Automations
An automation is a set of steps that Serenities carries out for you when something happens: someone sends a form on your site, a payment goes through, an email arrives or the clock reaches a time you chose. You set it up once, switch it on, and can see every run.
You choose what starts it and what follows. You can see each run afterwards.
What it is
An automation takes a job you would otherwise do by hand, such as copying a form entry into a table, and does it for you each time its trigger happens. A trigger is the thing that starts it.
Serenities has four kinds, all under Automations in the left menu. Flows are steps you lay out on a canvas, with a trigger at the start. Journeys are emails that send themselves to each person on their own timing. Functions are small pieces of custom logic the AI writes for you. AI agents are helpers you give a job in words; they work out the steps themselves and stop to ask you before anything big. An AI agent can start on a schedule, from a webhook, from an incoming email address, from an account event, or when you ask it to.
Flows, Journeys and Functions do the same steps every time. An AI agent decides what to do within the limits you set. Use a flow when every run should be identical. Use an agent when the job needs reading, deciding or writing. They work together: a flow can include a step that calls an agent. Agents have their own page.
What you can use it for
Six jobs that Serenities can do today, each with the part that does it.
Get every form entry into a table, and know it arrived.
Every entry saved, and you hear about it.
Done with: Flows (or an AI agent).
Start the week knowing where you stand.
The summary is waiting in the agent's History.
Done with: an AI agent on a schedule.
Follow up with each person without remembering to.
Set once, runs for everyone who qualifies.
Done with: Journeys.
Record what happened the moment someone pays.
Paid, and written down.
Done with: Flows or Functions.
Have enquiries read and answered with your say-so.
A draft is ready; nothing is sent until you approve.
Done with: an AI agent (or a function).
React when a supplier or another tool tells you something.
The other service tells Serenities; the steps run.
Done with: a Function, a Flow or an AI agent.
Ways to start
Every automation needs a trigger. These are the ways to start one, with the label you will see on screen.
| Starts when | Label on screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The clock reaches a time you set | On a schedule (agents and functions), Schedule Trigger (flows) | Once or repeating. |
| Another service calls a secret address | Webhook (request from other app or service), Webhook Trigger (flows) | Serenities generates the address. |
| Something happens in your account | Event (when something happens), Event Trigger (flows) | Examples below. |
| An email arrives at an address Serenities gives it | Incoming mail (email address) | On AI agents and functions. |
| You start it yourself | Run on an agent's page, Test on a function, Manual Trigger on a flow ("Run the flow manually with a button click") | Good for trying it first. |
Events you can pick from (shown in the picker, with a search box): a visitor submits a form on one of your sites · someone signs up or signs in to your site · a one-off payment goes through · a subscription starts, renews or is cancelled · a row is added, changed or deleted in a table · a file is uploaded to Drive · an email arrives at one of your mail triggers · an AI agent run finishes, fails or needs your approval · a connector stops working · and more.
Flows can also start when a row is created, updated or deleted in a table (Table Trigger). Journeys start from an event, from someone being added by hand or by a function, from a record being added or changed, or around a date on a record.
How it works
This is what you do under Automations in the left menu.
01Open Automations and pick a kind
Click Automations. A menu on the left has two groups. Under Build: AI Agents, Flows, Journeys, Functions. Under Set up: AI Skills, Secrets, Connectors, Channels, Sending accounts, All triggers. Each item has an "i" that explains it with an example.
02Say what you want
Every Automations page has the AI chat on the left. In Flows, press Create Flow, give it a name, and the chat asks "What would you like to automate?" Describe the job in plain words and the chat designs the flow on the canvas. In AI Agents the chat asks "What should your AI agent do?" and builds the agent. In Functions, press New function, name it, and describe it in plain English; the AI writes it. In Journeys, press New journey, pick a site, then choose a starter or Start from scratch.
You can also do this from your own AI app. Add Serenities to Claude, ChatGPT or another app that supports custom connectors, sign in, and ask it to build the flow, agent or function; the Flows, AI Agents, Functions and Journeys areas are among those it can reach (see Use your own AI). The AI can get things wrong. Read the steps it made before you switch anything on.
03Choose what starts it
On a flow, press Add Trigger and pick one. On an AI agent or a function, open the Triggers tab and press Set up or Add next to the trigger you want. On a journey, use When: This starts and Each person enters (once or repeatedly), plus Stop early when for conditions.
04Choose what it may touch
Steps that use another app work only on apps you have connected first under Automations > Connectors (see Connect your tools). On a flow, press Add Connector and pick a tool. On an AI agent, tick the apps it may use under Authorised connections. On a function, open its Access tab; a function can call other things only if you add them there. A new function is private until you turn on Automations & AI can use this function.
05Switch it on, off or pause it
A flow has an Active / Inactive switch ("Inactive: Flow is paused and won't respond to any triggers"). A function has an Active / Off switch. Each trigger on an agent or function has its own switch. A journey has Set live (save first), Pause (nobody new enters, people inside finish), Resume and Stop (stopped for everyone), and Back to draft.
06Watch it run
Each run is saved. On a flow, open a run to see whether it Completed, Failed or is Running, how long it took and the error if there was one. On a function, the Runs tab lists runs newest first with Failed, OK, Waiting or Running, who started it, and a log when you click. On an AI agent, the History tab shows what each run did. All triggers shows, in one read-only list, every webhook address and incoming-mail address in your account; each row opens the agent, flow or function it belongs to.
07Hear from agents while you are away
Under Channels, press Add Telegram or Add email. When an AI agent stops for your approval, asks you a question or a run fails, it tells you there, and every run sends its report there too. In Telegram the message has Approve and Decline buttons, and in email a link opens a page to decide (the link works for 72 hours). The first decision wins, whether you make it in the dashboard, Telegram or email.
Limits
A flow, journey or function does the same steps each time. An AI agent is given a job in words and decides the steps within the limits you set, and it asks before anything important. A flow can include a step that calls an agent.
Yes. Flows have an Active / Inactive switch, functions an Active / Off switch, and each trigger on an agent or function has its own switch. A journey can be paused or stopped. Nothing is deleted when you switch it off.
The run is saved with its status and the error. Open it, see what stopped, fix it and run it again. Flows show the run as Failed; functions list it as Failed in the Runs tab. If an AI agent's run fails, you are emailed and told on your channels.
No. Describe it to the chat on the Automations page and it builds the flow, agent or function for you. You can also ask from your own Claude or ChatGPT app once you have added Serenities to it as a connector (see Use your own AI). Read what it made, and test it before you rely on it. You can also change it by hand.
Yes, once you have connected them under Automations > Connectors. A flow adds a connector step, an agent uses the apps ticked under Authorised connections, and a function uses the apps on its Access tab. Nothing connects by itself.
Automations are part of your plan. What differs is how many runs and calls your plan includes, and AI agent runs use your AI credits. Running agents and functions needs a paid plan. See Pricing.
For AI agents, yes: failures, questions and approvals reach your account email and any channel you added. For flows and functions, look at the run history. There is no automatic alert for them today.
