Automations and Actions
Background work that runs on its own, and the short screens that ask a person something.
On this page
Automations and Actions are two of the building blocks every Kareenos build is made from. An automation does work on its own; an action asks a person. The platform calls an automation a Job. The Super Agent builds both from a description in New Task; this page is where you approve, run and check them.
Where to find it
Both are rows of Advanced, under Editors: Automations and Actions. Press Open in Kareenos above for Automations. They follow the project in the top bar. The same parts are also counted on the Components tab of the Projects page, where each one opens in place.
Automations: work that runs on its own
An automation is background work with no AI in the loop: a fixed set of steps that does the same thing every time. Fetching data, calculating a total, numbering new rows, chasing quiet deals, syncing two systems, planning routes or a staff roster.
An automation runs in one of four ways: on a schedule, when something happens (an event), when a sheet in your Data Sheets changes, or on demand when a person or an agent asks for it.
Every automation carries explicit permissions: which sheets it may read, which it may write, which tools it may call. Nothing is granted by default.
Important
A new automation cannot run until a person approves it. Approval is where you review its whole reach (what it may touch and what it may call), so read the permissions, not only the description, before you approve.
Building an automation
Describe the work and when it should happen in New Task. The Super Agent writes the steps, asks only for the sheets and tools the work needs, and leaves the new automation as a Draft for you to approve here.
For example: "Every morning at 7, send me yesterday's orders by store." Try this in New Task
Step by step: approving and running an automation
Open Automations. Narrow the list with the Trigger and State filters if it is long.
Click the automation. The list shows what starts it and its state; a new one is a Draft.
Read what it does and the sheets and tools it may touch, then approve it.
Trigger it by hand from its page. If it needs input, a form is generated for you to fill in.
Read its run history and the output of the run.
Actions: asking a person
An Action is a short screen that puts a question to a person: approve this, confirm that, fill in these few fields. An agent raises one into a person's Inbox, or a person starts one from their team's action menu or from a button on a page.
The Super Agent authors the screen once from your description in New Task, such as "ask the sales manager to approve any quote above 5,000": fields and sections, dropdowns fed from a sheet so the choices are always current, searchable lookups for finding a customer or an order, and buttons that open another form on top of the first. That one definition renders the same on the web, inside a chat, and in the myKareenos app.
Step by step: previewing and testing an action
Open Actions. The list on the left shows every action in the project with a switch to turn it on or off.
Click an action. Its description and a Live preview of the screen appear on the right, exactly as a person would see it.
Fill the preview in and submit it to test the validation.
Press Test in K-Agent to have a real agent raise it into your Inbox, or Edit with Builder to change it by describing the change.
Common mistakes
- Building an automation and never approving it, then reporting that nothing runs.
- Using an Action for routine data entry. Long forms people fill in every day belong in an input widget behind a dialog; see Widgets.
- Granting an automation write access to sheets it only reads.