maxsuite Diagrams

Automations

Automations

Automations do the steps you set when something happens, or at a time you choose, and keep doing them (module automations). You say what you want in your own words, such as "every Monday at 9, send me the domains that expire this month". An agent writes it as numbered steps, and nothing runs until you press Turn on.

In the sidebar under Automation → Automations.

What you see

The page lists your automations (an administrator sees everyone's). Each shows its State, its trigger (When: its schedule, a Max event, or Run now), and its Version.

  • Draft: written, not running until you press Turn on.
  • On: it runs on its trigger, or when you press Run now.
  • Paused: what fires is kept and runs, in order, when you resume.
  • Needs you: it stopped by itself and says why.

Open one to see it as a card: its trigger in words, its next runs, numbered steps, What it does without asking, steps its owner cannot use, and, when there is one, what a newer version would do more ("This version does more than the one that is on"). An automation that only reads says "Nothing outside Max: it only reads."

Runs lists every time it fired, newest first: when, what started it (Started by), and the Outcome. Ran means a run started; open it on the Chains page to see every step. Waiting means it was kept while paused or over a limit.

Start from a template offers ready-made automations; each opens as a draft for you to read.

Turn on is the approval

Turn on shows every step that will act, and on whom. Pressing it approves those steps for every run of that version, so they go ahead without asking each time. Two things still ask every time: a step that spends money, and anything an administrator's rule says must ask.

Changing an automation so it does more (a new tool, a new recipient, a looser condition) needs Turn on again. Changing it so it does less applies at once.

Each automation has a daily limit on runs and on AI cost. Reaching one pauses it and tells you.

What you can do

Make an automation

  1. Under Describe it, say what should happen and when, in your own words, for example "Every Monday at 9:00, send me the domains that expire in the next 30 days."
  2. Press Draft it. An agent writes it as steps.
  3. Read the card. If it is right, press Turn on.

Or press a template under Start from a template, read the draft, and turn it on.

Run, pause, resume or turn off

  • Run now runs an automation that is on, once.
  • Pause stops it at once; firings while paused are kept. Resume runs them in order.
  • Discard what is waiting drops the kept firings instead.
  • Turn off stops it.

Who can do what

PermissionLabelLets you
automations:useMake and turn on your own automationsDraft, change, turn on, run, pause and remove your own automations.
automations:manageSee, pause and remove anyone's automationsSee every automation here, and pause or remove any of them.

What happens on its own

JobWhenWhat it does
outboxEvery minutePicks up Max events kept just before a restart and fires the automations waiting on them. Events are usually handled the moment they happen.
hourlyEvery hour, at 17 pastForgets handled events after a week and firing records after 90 days.

Needs

Chains (each run is a chain) and Approvals switched on.

What agents can do

An agent drafts and changes automations in your name; only you turn them on. Read-only tools run at once; the rest ask first under the default rules.

  • Read-only: automations.catalog (what an automation can be made of), automations.list, automations.get, automations.runs, automations.explain (why it did or did not do something), automations.templates
  • Change: automations.draft, automations.revise, automations.useTemplate, automations.turnOn (raises your Turn on card; only your yes turns it on), automations.pause, automations.resume, automations.runNow, automations.remove (deletes; withdraws what Turn on approved)

Over MCP the tools are named automations__list and so on.