runs. While something is running it refreshes itself every few seconds.

Click a run to open it. The Run panel shows the status, why it started (On its schedule, An activity matched, A condition matched, An email matched or Started by hand), any cost, Started, Finished and Took. Open automation takes you to the automation. Under Steps, each step shows its result; click the arrow to see What was sent and What came back (click Show raw for the raw data).

Step results are Done, Failed, Skipped, Waiting or Running.

Pick up a failed runCopy Anchor Link

When a run failed, its panel shows This run failed and, where possible, Pick up where it stopped.

1. Fix the cause, for example a missing value or a permission.
2. Click Pick up where it stopped. Cooper shows "Picked up again at "step_2"."

The failed step runs again and the run carries on. The steps that already worked are not repeated, so nobody is messaged twice. Only failed runs can be picked up, not stopped ones, and not if the failed step was since removed from the automation.

Approve or refuse a waiting runCopy Anchor Link

When an automation asks you a question, you get an in-app notification that opens the run.

Only the people the step names can answer. Everyone else sees the question with "This is waiting on somebody else." If nobody answers, the run ends by itself at the deadline.

Edit an automationCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the automation's details and click Edit. The builder opens on Check and save, and you can jump to any stage.
2. Make your changes and click Save changes. Cooper shows "Automation saved."

Changes apply to the next run. A run already in flight finishes as it started. Editing does not switch the automation on or off. A one-time automation that has already run cannot be edited ("This definition is fixed").

If someone else saved the automation while you were editing, Cooper says "This automation changed while you were editing. Refresh and try again."

Duplicate an automationCopy Anchor Link

Click Duplicate in the automation's details. Cooper creates a copy named after the original with "(copy)" at the end, owned by you and paused, shows "Copied, and saved paused." and opens the copy. The copy has its own history and counters. You can duplicate any automation you can see, including a teammate's.

See and restore earlier versionsCopy Anchor Link

The History section lists every change to what the automation does, newest first: Created, Edited, Restored an earlier version or Installed from a template, by whom and when, with a summary such as "Added a step: tell someone in chat". Renaming is not recorded as a change. Cooper keeps the last 30 versions.

To go back, click Put this version back on an older version. Cooper shows "Version N is back, saved as a new version." Restoring does not rewind anything and does not turn the automation on. Runs already in flight keep the definition they started with.

Hand an automation to someone elseCopy Anchor Link

An automation runs with its owner's permissions. Handing it over changes whose permissions it uses from the next run onward.

1. In the details, click Hand over. If the owner has left or lost access, the callout Nobody can run this any more has a Hand it over button that anyone with Automations Write can use.
2. In Who should own it, pick one teammate.
3. Click Hand it over. Cooper shows "Handed over."

The new owner needs Automations Write. Otherwise Cooper says "That person cannot run automations in this organization." After the handover only the new owner can change or pause it. Nothing in its history changes.

Archive automationsCopy Anchor Link

1. Open the row menu or the details and click Archive.
2. In Archive this automation?, click Archive (or Keep it).

The automation stops running, anything in flight is cancelled, and its run history is kept. To archive several, tick them and click Archive in the selection bar. The selection bar archives straight away, without a confirmation window.

Work through Needs attentionCopy Anchor Link

Click Needs attention in the rail. It answers "what is waiting on me?" in two sections:

• Assigned to you: situations raised by older condition watches and assigned to you (up to 100).
• Check these automations: enabled automations, on either engine, whose state is a warning or a failure. Click one to open it.

If there is nothing, you see Nothing needs you. Click Show resolved and snoozed to include closed items, and Refresh to reload.

Each situation shows its status (open, raised, pending judgment, unowned, snoozed, muted or resolved), what it is about, the agent and owner, the value and what it was before. Its buttons:

Work with automations on the older engineCopy Anchor Link

Condition watches and activity-event automations created before this page keep running on their own engines. They appear in All automations and Older engine with an Older engine pill. You can't create new ones here, select them in bulk or switch them from the table, but their details panel has its own controls. Click the eye button to open it.

The panel shows the state, whether it is a Condition watch or Activity event, and When, Response, Scope and Agent.

For a condition watch:

• Enable/Pause.
• Run now evaluates the enabled rule for real; it can send messages and start its response.
• Preview matches checks current data and sends nothing. It shows how many matching groups would be raised and why the others stay quiet.
• Edit opens Edit condition automation, where you can change Run (Once or Whenever it matches), the watch sentence (what it watches, grouping, threshold, who is asked and what is offered), When this needs attention (Notify only, Request approval for matches, Start assigned-agent guidance or Run bounded reconciliation), and under Adjust details the name, How it speaks, At most every (days) and the Message. Click What would fire today? to test, then Save watch.
• Archive stops it evaluating and closes its open situations.
• Recent situations lists what it has raised.

For an activity event:

• Enable/Pause.
• Preview instruction shows the instruction the agent would get, without running it.
• Open agent runs and settings opens it in AI Team.
• Event matching says whether matching events were found and shows the daily cap.
• Recent runs lists each time it fired and the agent run's result.

The Activity view shows the older engines' latest checks and dispatches under Checks and dispatches, and Recent situations from every watch.

Save an older rule as a templateCopy Anchor Link

You can share an older rule you own as a template.

1. Open the rule's details and click Save as template.
2. Check the Template name, When should someone use this? and the Notification template or Agent instructions. Check names, links and company details before sharing.
3. Each person will choose lists the setup choices each installer answers.
4. In Who can use this template?, choose Only me or My team.
5. Tick I reviewed the content and who can see it. Editing anything clears the tick again.
6. Click Save to my library or Share with my team.

A template is a snapshot. The running rule, its history and its approvals are never included.

To use a saved template, open Templates and find it under Saved by you and your team (filter with All, Mine or Shared with the team). Click Use this, set Name for your copy and Run, answer its choices, click Preview my setup, then Create my paused copy. To stop others installing a template you saved, click Remove, then Remove from library. Existing copies keep working.

Fields referenceCopy Anchor Link

LimitsCopy Anchor Link

PermissionsCopy Anchor Link

Automations is controlled by the Automations row in the Brain section of a role. An admin sets it in Settings → Roles.

Visibility: an automation set to Only me is visible only to its owner. One set to My team is visible to everyone who can open Automations.

Automations run with the owner's permissions, which Cooper checks again at run time:

• Create a project task and Update a project task need Deliver → Project Tasks Write.
• A While something is true trigger needs read access to its source, for example Connect → Action items for action items, or Deliver → Project Tasks for project tasks and task workflows.
• A When mail arrives trigger needs Connect → Mail Read and a connected mailbox.

If the owner loses access to Automations, the automation stops with Owner has no access until someone hands it over.

Tips and best practicesCopy Anchor Link

• Start from a template when one is close. It is the quickest way to a working automation, and you can edit everything afterwards.
• Always Preview and then Run now before you switch an automation on. A manual run is recorded like any other, so you can read exactly what it sent.
• For an event automation, test with Run with this event so the values from the event are filled in.
• Prefer When something happens or While something is true over a frequent schedule for AI steps. They run only when there is something to do, and cost less.
• Use Once a day — collect them and run one summary for noisy events, so people get one digest instead of a message per change.
• Add working hours to automations that message people, and choose Wait, and run when the window opens for reminders that are still true later.
• Keep Most runs per day low. It is a safety brake against a rule that matches far more than you expected.
• Use tags such as a project name or "safety" once your list grows.
• If an automation goes quiet, check Times it did not run before you change anything.

TroubleshootingCopy Anchor Link

For AI agentsCopy Anchor Link

AI agents connected through the CooperBuild MCP server (see AI agents) manage automations with these tools. All are gated by the Automations permission (Read for browsing, Write for everything else).

New engine (plain ids):

• automation_browse (read-only). action is one of catalog, list, get, preview, runs, run, misses, revisions, approvals, tags, ownerless, templates, template_preview, trigger_samples, event_catalog, people.
  • Call catalog before authoring: it returns the actions, step kinds and their config, trigger kinds, condition sources and guard ceilings on this server.
  • event_catalog lists valid event types; people returns teammates as user ids. Every person field (recipients, approvers, assignees, new owner) takes these user ids, not search_humans contact ids.
  • misses answers "why didn't it run". run returns step-by-step detail; a succeeded agent.run step only means the agent run was queued.
  • ownerless needs Write.
• automation_build (writes definitions; everything it creates is paused). action: validate, create, update, duplicate, restore_revision, template_install. Key params: name, scope (personal/team), lifetime (once/ongoing), trigger, steps, guards, tags, automationId, version, templateKey, answers, installationKey, newName.
  • Use validate to compile without saving.
  • Passing enabled returns USE_AUTOMATION_CONTROL.
• automation_control (makes things happen). action: enable, pause, archive, run_now, resume_run, bulk, decide, transfer_owner. Key params: automationId, runId, activityLogId (for run_now on an event automation, from trigger_samples), automationIds + bulkAction, decision (approved/rejected) + note, ownerUserId.
  • Only enable when the user asked for it. Preview first.
  • Never answer an approval on someone else's behalf.

Older engines (condition:<id> / event:<id> ids):

• automation manages the older condition watches and activity-event automations, plus team templates (grammar, create, list, get, update, pause, enable, preview, template_prepare, template_save, template_list, template_get, template_preview, template_install, template_withdraw).
• agent_watch is advanced authoring and diagnostics for condition watches (grammar, library, compile, apply_library, dry_run, create, update, list, get, enable, disable, archive, evaluate_now). Run dry_run before create.
• agent_situation handles what watches raised (list, get, snooze, mute, resolve, acknowledge, retry_work). Map "not now" to snooze, "stop" to mute and "done" to resolve.

Common errors and fixes:

• BAD_INPUT "Pass automationId as a plain id…": you passed a condition:<id> or event:<id> to a new-engine tool. Use automation for those, or get a plain id from automation_browse list.
• FORBIDDEN "Only the person who owns this automation can change it.": only the owner can change, run, pause or archive it. Use duplicate to make the user's own copy, or transfer_owner if the owner is gone.
• BAD_INPUT "This schedule would start up to N AI runs a day…": add guards.costBudgetUSD, lower guards.dailyRunCap to 24 or fewer, or schedule hourly or less often.
• BAD_INPUT "Step "x" uses "…", but step "y" does not always run before it": a binding reads a step that may not have run on every path. Reorder the steps or read from the trigger.
• run_now refusals such as "This automation has spent its budget for this month." or "This automation is already running. Wait for it to finish." are final for that call; report them to the user.
• BAD_INPUT "That person cannot run automations in this organization." on transfer_owner: the new owner needs Automations Write.
• An event type that is not registered and never recorded saves cleanly but never fires. Copy types exactly from event_catalog and read the warnings that validate returns.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Brain overview: the agents and everything they know and run.
• AI Team: Cooper AI sessions and agent runs, including runs started by automations.
• Agents: the agents that send chat messages and do the work in AI steps.
• Action items: where Create an action item steps land.
• Mail: connect a mailbox for When mail arrives automations.
• Chat: where chat messages, agent answers and situations appear.