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The Automations designer under AI → Automations is where you build repeatable AI workflows as a node graph: a trigger starts the workflow, agent steps do the work, conditions route on results, approval gates pause for an administrator, and an output delivers the result. The page has three panels - the Workflows list, the canvas, and the Inspector for the selected node.

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Anatomy of a workflow

Every workflow needs a trigger. The trigger kind decides when it runs:
  • Manual run - only when someone presses Test run.
  • Schedule - a cron expression with a timezone.
  • Alert fires - bound to one of your alert rules.
  • Webhook - an external system calls in.

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How a run executes

Ankra walks the graph node by node. An agent step opens an agentic session with the step’s goal prompt and waits for it to finish; a condition picks the branch whose comparison matches; an output posts its notification and completes the run. Recent runs are listed per workflow in the Inspector. When a run reaches an Approval node, it pauses and files a ticket on the AI Board directly into Awaiting approval. Approving - from the Inbox or the ticket - resumes the run; denying cancels it. The run’s outcome settles the ticket when it finishes.
Approval gates are how an automation stays safe on a schedule: the workflow can investigate and prepare autonomously overnight, but nothing irreversible happens until a person signs off.

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Templates

Start from a template in the Workflows list seeds a ready-made graph you can adapt:
  • Nightly cluster fix plans - scheduled sweep that drafts fixes and parks them for approval.
  • Daily insight digest - collects the day’s findings into one notification.
  • On alert: diagnose - triggered by an alert rule, investigates, and reports.

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Editing and permissions

Workflows are Enabled or Paused, and the command bar shows an Unsaved chip until you press Save. Test run is available once an enabled workflow is saved. Only organisation admins can edit; everyone else sees the designer read-only. Deleting a workflow lives in the Inspector’s danger zone. Automations dispatch agent sessions per step, which makes them the graph-shaped complement to AI Agents - standing agents with a single trigger and goal. Reach for an agent when one prompt on one trigger is enough, and an automation when the work has stages, branching, or an approval in the middle.

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Availability

Automations are enabled per organisation, separately from the rest of the AI section. If Automations is missing from the AI sidebar, ask your Ankra contact to enable it.